Workshop to Determine Best Practices for Assessing Vulnerability | P19AS00186

Opportunity Information: Apply for P19AS00186

This grant opportunity, titled "Workshop to Determine Best Practices for Assessing Vulnerability" (Funding Opportunity Number P19AS00186), is a National Park Service cooperative agreement designed to support a focused planning and convening effort rather than fieldwork or construction. The project centers on organizing and holding a workshop that brings together a working network of National Park Service staff, partner organizations, academic experts (including researchers already supporting the NPS Vanishing Treasures program), and park-based cultural resource managers. The main purpose is to share practical knowledge and reach agreement on clear, usable guidelines for assessing how cultural resources in the US Southwest are vulnerable to climate-related temperature and precipitation extremes.

A key driver behind the opportunity is that the NPS and partners have already completed several cultural resource vulnerability assessments, but much of that work has emphasized hazards like sea level rise and inundation. Those threats are critical in many regions, yet they do not map neatly onto the realities facing Southwestern parks. The Southwest has a distinctive environmental context, and many of its cultural resources differ substantially from those in other parts of the country, especially the remaining ancient architecture built from traditional materials that are often fragile, actively deteriorating, and sensitive to weather extremes. Because temperature swings, intense precipitation events, drought conditions, and related erosion processes can affect these materials and structures in ways that standard coastal-focused frameworks may not capture well, the workshop is intended to improve how vulnerability assessments are designed specifically for Western archeological and cultural resources.

Another central theme is meaningful inclusion of tribal and other traditional communities. In the Southwest, many communities have deep, ongoing cultural connections to these sites and landscapes, and their expertise is essential for responsible preservation planning. The opportunity emphasizes that recommendations for treatment and adaptation should not unintentionally harm cultural significance, including intangible values that may not be visible in a typical engineering or materials-focused assessment. In practical terms, the workshop aims to strengthen the NPS approach by ensuring that cultural perspectives, community priorities, and on-the-ground realities are integrated into the guidance that park staff and partners will rely on later.

The expected results are concrete products intended for broad use across the Vanishing Treasures program. One major deliverable is a user-friendly guidelines document or guidebook that establishes a shared vocabulary and a set of best practices for conducting vulnerability assessments tailored to Western archeological and cultural resources. This guidebook is also expected to identify and document a network of practitioners who can continue collaborating after the workshop, helping the NPS maintain consistency and keep improving methods over time. In addition, the workshop outputs will include notes, background materials, and participant presentations, which will be posted to an accessible website so that Vanishing Treasures parks can reuse the information for training, planning, and future assessments. The project also calls for a small number of brief letter reports (two to three) that provide updates to ATR as the work progresses.

From an implementation standpoint, the project includes several specific planning objectives. Boise State University investigators and NPS staff will jointly develop a working group to refine the workshop agenda and identify preliminary participants. The workshop is planned for roughly 30 participants, chosen to represent a range of experience and expertise so discussions can stay practical while still producing clear guidance. The organizers will also handle invitations and set up shared access to the most important preparatory documents, using tools such as a shared online document space, so participants can review key materials in advance and arrive ready to contribute to drafting and consensus-building.

Administratively, the opportunity was issued by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, under a discretionary funding category, with a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument. The activity aligns with education and natural resources, and the eligible applicants are public and state-controlled institutions of higher education. The posting indicates an expected single award with an award ceiling of $34,046. The opportunity was created on May 22, 2019, with an original closing date of May 31, 2019. Overall, the grant is structured to improve efficiency and effectiveness in future vulnerability assessments by standardizing approaches for Southwestern cultural heritage, strengthening collaboration among experts and practitioners, and ensuring that cultural significance and community perspectives are built into climate vulnerability planning from the start.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the education, natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Workshop to Determine Best Practices for Assessing Vulnerability" 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 May 22, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 31, 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 $34,046.00 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 P19AS00186

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: