Human Environmental Relationships across the Southeast Region and Caribbean Using the National Park Service's Resources | NPS NOI 17 CESU 27202

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOI 17 CESU 27202

The grant opportunity titled "Human Environmental Relationships across the Southeast Region and Caribbean Using the National Park Service's Resources" is a National Park Service (NPS) funding notice issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is presented as a Notice of Intent (NOI), meaning the agency is announcing its plan to make an award rather than inviting open competition. The award is intended to be made as a non-competitive Task Agreement under the Gulf Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Master Cooperative Agreement (P12AC51051), and it cites the Department of the Interior policy authority in 505 Departmental Manual 2.12C as the basis for using this non-competitive approach.

The core purpose of the project is research-focused and centers on understanding how people in the past lived within, interacted with, and used their surrounding environments. To do that, the work relies on analyzing physical remains recovered from archaeological contexts, specifically zooarchaeological materials (animal remains such as bone, shell, and other faunal indicators) and archaeobotanical materials (plant remains such as seeds, charcoal, and other botanical evidence). By identifying and interpreting these remains, the project aims to reconstruct aspects of diet, resource use, subsistence practices, environmental adaptation, and broader human-environment relationships over time.

A key practical goal of the effort is straightforward but essential: to identify zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical remains that were recovered during archaeological projects conducted by the Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC). These materials come from National Park Service units across the Southeast Region (SER), and the scope explicitly includes the Caribbean. In other words, the project is not limited to a single park or a single excavation; it is meant to support identification and analysis across a wide portfolio of NPS-managed archaeological collections generated through SEAC work in multiple locations, including island contexts in the Caribbean.

Administratively, this opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding and uses a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument, which typically indicates substantial involvement or collaboration from the federal agency during the project rather than a hands-off grant structure. The activity category is listed under Science and Technology and other Research and Development, and the CFDA number associated with the program is 15.945. The notice lists an expected single award with an award ceiling of $25,000, indicating a small, targeted research or collections-based task rather than a large multi-year field program.

In terms of timing, the opportunity was created on July 31, 2017, with an original closing date of August 9, 2017. Eligibility is not described as broadly open in the summary data; it is listed as "Others" with additional clarification referenced in the full announcement. Because it is an NOI for a non-competitive CESU task agreement, the intended recipient is typically an eligible CESU partner organization rather than the general public, consistent with how CESU agreements are often used to place specialized research and technical assistance work with partner institutions.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a small, non-competitive, CESU-based cooperative agreement intended to continue and support NPS/SEAC archaeological science by identifying and analyzing animal and plant remains from NPS archaeological collections across the Southeast Region and the Caribbean, with the broader objective of improving understanding of past human lifeways and their environmental relationships.

• 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 "Human Environmental Relationships across the Southeast Region and Caribbean Using the National Park Service's Resources" 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 Jul 31, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 09, 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 $25,000.00 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 NPS NOI 17 CESU 27202

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