FWSR4 FY22 Science Support Partnership and Quick Response

The Southeast Regional Review Team is soliciting proposals for the Science Support Partnership (SSP) and Quick Response (QR) programs. These programs are a cooperative effort between USGS and the Service to address key scientific and information needs that will best help the Service make important conservation and management decisions.  We expect USGS will have approximately $363,000 available in FY 2022 for new SSP and QR starts in the Service’s Southeast Region. A wide range of research projects, biological studies, and other forms of technical assistance have been funded by these programs in the past, and competition for the funds generally is very high. 

Proposals should originate as a result of joint collaboration among Service Project Officers and USGS Principal Investigators, with an emphasis on key Service information needs. SSP projects can span several years. QR projects can be no longer than 18 months nor require more than $25,000. These projects also should address a priority issue, but tend to be smaller in scope and address more local needs than SSP.  The Southeast Region targets SSP funding to support projects that help FWS field staff prioritize and decide where, how much, and what kinds of conservation or management actions are needed to support sustainable populations of:

• Threatened, endangered, candidate or other Federal trust species with declining population status,
• Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agency (SEAFWA)/FWS priority petitioned species,
• Species that serve as a proxy for fish and wildlife service trust species, ecological communities, or habitat types. 

Based on input from the Regional Science Information Needs gathering exercise held earlier this year, themes have been revised slightly to:

1. Impact of current and future stressors (e.g. changes in water quantity/timing, sea level rise, energy development) on water resources and trust species, and effective management alternatives to mitigate the impact.
2. Monitoring and evaluation of focus species and/or their habitats to determine if management actions achieve desired biological objectives or to test assumptions for the purpose of improving conservation delivery.
3. Life history, status, and trends information with direct relevance for management decisions for focus species.

Cross-regional projects provide a great approach for expanding the geographic and topical relevance of a particular information need. Cross-regional proposals should be submitted to each engaged FWS region by the proposal deadline established for that region.  Please contact Yvonne Allen (yvonne_allen@fws.gov) for current deadlines and contacts in other Regions.  Cross-regional proposals should indicate: 1) the FWS legacy regions involved and 2) the percentage of total funding requested from each region. 

Priority will be given to projects where results carry greater importance and urgency.  Priority will also be given to projects that will benefit one or more focus species at a landscape scale, rather than being specific a research site or station. Projects must address FWS decision making related to the criteria listed below and must demonstrate a collaborative effort between USGS and FWS (i.e. the agency project manager or designee does more than just sign off on reports).