OpportunityTitle: Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program.  CESU&#191;s are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education.  Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the Great Lakes-Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program.
Description: The The U.S. Geological Survey&#191;s (USGS) National Wildlife Health Center is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner to assist with developing a near real-time avian influenza (AI) risk assessment tool that is publicly available on the web, and which can be used to provide current and future &#191;personalized&#191; AI risk assessments to aid large and small poultry producers in implementing effective and efficient biosecurity measures. Transboundary diseases at the livestock/wildlife interface, where pathogens are exchanged between wild and domestic species, can have significant impacts to wildlife, domestic animal and human populations. Additionally, these diseases can often create devastating effects on economies at multiple scales. AI is a transboundary disease that can have particularly overwhelming impacts, as demonstrated by the recent highly pathogenic (AI) outbreak in 2014&#191;2015, which cost US tax payers $950 million dollars, with an overall economic impact estimated at $3.3 billion. Additionally, low pathogenic AI outbreaks in poultry facilities occur annually with associated economic effects, and transmission of novel viral types from poultry to wild birds has negatively impacted wild populations. Therefore, preventing and reducing the impacts of transboundary diseases is of critical importance from an ecological and societal perspective.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: Contract Specialist
GrantorContactText: Faith Graves 703-648-7356&lt;br/&gt;fgraves@usgs.gov