Monitoring Bats in National Parks of the Upper Midwest-GLKN | NPS NOIP16AC00340 02

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the "Monitoring Bats in National Parks of the Upper Midwest-GLKN" opportunity?

This is a National Park Service (NPS) cooperative agreement focused on improving park-by-park understanding of bat populations across national parks in the Upper Midwest. The work is designed to build a consistent baseline of bat species presence and activity across multiple parks at a time when White Nose Syndrome (WNS) had not yet been confirmed in the participating sites (as of March 2018).

Which agency is offering this funding opportunity?

The opportunity was offered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS).

What type of funding instrument is being used?

The funding instrument is a Cooperative Agreement, supporting a collaborative effort between the NPS Great Lakes Network (GLKN) and an academic partner.

What is the main purpose of this cooperative agreement?

The main purpose is to coordinate and implement bat monitoring across multiple national park units in the Upper Midwest, using standardized acoustic monitoring to generate consistent, comparable information that park resource managers can use as WNS approaches and potentially spreads through the region.

Why is White Nose Syndrome (WNS) a focus of this project?

The project is timed to establish "before-impact" baseline conditions. As of March 2018, there were no confirmed WNS cases in the nine participating parks, making baseline monitoring especially valuable for documenting bat community conditions before potential disease-driven declines.

How will bats be monitored under this project?

The project centers on acoustic monitoring using specialized recording devices that capture bat echolocation calls. This approach allows researchers to detect bat activity and identify species present without handling the animals.

What kind of information will acoustic monitoring provide?

By collecting recordings at defined locations over time, the parks can establish a baseline of which bat species are present, where they are active, how active they are, and how those patterns change over time.

How many national parks are expected to participate?

The monitoring is described as being standardized across up to nine NPS units, with the narrative noting nine participating national parks.

Who are the project partners?

The agreement supports collaboration between the Great Lakes Network (GLKN) of the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program and Northland College, working specifically with Dr. Erik Olson.

What role does Dr. Erik Olson play in the project?

Dr. Erik Olson (Northland College) is identified as a key collaborator with substantial experience in this kind of wildlife research, supporting the applied monitoring, analysis, and reporting work described for the multi-park effort.

What activities and tasks are included in the project scope?

The work is structured to jointly coordinate the full workflow of a multi-park acoustic monitoring program, including field deployment and retrieval of acoustic detectors, ensuring standardized data collection across parks, analyzing recorded calls to determine species occurrence and activity levels, managing and organizing datasets for long-term use, and producing reports that translate findings into practical information for park staff.

Does the project require handling or capturing bats?

The described monitoring method is acoustic recording of echolocation calls, which is specifically presented as a way to detect activity and identify species without needing to handle animals.

What is meant by a "baseline" in this project?

A baseline refers to a consistent starting set of data documenting which bat species are using particular areas and how active they are at defined locations, collected before WNS becomes established. This provides a reference point to compare future monitoring results against.

How will the results be used by national parks?

The emphasis is on producing consistent, comparable, decision-relevant information. Reports and datasets are intended to support park resource managers in understanding spatial patterns and trends and in responding as WNS approaches and potentially moves through the region.

Is there an education or workforce development component?

Yes. The opportunity is framed to provide place-based education and workforce development by engaging Northland College students directly in fieldwork and applied wildlife monitoring, pairing learning outcomes with conservation outcomes.

What is the stated principal purpose of the project?

The stated principal purpose is youth engagement through meaningful data collection, with students participating in monitoring that produces information the NPS can use for conservation and management.

Is this a competitive opportunity with multiple awards?

The expected number of awards is one, indicating a single, focused partnership to carry out the coordinated monitoring and reporting effort.

What is the maximum funding amount available under this opportunity?

The award ceiling is $231,584.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility was limited to private institutions of higher education, consistent with the intended academic partnership described for the project.

What is the opportunity number?

The opportunity number is NPS NOIP16AC00340 02.

What CFDA number is associated with this opportunity?

The opportunity is associated with CFDA 15.944.

When was the opportunity created and when did it close?

The opportunity was created on June 22, 2018, and the original closing date was July 10, 2018.

What makes this a "cooperative" agreement rather than a simple grant?

Based on the description, the effort is designed as a joint collaboration between NPS (GLKN) and Northland College to coordinate standardized field methods, data management, analysis, and reporting across multiple parks, rather than being a stand-alone activity conducted independently by an awardee.

What kinds of deliverables are implied by the project description?

The description emphasizes coordinated field deployments, standardized monitoring data collected across parks, analyzed acoustic recordings (for species occurrence and activity), long-term usable datasets, and reports that translate results into practical information for park staff.