NE CASC Critical Update

NE CASC is facing a difficult new chapter. Federal funding that has sustained our research and operations will end this month, forcing us to make significant cuts. These include halting support for long-term research initiatives and graduate student stipends, laying off communications staff, cancelling our regular webinar series, and pausing support for new projects. While federal staff at NE CASC remain, an ongoing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) funding freeze severely limits what they can do, leaving many core functions on pause and collaborative work disrupted. Potential federal firings (RIFs) in October may further undermine federal CASC capacity.

Funding for the next NE CASC hosting agreement should have begun September 1, 2025 and would have supported actionable adaptation research at UMass and five consortium institutions for the next five years. The hosting agreement also would have allowed for additional competitive opportunities for actionable adaptation research across the Northeast region. Our hosting agreement proposal was submitted in February, but the Department of Interior (DOI) did not approve the FY25 funding for renewed hosting agreements for NE CASC and for two other CASCs (South Central and Pacific Islands) that happened to have host competitions scheduled for this year. Additionally, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has prohibited the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, which houses the CASCs, from entering into new cooperative agreements like the NE CASC hosting agreement. 

Despite these setbacks, we are doing what we can to preserve key aspects of our mission. Thanks to support from UMass, we will continue to run our Fellows Program for the next year, welcoming 24 graduate students and postdocs into the upcoming cohort. We remain committed to supporting student research in actionable science for as long as we can.

While we are actively exploring alternate funding models in hopes of rebuilding and reestablishing services in the future, the path forward is uncertain.

We deeply appreciate your continued support and understanding during this incredibly challenging time, and will keep you informed as we navigate next steps.

Sincerely,

The UMass NE CASC team

Bethany Bradley, co-university director

Jon Woodruff, co-university director

Emily Fusco, deputy university director

Lama BouFajreldin, stakeholder engagement manager