Climate change impacts on subsistence access to coastal resources in Arctic National Parks: Implications for NPS management | P17AS00167

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00167

This notice describes the National Park Service (NPS) intent to make a single, non-competitive cooperative agreement award for a research project examining how climate change is affecting subsistence access to coastal resources in Arctic parklands, and what those changes mean for NPS management. It is explicitly not an open call for applications; instead, it functions as public notice that NPS planned to fund a specific recipient for a defined scope of work. The project is titled "Climate change impacts on subsistence access to coastal resources in Arctic National Parks: Implications for NPS management" (Funding Announcement Number P17AS00167), with an anticipated award of $68,913, no cost share, and a performance window running from April 24, 2017 through December 31, 2019. The instrument is a cooperative agreement under 54 U.S.C. 101702(a), aligned with CFDA 15.945 (Cooperative Research and Training Programs). The identified recipient is the University of Alaska Fairbanks (a public, state-controlled institution of higher education), led by Principal Investigator Anne Beaudreau, with Erica Cordeiro listed as the NPS point of contact.

The core problem the project addresses is that warming temperatures are reshaping or removing the routes people use to reach coastal subsistence resources across the Arctic. The notice highlights concrete examples of these disruptions: erosion and sea level rise are degrading coastal sites where foods have traditionally been gathered and processed, and diminishing sea ice is reducing access to marine mammals and altering hunting conditions. While prior work in the region produced a detailed atlas of subsistence use and ecologically important areas, NPS identifies an ongoing information gap: which specific subsistence areas and travel corridors are most vulnerable to climate-driven landscape change, and how those vulnerabilities translate into management needs. Because NPS is responsible both for conserving park resources and supporting subsistence access where authorized, the lack of detailed, management-relevant information about access routes is described as a barrier to planning and decision-making.

The research is focused on two coastal units within the Western Arctic National Parklands (WEAR): Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (BELA) and Cape Krusenstern National Monument (CAKR). The overall aim is to understand how NPS staff are planning for and responding to environmental and landscape changes that affect subsistence access to marine resources in and around these park boundaries. A central feature of the approach is qualitative inquiry with NPS personnel, paired with synthesis of existing subsistence harvest data. Interviews are intended to capture staff perspectives on how subsistence use occurs in these parklands, what environmental shifts they are seeing in species and habitats, how NPS policies shape resource and land use decisions, and how local and Indigenous knowledge is brought into management processes. In parallel, the project builds on existing research to better document current access patterns for subsistence users seeking marine resources in BELA and CAKR.

The work is organized around two main objectives. First, the team plans to document historical and current transportation methods and technologies used by harvesters to reach marine subsistence resources in and around the two park units, relying on a comprehensive synthesis of literature and available data sources. Second, the project seeks to characterize NPS staff perceptions of coastal resource access and use, including staff views on the most significant environmental changes underway, the practical influence of NPS policy on subsistence-related management, and the ways tools and technology can affect harvesting within park boundaries. Together, these objectives are meant to connect changing physical conditions on the coast with the real-world mechanics of subsistence access and the management choices NPS may need to consider.

The notice also lays out what the University of Alaska Fairbanks research team is expected to do and what they will produce. Recipient responsibilities include conducting in-depth interviews with NPS staff working in WEAR, BELA, and CAKR; compiling and synthesizing existing datasets describing subsistence marine harvest (including species, quantities, and locations) within park boundaries; and delivering a set of communication and research products. Key deliverables include maps that show core subsistence use areas overlaid with land status, a written report describing methods and major findings (including current access technologies, potential need for new access routes, and staff perspectives on how NPS can support user adaptation), and a peer-reviewed journal manuscript with open-access options. Additional dissemination includes a conference presentation, an article for Alaska Park Science, and multiple outreach products such as presentations to NPS staff and local communities, school-based educational activities, an online newsletter summary, and a short video intended for broad public and professional audiences.

Because this is a cooperative agreement, the NPS role is more than simply providing funds. NPS commits to advising the research team and giving feedback on project direction, participating in interviews to support the study goals, helping the team connect with communities and NPS personnel, and reviewing and potentially co-authoring final reports and manuscripts. NPS also plans to help disseminate results through agency communication channels (websites, newsletters, and similar outlets) and to assist with creation of the short outreach video. This collaborative structure signals that NPS expects the outputs to be directly useful for internal planning and external communication about subsistence and climate adaptation in these Arctic parklands.

Finally, the notice explains why NPS is not running a competitive process for this award. The single-source justification is based on the "Continuation" criterion under Department of the Interior policy (505 DM 2). NPS states that this project is designed to run alongside a separate, non-federally funded effort with similar aims that focuses on non-NPS staff, using the same personnel, methods, and in some cases the same locations. Awarding to a different team would reduce comparability between the parallel studies, introduce differences in method that could complicate interpretation, and increase costs by duplicating travel and investigator time. NPS argues that using the same team leverages the non-federal project resources, improves continuity, and avoids delays that could extend the work by years. In practical terms, the agency frames the non-competitive award as a way to produce more coherent, actionable findings for subsistence access and climate-change response across the targeted Arctic coastal park units.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Climate change impacts on subsistence access to coastal resources in Arctic National Parks: Implications for NPS management" 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 Apr 05, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 14, 2017 This is a notice of intent to award to UAF.. (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 $75,000.00 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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