Deadline: 17-Oct-22
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the applications for the Forest Health Protection Evaluation Monitoring Program to investigate the extent, severity, and/or cause of forest health issues.
The Evaluation Monitoring (EM) component of FHM is designed to evaluate undesirable changes in forest health.
Priority Issues
Based on current analyses of forest health indicators tracked through the FHM program, they are particularly interested in project proposals dealing with the following priority issues:
- Shifts in fire regimes
- Extreme weather events including drought and high temperatures
- Tree mortality
- Insect and pathogen outbreaks
- Shifts in vegetation patterns including type conversions
Categories
Proposals must address priority issues in at least one of the following categories:
- Advance climate informed monitoring through the integration of climate science, remote sensing technology, Forest Inventory and Analysis, and other datasets. For example:
- Integrate satellite-based remote sensing into aerial and field surveys to broaden Forest Health Monitoring survey coverage for early detection and rapid response to climate driven insect and disease disturbances.
- Integrate information on drought, rainfall, and temperature changes into the holistic monitoring and assessment of wildfires, insect outbreaks, forest blowdowns, and other disturbances.
- Use information on climate and disturbances for early detection and rapid response to invasive species in the areas most at risk.
- Effects of cross disturbance interactions (e.g., drought, pests, and fire) on forests and forest provided benefits (e.g. carbon uptake and storage and human health)
- Short-term and early detection of disturbances and their effects including:
- Extent, severity, and causes of priority issues
- Deviations in patterns of vegetation dynamics
- Deviations in expected levels of tree mortality and vigor
Evaluation Criteria
Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria:
- Focus on priority issues within identified categories.
- Significance/impact of forest health issue.
- Methods.
- Budget.
- Community Engagement.
For more information, visit USDA.
For more information, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/foresthealth/working-with-us/index.shtml