BLM-UT, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Scientific Study to Employ GPS Technology to Understand Livestock Distribution, Grazing Practices, and Statistical Analysis of Rangeland Data | L17AS00088

Opportunity Information: Apply for L17AS00088

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), under the Department of the Interior, is offering a discretionary funding opportunity focused on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in Utah. The project is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning the selected partner should expect to work collaboratively with BLM rather than operating as a fully independent contractor. The opportunity is aimed at natural resource research and monitoring, specifically rangeland and grazing management questions tied to livestock behavior and habitat conditions.

At its core, the project is a scientific study designed to map and analyze where cattle actually spend time on the landscape, using GPS technology to track livestock distribution. The study is meant to examine cattle movements and grazing patterns across a gradient of terrain and ecological settings, particularly different slope conditions and vegetation types. By looking at how cattle use areas that vary in steepness and plant communities, the project can help clarify which parts of allotments receive heavy use, which areas are avoided, and how those patterns might change across seasons or management scenarios. This kind of information is often difficult to gather with traditional field observation alone, so GPS-based tracking is a central tool for generating more detailed, continuous, and defensible data.

A key management question behind the work is how vegetation restoration treatments are affecting forage availability and grazing efficiency. In practical terms, GSENM and BLM want to understand whether restoration actions (for example, treatments intended to improve plant composition, reduce invasive species, or increase desired forage species) are changing the amount and distribution of forage in a way that influences cattle behavior. The project also seeks to evaluate how efficiently cattle use the forage that is available, which can inform decisions about grazing practices, timing, and potential adjustments to management strategies to better meet ecological and permit-related objectives.

The announcement also highlights statistical analysis of rangeland data as an explicit component of the work. That signals the partner is expected not only to collect GPS tracking information but also to analyze it in a rigorous way, potentially integrating location data with environmental variables such as vegetation type, treatment history, and topographic factors like slope. The intended outcome is a clearer, evidence-based understanding of livestock distribution relative to landscape features and management treatments, which can be used to improve monitoring, evaluate restoration effectiveness, and support adaptive management in GSENM.

Funding for the opportunity has an award ceiling of $20,000, with BLM expecting to make one award. The project is described as multi-year, which suggests the agency is looking for continuity in data collection and analysis over more than one field season, even if the initial funding level is modest. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning the opportunity is open to a wide range of applicants (such as universities, nonprofits, tribal entities, or private organizations), subject to any additional eligibility details that might appear in the full notice. The opportunity number is L17AS00088, it was created on May 5, 2017, and the original closing date was July 3, 2017. The CFDA listing associated with the program is 15.237.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BLM-UT, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument Scientific Study to Employ GPS Technology to Understand Livestock Distribution, Grazing Practices, and Statistical Analysis of Rangeland Data" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.237.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 05, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 03, 2017. (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 $20,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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