GLNF CESU: Evaluating the Relationship of Community Gravel Beds in Lake Huron and Erie- GLRI | NPS NOIP20AC00302

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOIP20AC00302

This grant opportunity, titled "GLNF CESU: Evaluating the Relationship of Community Gravel Beds in Lake Huron and Erie - GLRI" (Funding Opportunity Number NPS NOIP20AC00302), is a National Park Service (Department of the Interior) cooperative agreement funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) 2020 program, supported via a reimbursable agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NPS. The project is rooted in a documented national trend: tree canopy cover has been declining across many U.S. cities while impervious surface area has increased, which together can worsen urban heat, stormwater runoff, and water quality. The work specifically targets urban communities along the Lake Erie and Lake Huron shorelines and aims to strengthen and expand local tree canopy planting efforts in those areas.

At the center of the project is the use of community gravel beds, a nursery-style technique communities can use to temporarily grow and handle young trees, often with the goal of improving transplant success and lowering costs. Communities along the lakeshores are expected to begin their planting initiatives within roughly 6 to 12 months after the award, and the principal investigator (PI) will work alongside these communities to set up gravel beds and track outcomes across several years. While the title references Lake Huron and Lake Erie, the intent is broader than a single site study: it is meant to generate practical, transferable knowledge about what makes urban tree planting succeed, especially in Great Lakes coastal communities where improving water quality is a major restoration priority.

The grant lays out four main research objectives. First, it calls for detailed documentation of all tree species used and the nursery rooting types involved in the planting efforts, followed by tracking survival and establishment rates over a three-year monitoring period. Using those early survival and growth results, the project will then project the anticipated impact on tree canopy cover 30 years into the future, essentially linking near-term planting performance to long-term canopy outcomes. Second, it seeks to measure citizen engagement at the community level, not just as a narrative description but as something that can be quantified to understand how public participation affects a community's capacity to plan, implement, and sustain a canopy planting initiative. Third, the project will evaluate whether these planting efforts change the genetic diversity of trees within participating communities, recognizing that diversity can influence resilience to pests, disease, and climate stressors. Fourth, it will assess how well different species adapt to local landscape indices and site conditions such as shade, lowland placement, and soil characteristics, and it notes that these indices can be compared with non-Great Lakes locations to identify which variables most strongly influence survival, establishment, and the likelihood of delivering meaningful canopy coverage decades later.

The broader significance of the work is tied to restoration and water quality outcomes. Tree canopy cover can naturally reduce nutrient and sediment runoff, improve infiltration, and lessen stormwater impacts, which are all relevant to Great Lakes nearshore health. By identifying whether gravel bed-based approaches produce higher establishment rates at lower costs, the project aims to inform more economical and effective methods that could be incorporated into future restoration grants and planting programs run by federal, state, county, or tribal entities, as well as local partners. The opportunity also emphasizes knowledge sharing beyond the National Park Service: results are expected to contribute to the wider scientific and practitioner community through research findings and dissemination of natural resource information, helping others replicate what works and avoid what does not.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was listed as discretionary funding and uses a cooperative agreement instrument, indicating substantial involvement and collaboration with NPS rather than a hands-off grant. Eligible applicants are public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, reflecting the research and monitoring intensity of the work. The anticipated budget ceiling was $260,000, with one expected award. The opportunity was created on March 4, 2020, with an original closing date of March 14, 2020. Overall, the project is designed to connect practical community planting methods (including gravel beds), rigorous multi-year survival tracking, long-range canopy modeling, and community engagement metrics to the GLRI goal of improving environmental conditions, especially water quality, in Great Lakes coastal urban areas.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the education, employment, labor and training, environment, natural resources, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "GLNF CESU: Evaluating the Relationship of Community Gravel Beds in Lake Huron and Erie- GLRI" 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 Mar 04, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 14, 2020. (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 $260,000.00 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.

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