California’s Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) is now accepting proposals for its 2014-2015 funding cycle for research and technical development projects that seek to better understand the effects of oil on wildlife, to improve rehabilitation and post release monitoring techniques or to develop baseline biomedical data. Since 1996, the OWCN has provided more than 2 milllion USD in funding for more than 100 projects.
The Network has 250,000USD per year available to support the projects it accepts. Proposals should be focused on OWCN goals which include improvement of animal care, assessment of wildlife health, wildlife population information that aids in caring for oiled animals, and developing new technology for care of oil affected wildlife.
More specifically, OWCN is interested in development and refinement of rehabilitation techniques and mitigation of the effects of oil on wildlife, as well as development of health profiles for commonly oiled species and impacts (including long-term) of oil on health. Population level studies of species’ response to oil spills and improvements in post-release tracking are also of interest.
For the 2014-2015 funding cycle, OWCN is offering two types of funding:
- Small grants of 10,000 USD or less for a single year project
- Grants of more than 10,000 USD or multi-year project grants
Pre-proposals for larger projects are due by 5pm PST on 2 May 2014 and small grant applications by 25 July 2014. Those whose pre-proposals are favourably reviewed will then be asked to provide a full proposal. Due dates are not post-mark dates. Proposals must be at the Wildlife Health Center by that date.
More details of the types of projects OWCN is looking to fund and details of the proposal process are available at the OWCN website.