Funding Opportunities for Multi-Disciplinary Grassland Research.

Derived either climatically or anthropogenically, grasslands (characterized by grass-dominated lands, shrub-steppe, and grazeable woodland) play a crucial role in the structure and functioning of the overall landscape, and contribute to effects on environmental, social, and economic activities at the national, regional, and watershed level.  Comprising approximately 43% of the U.S. land base, grasslands provide significant forage to the farming and ranching industry and are associated with 84% and 74% of the total number of mammalian and avian species, respectively.  In some ecoregions, grasslands are considered to be endangered--largely due to urbanization; altered fire regimes; invasive species; changing social attitudes, land use, and technologies; climate change and insufficient water that interact to alter vegetation, interrupt hydrologic function, decrease biodiversity, and disrupt the flow of ecosystem services.  Listening sessions held by USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) yielded a wide range of both grassland issues and a list of potential solutions, based on the following themes: awareness and understanding; information, inventory and analysis tools; legislation and regulation; planning and policy tools; economic incentives-disincentives (conservation tools); coordination and cooperation; and public consultation and stakeholder involvement. The Rangeland and Grassland Ecosystems Program (RGEP) within CSREES is facilitating collaboration among researchers, educators, outreach professionals, and managers, to provide support to help reverse current and prevent future losses, and to maintain long-term productivity, resource values and services of both natural and managed grasslands.  This presentation will discuss RGEP’s efforts to coordinate programs within CSREES that fund grassland-related research, education and extension; including National Research Initiative’s Air Quality, Biobased Products and Bioenergy Production Research, Biology of Weedy and Invasive Species in Agroecosystems, Managed Ecosystems, Plant Biology; National Integrated Water Quality’s Grazinglands Conservation Effects Assessment Project partnership; the Rangeland Research Program and Renewable Resources Extension Act Focus Funds; and the coordination of grassland programming across government with the Interagency Working Group for Grazinglands.