Cooperative Agreement for CESU-affiliated Partner with Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit

The US Geological Survey is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research in sediment resources and channel substrates of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park.The purpose of this research opportunity is to conduct research and monitoring on the magnitudes and trends in fine sediment (sand) storage in the Colorado River ecosystem (CRE) in Grand Canyon National Park. This involves a) tracking the effects of individual high-flow experiments (HFEs), and monitoring the cumulative effect of successive HFEs and intervening operations, on sandbars and sand conservation; b) investigating the interactions between dam operations, sand transport, and eddy sandbar dynamics; and c) monitoring changes in channel bed sediment composition, including submerged aquatic vegetation, to discern channel sand storage, and to support physical habitat suitability modeling within other projects.