Expanding Explore Natural Communities Outreach | P18AS00625

Opportunity Information: Apply for P18AS00625

Expanding Explore Natural Communities Outreach is a National Park Service (NPS) cooperative agreement effort focused on turning highly technical vegetation and biodiversity science into clear, engaging outreach that everyday park visitors and non-specialist NPS staff can actually use and enjoy. The core idea is simple: NPS and its partner NatureServe take complex data about plant communities, habitats, and associated wildlife in national parks and translate it into short, readable stories and multimedia content that explains what these natural communities are, where they occur, and why their conservation matters to the public. By doing this, the project aims to build a stronger culture of shared environmental stewardship among visitors, partners, and surrounding communities, and to make the value of protecting ecosystems feel immediate and relevant rather than abstract.

A major product of the work is the ExploreNaturalCommunities.org website, which serves as a mobile-accessible platform where scientific findings are presented through multiple formats, including written stories, podcasts, photographs, videos, maps, and other visual tools. Instead of asking the public to interpret dense classification reports or technical GIS outputs, the project highlights key takeaways from vegetation classification and mapping work and presents them in plain language. The emphasis is on helping people understand the living systems they are walking through in parks: how different forest types and native plant communities function, what species depend on them, what threats they face, and what conservation and restoration can accomplish over time.

The partnership is also designed to strengthen NatureServe, a 501(c)(3) science-based nonprofit, in its role as a leader within a broader public-private conservation network. NatureServe is widely recognized for its expertise in biodiversity information and for leadership in developing plant community classification systems. The opportunity specifically references the National Vegetation Classification (NVC), which has been adapted by the Ecological Society of America as a national standard and is also accepted as an NPS standard. By integrating NatureServe and NPS datasets, scientific expertise, and information technology, the project supports consistent identification, description, classification, mapping, and communication about native plant communities, including those in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other mapped public lands featured on the site.

Beyond public education, the project supports professional development and improves the practical usefulness of scientific information for park management. Park managers benefit from having scientifically grounded information about the condition and status of biological and physical resources presented in a form that is easier to apply in real decision-making, such as developing strategies for resource protection, prioritizing restoration, and understanding how parks fit within the broader regional landscape. The work is also framed as beneficial to the external scientific community, because it helps share new knowledge generated through the underlying classification and mapping work and encourages wider understanding and use of standardized biodiversity data.

In practical terms, the outreach includes content development and storytelling, identification of “highlights” from the underlying datasets, and use of interns or other contributors to produce podcasts and videos that bring natural communities to life. The public purpose is explicitly tied to increasing scientific understanding and public awareness of native plant communities and biodiversity, with the longer-term goal of improving the likelihood that these communities will be protected for future generations. The project positions communication itself as a conservation tool: by simplifying access to high-quality biodiversity information and making it understandable, it aims to build broader support for stewardship of national park resources.

Administratively, this opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number P18AS00625) was issued by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, as a discretionary cooperative agreement within activity areas that include science and technology and other research and development, along with employment, labor, and training elements. The listing notes CFDA 15.944 and eligibility limited to 501(c)(3) nonprofits other than institutions of higher education. It also states that this announcement was not a request for applications; instead, it served as notification that NPS intended to issue a modification to an existing, already-competed task agreement under Cooperative Agreement P15AC01330 with NatureServe. The expected award count was one, with an award ceiling of $85,000.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the employment, labor and training, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Expanding Explore Natural Communities Outreach" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.944.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 04, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 14, 2018 This announcement is not a request for applications. It is notification that NPS will award a modification to a task agreement under an already competed Cooperative Agreement Number P15ac01330 with NatureServe.. (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 $85,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

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