Analysis of Breeding Salamanders in the Greater Yellowstone Area | P19AS00212

Opportunity Information: Apply for P19AS00212

The grant opportunity titled "Analysis of Breeding Salamanders in the Greater Yellowstone Area" is a National Park Service (Department of the Interior) cooperative agreement intended to support science and technology research tied to long-term natural resource monitoring in the Greater Yellowstone region. The work sits under the Greater Yellowstone Network (GRYN), a National Park Service monitoring network focused on building a credible, scientifically defensible inventory and monitoring program that can detect and interpret change in park natural resources over time. In practical terms, this opportunity is about turning an existing, long-running dataset into clear trend information and management-relevant insights that can be used by park staff and communicated to the public.

The central project goal is a partnership between GRYN and New Mexico State University (NMSU) to analyze more than a decade of amphibian and wetland monitoring data collected in Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. While amphibians and wetlands are broadly covered in the dataset, this project narrows the scope to breeding salamanders specifically. That focus suggests the analysis is expected to dig into when and where salamanders are breeding, how consistently breeding occurs across years and sites, and whether breeding activity is increasing, decreasing, or shifting in response to environmental conditions.

The project objectives emphasize identifying trends and quantifying relationships between breeding salamander observations and key drivers in wetland systems. The opportunity calls for analyzing how salamander breeding relates to wetland habitat characteristics, hydrological periods (for example, the timing and duration of wetland inundation versus drying), and weather patterns. This implies statistical or modeling work that connects biological response data (breeding presence, frequency, or similar indicators) with environmental covariates such as water availability, hydroperiod length, seasonal precipitation, temperature patterns, and possibly drought-related conditions. A major motivating question is explicitly framed in the description: how salamanders respond when there are more dry wetlands on the landscape. That management question points to climate variability and changing hydrology as core concerns, and it sets an expectation that the analysis should be able to explain or predict salamander breeding outcomes under wetter versus drier conditions.

From a management and public-value standpoint, the deliverable is meant to support decision-making and communication about the dynamic nature of wetlands in the Greater Yellowstone Area. Wetlands can expand, shrink, dry earlier, or persist longer depending on snowpack, precipitation, groundwater interactions, and temperature. Because amphibians often depend on wetland water availability for breeding success, salamanders can act as sensitive indicators of wetland condition and hydrologic change. The results of this analysis are therefore framed as useful for park managers who need to understand biological consequences of changing wetland hydrology, as well as for educating visitors and stakeholders about why wetlands and amphibian populations may fluctuate over time.

Administratively, the listing is identified as Funding Opportunity Number P19AS00212, categorized as discretionary funding using a cooperative agreement instrument, with an activity category of science and technology and other research and development (CFDA 15.945). The anticipated award information indicates one expected award with an award ceiling of $30,107. Importantly, it is described as a non-competitive Notice of Intent, and it explicitly states that no applications are being accepted. That means it was not posted as an open competition; instead, it signals the agency's intention to fund a specific partner arrangement (in this case, GRYN working with NMSU) for the described analytical work.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as targeted support for long-term monitoring synthesis: taking years of field monitoring data on amphibians and wetlands in Yellowstone and Grand Teton and producing a rigorous analysis centered on breeding salamanders, with a clear emphasis on linking biological trends to habitat conditions, hydrologic timing, and weather variability. The intended outcome is actionable understanding of how salamanders track wetland change, especially under scenarios where wetlands are increasingly dry, which can help parks anticipate ecological impacts and communicate those changes clearly.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Analysis of Breeding Salamanders in the Greater Yellowstone Area" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 31, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by This is a non-competitive Notice of Intent only. No applications are being accepted at this time.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $30,107.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for P19AS00212

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