Impact of forest restoration activities (thinning) on soil compaction and soil | P17AS00387

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00387

This grant opportunity, titled "Impact of forest restoration activities (thinning) on soil compaction and soil" (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00387), was offered by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. It was structured as a discretionary cooperative agreement in the natural resources category, with one expected award and a maximum funding amount (award ceiling) of $99,943. The opportunity was aimed specifically at public and state-controlled institutions of higher education. It was posted on June 16, 2017, with an original application deadline of June 25, 2017, indicating a short submission window and a focused, targeted research need.

The central purpose of the project is to evaluate how forest restoration treatments, especially mechanical thinning and the use of logging machinery, affect both the physical and biological condition of forest soils. The opportunity is grounded in the idea that soil communities are often ignored because they are difficult to observe and measure, even though they drive a wide range of ecosystem processes. The National Park Service is essentially seeking research that links management actions at the surface (thinning operations and equipment traffic) to changes belowground that can influence long-term forest health, resilience, and overall ecosystem functioning.

A key emphasis is the relationship between forest treatments and soil abiotic (non-living) properties. The solicitation highlights specific soil parameters that can change when heavy equipment is used or when vegetation structure is altered, including soil compaction and bulk density, hydrologic behavior, organic matter content, and overall soil carbon and nitrogen. Compaction and bulk density are important because they can reduce pore space, limit root growth, restrict gas exchange, and decrease the ability of water to infiltrate and move through soil. Hydrology-related measures such as hydraulic conductivity and infiltration rate help show whether thinning operations and machinery are changing water retention and flow, which can influence erosion risk, drought sensitivity, and regeneration success.

Alongside these physical and chemical measurements, the project also targets major soil biological groups that reflect soil health and perform different ecosystem roles. The opportunity specifically calls out nematodes, microarthropods, bacteria, and fungi. These organisms are tied to decomposition, nutrient mineralization, soil aggregation, and food web dynamics, and shifts in their abundance or community composition can signal changes in fertility, stability, and the soil's capacity to store carbon. By pairing abiotic indicators (like compaction and carbon/nitrogen pools) with biological indicators (like microbial and invertebrate communities), the project aims to produce a more complete picture of how restoration operations affect soil function rather than just soil structure.

The work is designed to examine mechanical thinning effects in two different ways (described as two experiments) across four forest types: ponderosa pine, xeric mixed conifer, mesic mixed conifer, and aspen. Including multiple forest types matters because soils, moisture regimes, organic matter inputs, and baseline communities differ widely among these systems. A thinning treatment that has minor impacts in a dry, coarse-textured site could have very different outcomes in a wetter, finer-textured or higher-organic-matter soil. By spanning xeric and mesic mixed conifer conditions as well as ponderosa pine and aspen, the study is positioned to compare whether impacts are consistent across ecosystems or whether certain forest types are more vulnerable to compaction and biological disruption.

Methodologically, the solicitation anticipates a combination of traditional field and lab measurements for soil physical and chemical properties, and a mixed approach for biological community assessment. It explicitly mentions using both microscopy-based techniques and molecular methods to quantify the abundance and diversity of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and microarthropods. This combination implies an interest in both classic taxonomic or functional counts (for example, identifying groups under a microscope) and DNA-based tools that can capture microbial diversity more comprehensively, including organisms that are difficult to culture or distinguish morphologically.

Overall, the opportunity is asking for applied, management-relevant science that can help land managers understand the tradeoffs and potential unintended consequences of restoration thinning. The intended outcome is better evidence on how mechanical thinning and machinery use influence soil compaction, water movement, organic matter and nutrient pools, and the living soil community that supports key ecosystem processes. The results would be useful for refining thinning practices, selecting equipment or operating conditions that reduce soil damage, and improving restoration planning in different forest types managed or influenced by the National Park Service.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Impact of forest restoration activities (thinning) on soil compaction and soil" 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 Jun 16, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 25, 2017. (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 $99,943.00 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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