Multidisciplinary Cultural Resource and Section 106 Projects in SHEN | NPS 18 NERO 0122

Opportunity Information: Apply for NPS 18 NERO 0122

The opportunity titled "Multidisciplinary Cultural Resource and Section 106 Projects in SHEN" (Funding Opportunity Number NPS 18 NERO 0122) is a National Park Service notice explaining its intent to make an award under an existing cooperative agreement rather than opening a new competition. The announcement is explicitly not a request for applications. Instead, it serves as public notice that the Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS) plans to issue a task agreement under a previously competed (or otherwise justified) master cooperative agreement that is already in place with James Madison University (JMU), identified as Cooperative Agreement Number P14AC00657. In practical terms, this means the work and funding are intended for a specific partner through an established agreement vehicle, rather than being available for general applicants to apply to through a standard grant competition.

The purpose of the cooperative agreement is educational and compliance-driven: it is designed to give JMU students hands-on experience in field archaeology while supporting cultural resource management needs at Shenandoah National Park (abbreviated as SHEN). Students work under the supervision and guidance of JMU faculty, which signals that the project doubles as a training and workforce development effort and as a way for the park to complete needed cultural resource tasks. The funding activity category is listed as Education, reflecting that student learning and applied training are core elements of the project structure, even though the work products are directly tied to federal cultural resource responsibilities.

The substantive work involves Phase I archaeological surveys and testing. Phase I work generally focuses on identifying whether archaeological resources are present in a given area and documenting them at an inventory level, often as a first step before any ground-disturbing actions or project approvals. Here, those surveys and tests are specifically tied to compliance with Sections 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. Section 106 is the well-known federal review process requiring agencies to consider the effects of undertakings on historic properties and consult appropriately, while Section 110 addresses broader federal agency responsibilities for historic preservation, including proactive inventory and stewardship. The announcement indicates that the student teams will help generate data and documentation that support both project-by-project compliance and longer-term resource management obligations.

A major deliverable described in the notice is the preparation of individual site reports. These reports are expected to document field and analytical methods, identify cultural features, describe site patterning and placement, and interpret findings in the context of regional archaeological studies. That combination suggests the reports are meant to be usable both for compliance documentation and for integrating new discoveries into the broader understanding of the region's cultural history. The notice also highlights coordination with park Geographic Information System (GIS) staff to ensure site location information is accurate, which is important for resource protection, planning, and future compliance work. Accurate GIS integration helps the park manage sensitive information appropriately while ensuring that internal planning layers reflect known cultural resources.

In addition to identifying new resources, JMU students will conduct condition assessments on previously recorded sites already listed in the NPS Archeological Site Management Information System (ASMIS). Condition assessments typically involve evaluating the current state of a site, noting threats such as erosion, visitor impacts, looting risk, vegetation changes, or other disturbances, and documenting whether management actions might be needed. By focusing on known ASMIS sites, the work supports ongoing stewardship and monitoring responsibilities, not just discovery and initial documentation.

The scope also extends into museum and collections management. JMU will work with the park Museum Specialist to catalog artifacts associated with the Old Rag Parking Lot project into the park's Interior Collections Management System (ICMS). Cataloging in ICMS is a key step in ensuring that artifacts are properly documented, tracked, stored, and managed in accordance with federal standards and NPS museum collection policies. This part of the effort emphasizes that cultural resource management is not only about fieldwork, but also about responsible curation, documentation, and long-term preservation of materials recovered through compliance or research activities.

Finally, the project includes a public-facing component when needed: assistance in preparing interpretive materials based on field and/or laboratory studies. This indicates that, beyond regulatory compliance and technical reporting, the park may leverage findings to support public education and interpretation, potentially through exhibits, web content, printed materials, or other outreach products. Taken together, the project is multidisciplinary in the sense that it spans archaeological survey, GIS coordination, site condition monitoring, museum collections cataloging, and interpretation, all structured as a cooperative educational partnership between NPS and JMU.

From an administrative standpoint, the award is a cooperative agreement (rather than a standard grant), which generally implies substantial involvement by the federal agency in coordinating or guiding the work. The eligible applicant category listed is "Public and State controlled institutions of higher education," aligning with the fact that JMU is the intended partner. The opportunity shows an award ceiling of $25,000 and an expectation of one award, reinforcing that this is a single, targeted task agreement rather than a multi-award competitive program. The announcement was created on August 7, 2018, with an original closing date of August 16, 2018, but because it is not a request for applications, those dates function more as administrative posting timelines than as a competitive submission window.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Multidisciplinary Cultural Resource and Section 106 Projects in SHEN" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.946.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 07, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 16, 2018. (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 $25,000.00 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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