History of land use and environmental conditions on Selawik Refuge in the early to mid-20th century | F18AS00151

Opportunity Information: Apply for F18AS00151

This grant opportunity, titled "History of land use and environmental conditions on Selawik Refuge in the early to mid-20th century" (Funding Opportunity Number F18AS00151), is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Region 7 plan to fund a single, specific research project through a cooperative agreement. It falls under the Department of the Interior and is connected to CFDA 15.678, with an environment and natural resources focus. The agency is clear that this is not an open competition: it is a single-source financial assistance agreement intended for the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). Because it is single-source, the government does not intend to accept or review proposals from other organizations.

The award is structured as a discretionary cooperative agreement, which generally means the agency expects to stay involved in the work rather than simply provide funds with minimal interaction. The opportunity lists an award ceiling of $56,000 and anticipates one award total. The notice was created on June 21, 2018, with an original closing date of June 29, 2018. Eligible applicants are described as public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, but the intent statement makes it clear that UAF, through the CESU network arrangement, is the intended recipient.

The main purpose of the project is to develop a clearer historical picture of how people used the lands and resources of Selawik National Wildlife Refuge in the early to mid-1900s and what environmental conditions were like during that period. The work is meant to document and interpret traditional family settlement patterns, where key seasonal camps were located, and how those settlement locations related to critical habitat and resource-rich areas. It also targets historical information on the distribution and abundance of important resources, with specific attention to muskrat hunting and trading, as well as other major subsistence activities that were central to local livelihoods and culture.

To build that historical record, the project relies on two complementary research approaches. First, it will use oral history interviews with elders from northwest Alaska to capture firsthand and community-held knowledge about past land use, seasonal movement, harvesting practices, and observed environmental change. Second, it will conduct archival research using materials held at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and other relevant repositories. The announcement emphasizes that combining oral histories with archival sources can illuminate past environmental conditions, identify habitat areas that were historically important (in part because seasonal settlements tended to be located near key resources), track changes in land use and resource distribution over time, and pinpoint places that may be significant cultural resource areas.

Overall, the grant is designed to support applied historical and cultural-environmental research that helps refuge managers and partners better understand long-term human-environment relationships on Selawik Refuge. By documenting historic subsistence practices, settlement geography, and ecological conditions, the work is expected to provide context that can inform natural and cultural resource management decisions, including recognizing culturally important landscapes and understanding how present-day conditions compare with those remembered and recorded from earlier decades.

• The Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service in the environment, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "History of land use and environmental conditions on Selawik Refuge in the early to mid-20th century" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.678.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 21, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 29, 2018. (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 $56,000.00 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.

Apply for F18AS00151

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