ELIGIBILITY: This funding opportunity is ONLY available for Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units in the Desert Southwest CESU region & North Atlantic Coast CESU region. Note: Must be a non-federal partner in the CESU Units listed above to be qualified to be considered. Project Title: Natural Resource Support at Fort Carson Responses to this Request for Statements of Interest will be used to identify potential investigators for a project to be funded by Fort Carson, which provides professional and technical support for its Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP) in order to facilitate successful implementation of the 16 USC 670c-1 Sikes Act. Approximately $180,563.00 is available to support the base tasks associated with this project for the base period. Additional funding may be available for the two optional tasks. NOTE: Attached to this document you will find a DRAFT Statement of Objectives for your reference only. Again, at this time we are only requesting that you demonstrate available qualifications and skills for performing similar or same type of work. A full study proposal and proposed budget are NOT requested at this time. Brief Description of Anticipated Work: This research focuses on the following objectives: 1) Acoustic Monitoring: To get more robust data on species presence, abundance and diversity at different bat habitat types across the military landscape, acoustic recording boxes shall continue to be deployed at Fort Carson (FC) and Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS) in areas of high bat use within different habitat types. Additionally, at mine entrances/exits, acoustic loggers shall be placed to capture species presence and movements, temporally and spatially, within the mine systems. 2) Capture – Bat Netting and Roost Monitoring: Bat netting/capture events shall continue to be conducted at each of the acoustic recording sites to provide more robust data providing an assessment of bat species diversity, reproductive status, WNS scarring records, and age distribution on FC and PCMS. Monitoring shall provide insight to the assemblage of species that occur in these areas. 3) Telemetry: A telemetry component shall provide an assessment of bat foraging behavior and potential roosting locations for rare species of FC and PCMS. 4) Bat Habitat Investigation and Surveys: Mines outside of the Stone City mine complex shall be searched for new openings and the mine systems surveyed. Mine investigation shall determine bat use. Further roosting habitat searches shall be completed in areas across FC and PCMS where roosting habitat exists, such as rock cliff faces, etc. 5) Stone City Mine Complex Schematic and Modification of Mine Gate: A new Stone City mine complex schematic shall be completed following mine surveys. The mine opening where the tri-colored bat was captured previously shall be modified from solid impenetrable grate to a moving gate. 6) Habitat Modeling: Bat species presence/absence habitat models shall be created to provide greater understanding of bat use/occurrence across the FC and PCMS military landscape. For a detailed description please review the RSOI_SOO related documents attached in this posting. Please send responses or direct questions to: USACE Sandy Justman Contract Specialist CESWF-CT Email:
[email protected] Office: 817-886-1073 Timeline for Review of Statements of Interest: Review of Statements of Interest will begin 12 APRIL 2020.