Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with North Atlantic Coast CESU Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit | G23AS00388

Opportunity Information: Apply for G23AS00388

This funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G23AS00388) is a discretionary cooperative agreement offered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program, specifically through the North Atlantic Coast CESU. The award is intended to support science and technology research and development (CFDA 15.808) focused on a timely public health and natural resource management issue: how continued deer population reductions in U.S. National Parks influence ticks and the pathogens ticks carry. The opportunity is structured as a cooperative agreement, which generally means substantial involvement by the federal agency is expected during the project (for example, coordination on study design, data collection, analyses, and reporting), rather than a more hands-off grant arrangement.

The central goal of the project is to better understand the ecological and disease-related consequences of deer management, especially as it relates to blacklegged ticks and tick-borne pathogens. Vector-borne diseases are described as a growing concern in the United States for both workers and visitors in outdoor settings, and the opportunity highlights that ticks can transmit multiple serious illnesses, including Lyme disease, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, anaplasmosis, and tularemia. The project is framed by national surveillance trends cited from CDC reporting, noting that reported tick-borne bacterial and protozoan disease cases increased from more than 22,000 in 2004 to more than 48,000 in 2016, with Lyme disease comprising 82 percent of reported cases. The announcement also underscores that reported cases likely underestimate the true burden, citing an estimate of roughly 329,000 Lyme disease cases annually.

From an ecological standpoint, the opportunity explains why deer are central to the study. Deer are an important host in the blacklegged tick life cycle, and blacklegged ticks are the primary vector of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. Because adult ticks commonly feed and reproduce on deer, changes in deer abundance can alter tick reproduction, tick survival, and ultimately tick densities in the landscape. However, the notice emphasizes that the effects of deer reduction are not uniform or guaranteed. Past deer reduction efforts have shown mixed outcomes, ranging from lowered tick densities in some settings to little change in tick density in others, and in some cases even increased host-seeking (questing) behavior. That nuance is important for park management because it suggests deer reduction alone may not predictably reduce human tick exposure across all parks and habitats.

A key complication highlighted in the description is that deer reduction programs are often implemented for vegetation restoration, and those habitat changes can ripple through the broader wildlife community. In particular, the opportunity notes that reduced deer browsing can promote growth of small mammal populations such as mice, voles, and shrews. These small mammals are well-known reservoir hosts for Lyme disease pathogens, meaning they can carry and transmit infection to ticks that feed on them. As a result, deer reduction could produce different outcomes over time depending on how vegetation and small mammal communities respond, and those outcomes may differ across ecological regions. The study therefore aims to capture time-dependent and region-specific effects rather than assuming a single consistent relationship between deer density and tick-borne disease risk.

The selected CESU partner is expected to play a hands-on role in ongoing work across several National Parks. The main activities described include continued field data collection, disease diagnostics (testing ticks and/or host samples for pathogens), and data analysis. In practice, that implies support for coordinated sampling of ticks and possibly wildlife hosts, laboratory processing to identify pathogens present, and statistical or ecological modeling to interpret how deer reductions correlate with tick abundance, infection prevalence, and potentially indicators of human exposure risk. Because the opportunity emphasizes continuation, it suggests there are existing study sites, protocols, or baseline datasets that the partner will help extend, which can strengthen the ability to detect trends over time and evaluate whether effects are delayed, transient, or persistent.

Eligibility is limited to organizations that are official participating partners of the North Atlantic Coast CESU Program. The CESU framework is described as a partnership-based mechanism designed to provide research, technical assistance, and education in support of federal land and resource management needs, and this award is explicitly issued under that CESU authority. The original closing date listed for applications was July 7, 2023, the maximum funding amount (award ceiling) is $100,000, and the opportunity posting indicates an expected award count that is not clearly specified in the source text. Overall, the project is positioned at the intersection of wildlife management, disease ecology, and public health, with practical relevance for how National Parks evaluate deer control as a tool that may influence tick populations and tick-borne pathogen dynamics in complex, sometimes counterintuitive ways.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with North Atlantic Coast CESU Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.808.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-06-07.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-07-07. (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 $100,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for G23AS00388

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: