Return of Wolves to Isle Royale Consequences for Mesocarnivores | NPS NOIP20AC00057

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS NOIP20AC00057

The funding opportunity titled "Return of Wolves to Isle Royale Consequences for Mesocarnivores" (Funding Opportunity Number NPS NOIP20AC00057) is a National Park Service (NPS) discretionary grant to support research on how wolf reintroduction to Isle Royale affects other native carnivores on the island, specifically red foxes and American martens. The award is structured as a cooperative agreement under the Department of the Interior, with the work carried out through the Great Lakes - Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). Rather than being an open, competitive solicitation, the notice serves as a public announcement of NPS intent to make a non-competitive financial assistance award to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with the Pauli Lab serving as the principal investigator team. The anticipated award amount is up to $239,400, with a single award expected.

At its core, the project is designed to measure and explain ecological ripple effects from the return of a top predator. Isle Royale is a well-known natural laboratory for predator-prey dynamics, and wolf repatriation is expected to reshape food availability, scavenging opportunities, and competitive interactions. This project focuses on the "mesocarnivores" (mid-sized carnivores) that could be influenced by wolves both directly (through intimidation or altered space use) and indirectly (through changes in carrion availability and prey communities). The NPS is supporting this work to help determine how wolf restoration changes fox and marten population trends, diets, and habitat use across seasons, which can inform park management and broader carnivore restoration science.

The research approach emphasizes non-invasive field methods paired with laboratory genetics and chemical analyses. Much of the work builds on samples and data already collected over two field seasons, allowing the team to extract additional value from existing scat, hair, and camera trap datasets while also adding a third year of field sampling to complete a robust multi-year study design. The project uses molecular markers and multi-locus genetic data from scat to identify individuals, which allows population estimation without capturing animals. It also uses stable isotope analysis from hair samples to reconstruct diet patterns over time, particularly to detect shifts before and after wolf repatriation and subsequent pack establishment. In addition, camera trap images are analyzed to better understand scavenging behavior and carrion use, which can be a key pathway through which wolves influence other carnivores by creating carcasses and changing how and when smaller carnivores can access them.

The work is organized around four main objectives. First, the team will analyze genetic data from two years of fox and marten scat collections to estimate abundance, recruitment, and survivorship using genetic mark-recapture methods, which treat genetically identified individuals similarly to "marked" animals in classic capture-recapture studies. Second, they will quantify fox and marten diets using stable isotopes from previously collected hair samples, comparing proportional dietary inputs across time periods related to wolf return, and they will pair this with camera trap analysis to examine foraging behavior and carrion use by mesocarnivores. Third, the project will use documented occurrences of martens and foxes to build multi-species and multi-season occupancy models, which can estimate where each species is likely to occur, how occupancy changes over time, and the rates of local extinction and colonization at specific sites; these models will be complemented by structural equation modeling to estimate and disentangle wolf-related pathways affecting the two mesocarnivores. Fourth, the team will collect a third year of field data, including additional scat for genetics and detection data for occupancy modeling, because three years of sampling are needed to fully implement the robust design framework referenced in the objectives and to strengthen inference about population dynamics and site-use changes through time.

Administratively, the opportunity is categorized under Natural Resources (CFDA 15.944) and lists eligibility broadly as "Others" with further clarification referenced in the original listing, though the notice makes clear that the intended recipient is the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the CESU partnership structure. The opportunity was created on December 18, 2019, with an original closing date of December 30, 2019, consistent with the purpose of notifying the public of an intended non-competitive award rather than soliciting new applicants.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Return of Wolves to Isle Royale Consequences for Mesocarnivores" 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 Dec 18, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 30, 2019. (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 $239,400.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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