NOTICE OF INTENT: Increasing the Effectiveness of White-nose Syndrome Monitoring and Detection in Bat Populations at Chiricahua National Monument & Fort Bowie National Historic Site | P18AS00369

Opportunity Information: Apply for P18AS00369

The grant opportunity titled "NOTICE OF INTENT: Increasing the Effectiveness of White-nose Syndrome Monitoring and Detection in Bat Populations at Chiricahua National Monument and Fort Bowie National Historic Site" (Funding Opportunity Number P18AS00369) is a National Park Service effort under the U.S. Department of the Interior to strengthen early detection and ongoing surveillance of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bat populations at two Arizona park units. The award is offered as a discretionary cooperative agreement within the Natural Resources funding category (CFDA 15.945). The opportunity was created on June 25, 2018, with an original closing date of July 5, 2018, and it anticipated making one award with a maximum federal funding amount of $39,885.

The central purpose is to improve how effectively bats are monitored for WNS at Chiricahua National Monument and Fort Bowie National Historic Site, building directly on a rare and valuable long-term dataset collected over roughly eighteen years (2000 to 2017). The notice emphasizes that these ongoing monitoring records are among the few long-duration bat datasets in Arizona, which makes them especially important for identifying population shifts, changes in species presence, and broader ecological impacts if WNS continues spreading westward. The urgency comes from the disease's documented impact: since first being detected in New York in 2007, WNS has spread steadily and has been linked to the deaths of more than 5 million bats across 33 states and 5 Canadian provinces. The proposal is framed as a way to prepare for and respond to the likely risk of WNS moving from west Texas into Arizona.

If funded, the project would provide three years of support to enhance and expand the existing monitoring program. The emphasis is on adopting more robust WNS detection approaches by upgrading equipment, improving sampling techniques, and increasing the monitoring schedule so that surveillance is both more sensitive and more consistent over time. A key enhancement described in the opportunity is the addition of acoustic monitoring to complement traditional capture-based methods such as mist-netting. By pairing these two approaches, the project aims to compare results and generate a more complete picture of bat activity, diversity, and relative abundance at both parks. Mist-netting can provide species-level confirmation and allow for hands-on assessment and sampling, while acoustic monitoring can broaden coverage across times and locations and detect echolocation activity that might be missed by limited netting sessions. The opportunity suggests that this combined strategy could produce new insights into how bat communities are structured at each site and how they may change under disease pressure.

The expected outputs are practical and public-facing as well as scientific. Data collected through the enhanced monitoring and detection methods would be summarized in annual reports, supporting ongoing management decisions and helping park staff track trends through time. The notice also highlights that results will be made available for interpretive programs and citizen science activities, indicating an intent to translate monitoring outcomes into education and public engagement, not just internal resource management. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others" with additional eligibility details referenced elsewhere in the full opportunity materials, but the overall structure indicates the NPS anticipated working closely with a partner through a cooperative agreement to carry out the monitoring enhancements and reporting over the three-year period.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NOTICE OF INTENT: Increasing the Effectiveness of White-nose Syndrome Monitoring and Detection in Bat Populations at Chiricahua National Monument & Fort Bowie National Historic Site" 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 Jun 25, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 05, 2018. (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 $39,885.00 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).

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