2023 Ecosystem Monitoring Fund

Request for Proposals

The Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative is excited to announce a request for proposals for the Ecosystem Monitoring Fund. Funds are available to support projects up to $25,000 with a required 1:1 non-federal match.

The Ecosystem Monitoring Fund will support forest ecosystem monitoring projects in the seven-state FEMC program area. The goal is to provide support for the collection, aggregation, analysis, and utilization of forest ecosystem monitoring information to better understand the current threats, historical trends, and future directions of the forested landscape in the Northeast.

The full announcement is available on our website.

The deadline for submission is March 24, 2023 at 5pm.

Please contact Elissa Schuett with any questions and distribute this announcement widely.

Proposal specifications

Details of the proposal components can be found in the Full RFP. In brief, please include:

• Narrative section (3 pages maximum)
• Budget detail and justification, including 1:1 matching funds
• Data management plan

Timeline

Fund Priorities

FEMC's recent work generally focuses on the following themes:

• Forest Pests and Disturbance Regimes
• Forest Inventory and Relationship to Carbon and Management
• Climate Change Impacts on Forested Ecosystems
• Forest Regeneration
• Recreation and Forest Health
• Forest Ecosystem Data Rescue and Preservation
• Forest-Water and Forest-Wildlife Intersections

FEMC's guiding committees have identified several priority topics of interest within these themes that would benefit from increased or improved monitoring. These priorities are not exhaustive – but meant to guide selection of successful proposals to fund.

• Carbon storage: improve the understanding of the impacts of invasive pests, assessment by forest type, or how timber management may play a role in carbon sequestration.
• Urban and community forestry: Define issues of forests in urban settings and consider what monitoring urban woodlands looks like. This may also include questions about increased development, land use change, and forest fragmentation.
• Invasive pest monitoring: including monitoring hemlock wooly adelgid, emerald ash borer, balsam wooly adelgid, spotted lanternfly, and others that may be emerging threats to the region.
• Forest regeneration capacity: identify thresholds for adequate regeneration by forest type or understand factors that result in a lack of regeneration.
• Deer browse: identify trends in browse impact and how browse affects the diversity of forests and plant communities.
• Invasive plants: monitor and map distribution to help inform where they are located and where they will spread.
• Fragmentation and land use.
• Old growth forests: standardize characterization of old growth and quantify the amount that exists.
• Hydrology: exploring forest-water connections and ecosystem services