Research and Preservation of Cultural Resources associated with Trail of Tears National Historic Trail | P17AS00634

Opportunity Information: Apply for P17AS00634

This discretionary grant opportunity, titled "Research and Preservation of Cultural Resources associated with Trail of Tears National Historic Trail" (Funding Opportunity Number P17AS00634), was offered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS). It was structured as a cooperative agreement (with an "other" instrument type also noted), meaning the NPS anticipated a collaborative project where the federal agency would likely remain involved in shaping or coordinating the work rather than simply issuing a pass-through award with minimal interaction.

The core purpose of the opportunity was to support research, documentation, and preservation planning related to cultural resources associated with the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Specifically, the project focused on continuing and expanding a historic building database that had been created over the previous several years through earlier agreements. In practical terms, this meant the recipient would not be starting from scratch. Instead, they would be expected to maintain and update an existing data system, preserve continuity with past work, and ensure that the information remains organized, usable, and aligned with the needs of NPS trail management and interpretation.

The scope of work was described as five tasks. While the announcement does not list each task separately, it clearly identifies the main deliverables those tasks were meant to achieve. One major deliverable was ongoing maintenance of the historic building database for Trail of Tears-related properties. Another key deliverable was the preparation of a Historic Structure Report (HSR) for a priority property selected jointly by NPS and Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). An HSR is a standard preservation document used to guide treatment and long-term stewardship of historic structures; it typically compiles historical research, documents existing conditions, evaluates significance, and recommends preservation or rehabilitation approaches based on professional standards.

In addition to buildings and a single priority structure report, the opportunity emphasized broadening the database to include other categories of significant cultural resources along the Trail of Tears. The project was expected to populate the existing database with inventories of important Trail of Tears road segments and cultural landscapes, but with a clear geographic and access focus: resources located on accessible lands in Georgia and Kentucky. This suggests a practical constraint aimed at lands where fieldwork, documentation, and verification could be legally and logistically completed, and where resulting inventories could be directly useful for resource management, planning, and public interpretation.

Eligibility was aimed primarily at private institutions of higher education, with an additional "others" category referenced in the notice (with clarification to be found in an additional eligibility text field). The funding was listed under CFDA (now Assistance Listing) 15.945, which corresponds to National Park Service assistance programs. The award ceiling was $25,000, indicating a relatively small, targeted project budget intended to produce specific documentation and database improvements rather than a large multi-year research program. The notice was created on August 9, 2017, with an original closing date of August 19, 2017, reflecting a short application window typical of some NPS cooperative agreement opportunities tied to specific programmatic needs or timelines. The expected awards field was listed as 0 in the provided text, which can appear in listings for several administrative reasons, but the intent of the announcement was clearly to solicit support for the defined tasks and deliverables associated with Trail of Tears cultural resource documentation and preservation planning.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Research and Preservation of Cultural Resources associated with Trail of Tears National Historic Trail" 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 Aug 09, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 19, 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 $25,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Private institutions of higher education, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for P17AS00634

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