Monitoring, inventory, public outreach, and trace fossil research | P19AS00156

Opportunity Information: Apply for P19AS00156

The grant opportunity titled "Monitoring, inventory, public outreach, and trace fossil research" (Funding Opportunity Number P19AS00156) is a National Park Service cooperative agreement focused on strengthening how Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA) documents, protects, studies, and communicates its paleontological resources. GRCA preserves an exceptionally long record of ancient life, spanning roughly one billion years, and includes the largest exposed sequence of Paleozoic rocks in the world. Within these rock layers are scientifically valuable fossils such as trilobites, nautiloids, fossil plants like ferns, reptile trackways, and a wide range of trace fossils, which together provide key evidence for reconstructing past ecosystems and how organisms behaved long before bones and shells were commonly preserved.

A central driver of the project is improving the park's paleontology management capacity in line with the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009. While GRCA already maintains paleontology inventories and a management protocol, the existing inventories are described as lacking detailed information about the fossilized organisms themselves and are missing coverage in areas where additional fossil sites likely exist. In practical terms, this means the park needs more in-depth field surveying to locate new sites and more complete documentation of known localities so that fossils can be evaluated, compared, and tracked over time rather than simply being listed.

The scientific emphasis is on understanding how ancient organisms lived in specific Paleozoic environments, with a targeted focus on Cambrian trace fossils. Trace fossils (such as tracks, trails, burrows, and feeding marks) are especially important in Cambrian rocks because they record behavior and interactions with the environment even when body fossils are rare or poorly preserved. By concentrating on Cambrian trace fossils, the project aims to sharpen GRCA's interpretation of the Cambrian explosion for visitors. That public-facing component matters because the Cambrian period is widely associated with a rapid diversification of animal life, and trace fossil evidence can make that story more concrete by showing how early animals moved, burrowed, fed, and modified seafloor habitats.

Beyond research, the project is designed to produce management tools the park can use. Expected outcomes include a more robust, useful paleontology inventory and an improved approach for monitoring fossils and prioritizing which resources need the most attention. Better monitoring and prioritization can help the park identify vulnerable sites, detect damage or erosion, and guide where limited staff time should be spent. The opportunity also frames paleontology as a park resource that should be considered more explicitly during environmental assessments, with the goal of reducing fossil damage or loss from natural processes, visitation pressure, or project-related ground disturbance.

Administratively, the opportunity is a discretionary funding program under the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, categorized under Natural Resources, and funded through a cooperative agreement (meaning substantial collaboration between the recipient and the agency is typical). Eligible applicants are public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, which signals an expectation that universities or similar institutions will bring specialized expertise in paleontology, field surveying, data management, and interpretation. The award ceiling is $25,437, with one expected award. The opportunity was created May 14, 2019, with an original closing date of May 23, 2019, indicating a short application window at the time it was posted.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Monitoring, inventory, public outreach, and trace fossil research" 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 May 14, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 23, 2019. (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 $25,437.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for P19AS00156

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