Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with the Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) | G25AS00333

Opportunity Information: Apply for G25AS00333

This grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number G25AS00333) is a US Geological Survey (USGS) cooperative agreement issued through the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) program, specifically the Desert Southwest CESU. The USGS Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) is offering financial assistance for research focused on the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) in Saguaro National Park (SAGU), with an emphasis on understanding how ongoing aridification is affecting the species and identifying practical ways to strengthen the resilience of saguaro populations. Because this is a CESU opportunity, only organizations that are formal, participating partners in the Desert Southwest CESU are eligible to apply.

The core problem the project is trying to address is the accelerating climate stress in the US Southwest. The region is in a severe long-term drought, and the park has already warmed substantially, with temperatures at SAGU reported to have increased by about 1.2 degrees C since 1895 and expected to continue rising. Park managers are observing ecosystem-level changes tied to these hotter, drier conditions, including shifts in vegetation communities, altered fire regimes, and increasing pressure on water resources. The opportunity frames these changes as long-term aridification that is being intensified by higher temperatures, and it positions the saguaro as both an iconic and ecologically critical species that could serve as a bellwether for broader desert ecosystem health.

The saguaro is described as a long-lived, drought-adapted keystone species that supports at least 100 other plant and animal species, meaning its decline would ripple through the entire community. Historically, the park saw a rebound in saguaro populations beginning in the 1960s after decades of decline, likely linked to management actions that protected nurse trees. Nurse trees are especially important because young saguaros often require their shade and microclimate buffering to survive environmental stress. Many of the saguaros that benefited from those conditions are now reaching reproductive age, which would normally be good news for population stability. However, the opportunity highlights a major warning sign: since the mid-1990s, scientists have documented declining survival of saguaro seedlings. In the Cactus Forest area of the park, recruitment (successful establishment of new young plants) since 1995 is stated to be less than 10 percent of what it was in earlier decades, with similar poor recruitment observed across other park habitats.

A key motivation for funding this work is that existing research, while helpful for describing how saguaros are responding to changing conditions, does not yet provide the kind of causal, management-ready answers needed to guide near-term protection strategies. The park needs clearer evidence about what factors are directly driving reduced seedling survival and what interventions are most likely to work under future climate conditions. The announcement also notes that these questions extend beyond SAGU. Similar recruitment failures are being observed across the species drier western range, including Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and there are concerns in urban environments like the Phoenix metropolitan area where the urban heat island may be contributing to mortality, potentially through unusually high night-time temperatures. In other words, the research is intended to produce insights that can be applied not only in Saguaro National Park but also across other public lands where saguaros and other iconic cacti face similar climate pressures.

On the administrative side, this is a discretionary funding opportunity using a cooperative agreement instrument, which typically signals that substantial involvement from the federal agency is expected during the project (for example, coordination on study design, data sharing, field logistics, or interpretation for management use). The activity category is Science and Technology and other Research and Development, and the CFDA (now commonly referenced as Assistance Listing) number provided is 15.808. The award ceiling is $150,000. The posted closing date is 2025-08-29, and the notice emphasizes that the opportunity is subject to availability of funds, meaning an award is not guaranteed even if a proposal is strong.

Overall, the opportunity is aimed at applied, decision-relevant science: identifying why saguaro recruitment is failing under hotter, drier conditions, determining how vulnerable current and future populations are to continued aridification, and developing or testing management actions that could improve resilience. The work is framed as urgent because the park is already seeing sustained recruitment collapse, climate trends are moving in the wrong direction, and managers need clearer cause-and-effect evidence to choose interventions that can realistically protect an iconic keystone species and the broader desert ecosystem it supports.

• The Geological Survey in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cooperative Agreement for affiliated Partner with the Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU)" 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 2025-07-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-08-29. (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 $150,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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