For the past 2 years the FWS Refuges Inventory and Monitoring Network has sent out a Request for Proposals.  This year we received a total of 64 proposals totaling $3.08 million.  We are pleased to award $458,500 for the projects.  Projects funded in the SALCC geography include:

–Baseline hydrologic monitoring stations at proposed Mountain Bogs NWR;

–Development of a Sentinel Site for Monitoring Climate Change Impacts Collaboratively Operated by the ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge and the ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve;

–Baseline Survey for Bats, specifically Rafinesque’s Big-eared Bats (Corynorhinus rafinesquii) and Southeastern Myotis (Myotis austroriparius) on the Savannah NWR and Santee NWR;

–Implementation of environmental DNA surveys and integration of standardized protocols for a baseline biometric assessment of fishes in the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent Little Back River;

–Coastal Georgia Aerial Project;

–Taking advantage of hydrological extremes: A strategy for targeted water monitoring assessments DART

–Development of a robust monitoring tool for aquatic species: applications of molecular techniques to imperiled herpetofauna of the Southeastern US