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Watershed Planning Assistance Grants

DNRC - Conservation Districts Bureau

FY 2013

Background Information/Criteria

The Watershed Planning Assistance Grant Program was authorized by the 1997 Montana Legislature to assist Conservation Districts with expenses associated with watershed planning. Funds will be available for the 2010 fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009.

For more information on how DNRC broadly determines where and how to allocate its resources for watershed groups see our 2006 document “Initial Screening Criteria for Providing Assistance to Watershed Groups” January 2006. Link to Criteria

This is the third and probably FINAL call for the FY2013 WPAG. Applications are due by close of business on Thursday, February 28th.

Late applications will not be accepted.

Based on our previous rounds, suggestions for filling out this application have been provided throughout the guidance, and they will be highlighted.

The main purpose of the WPAG has been to provide assistance to help groups meet their resource goals. The three main types of assistance are coordination for specific tasks, assessment, and educational activities. Examples include providing coordination dollars that creates a drought management plan, or collecting essential information that addresses water quality and water quantity issues/projects, or educational workshops. The WPAG will continue to do that.

The WPAG has also attempted to provide funding for general operational expenses, which are difficult to come by. The WPAG gives out a relatively small amount of money. Trying to have an application process for general operating expenses that is both efficient and accountable has proven to be far more challenging. At this point we feel a more targeted approach of addressing individual components of group’s work plan will be more effective. In FY 2012 we will not be providing funding towards general operating expenses.

The WPAG has also provided funding for start-up groups for the first round. We are still working on the criteria for the start-up groups and it will be made available in later rounds.

Upcoming Rounds

Submission Date	Notice of Award
August 30, 2012	September 28, 2012
November 30, 2012	December 31, 2012
February 28, 2013	March 28, 2013

Application cycle: Quarterly, until funding runs out.

Submit Applications to:
David Martin
DNRC-CARDD
1625 11th Ave.
PO Box 201601
Helena , MT 59620-1601
Phone: 406-444-4253
email: damartin@mt.gov

Eligible Applicants: Conservation Districts. A hard copy of the cover sheet with a Conservation District Supervisor’s signature must be provided.

Grant Maximum Amount: up to $11,000 per request ($10,000 in activities costs and up to 10% CD admin fee based on the total activities cost).

A Conservation District may submit additional requests if they are associated with separate watershed planning efforts within their district.

Application Format: Use the provided application form and follow the format. The applications should:

fill out the application according to the instructions
provide one hard copy(s) of:
The coversheet with a CD supervisors signature postmarked by the closing date
the application, and
all attachments
Provide one copy of the entire application electronically. Some materials, such as attachments, may not be available electronically. In this case, the hard copy attachments may suffice.

Eligible Planning Activities: This grant focuses on locally driven watershed planning activities. Watershed planning activities usually fall under three categories: coordination, assessment, and education. You will be required to demonstrate how the assistance you request through this grant leads to activities and projects that address resource issues identified by your group. Some examples of resource issues include water quantity, water quality, weeds, wildlife, and development.

The program is intended to support:

New local watershed planning efforts with start-up expenses. For this round applications will be accepted only for On-going watershed efforts. Criteria for New Groups will be posted for later rounds.
On-going local watershed planning efforts with definable tasks or products, outlined in a current Watershed Plan or Plan of Work.

This program is not an appropriate source of funding for:

implementing site-specific design and construction projects
on-going watershed group activities or general operational expenses
for hiring permanent staff, or
writing or promoting Conservation District Bureau related grants (i.e. 223).

SELECTION CRITERIA

Selection of projects will be based upon:

Local Commitment of both the conservation district and the local stakeholders.
Demonstration of how the requested WPAG assessment will lead to specific activities that will help the watershed group accomplish its goals and lead to on-the-ground conservation.
Funding is competitive and is based on need. DNRC coordinates its funding both internally and with other grantors.

See the Applications Guidelines and Filling Out the Application sections for more detail.

AWARD PROCESS

Applications will be reviewed after the closing date for that cycle and a decision on the request will be made within 30 days. If approved, the final contracting takes approximately two weeks to execute after all the details have been worked out.

The contract with the district takes effect upon final signature from DNRC. No payments can be made for work previous to final signing and until all necessary subcontracts the district are in place.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

These guidelines describe the broad parameters of the program that you need to address as you fill out your application.

Your application should have both a narrative component, but also include as much quantifiable information as possible.

Watershed Planning Grants can be used for a broad range of assistance that falls into three areas (1) Coordination (2) Assessment, and (3) Education. The types of information that you should provide for each of the areas is listed below.

Coordination activities eligible for funding include:

provide temporary staffing or private consultant services tied to a specific task or product.
development and/or implementation of an entire watershed plan or a specific subcomponent of that plan.

Questions related to project development are:

What are the conservation issues your grant is addressing?
What activities are you proposing to reach goals you set for these issues?
The activities should have clear outcomes and deliverables. Sometimes it is difficult to describe your own project because you are so close to it. Make the description so that someone the outside such as our review team can easily understand it.
How will you measure these results? If it is a water quantity effort describe what water savings will be realized.

Assessment activities relate to the collection of baseline resource information to serve as a foundation for local watershed groups to make decisions.

Assessment related efforts should be reflected in your overall work plan. Attach a copy of your assessment plan to the application. Information in the application should include the:

Purpose of your assessment,
Types of information to be collected,
Method used; and
How that information will be used in the planning and decision-making process.

Broad-based information collection without clear resource objectives will not be funded.

Educational Activities include:

planning and carrying out educational activities such as workshops, tours, or producing and distributing educational materials.

Educational activities should address:

your message,
the target audience, how many people do you expect to reach?
your delivery mechanism, and
the expected outcome including how the success will be measured. What do you expect the audience to do with the information/education provided?

Funding is competitive and is based on need. DNRC coordinates its funding both internally and with other grantors. You should provide information on all funding sources related to application.

Are all appropriate funding sources being tapped?
Are the costs reasonable?
If you are requesting funding for hours please be sure to include both the number of hours and the rate, i.e. 30 hours @ $25.
Does the Application give a complete funding picture? For example: If a study costs $20,000 and you are requesting $10,000 show the other funding sources that will be used in conjunction with the WPAG
For all funding sources for the activities please identify their status, such as secured, pending, etc.
List any watershed planning assistance grants that your group has open or that you have had within the two calendar years. For each grant list the grant #, the amount, and the expiration date.

Filling Out the Application.

A mock application is provided. (Click here)

The mock application asks for WPAG funding for two activities; developing a Drought Management Plan and partial funding for a Head Gate Replacement Study. The application demonstrates the request for the drought management portion. This is a fairly complex situation; it has multi-tasks and multiple funding sources. One of the tasks has already been completed, and one of the tasks will seek funding from a different source at a later time. Other activities may not be as complicated and can be adjusted as necessary.

Length: You should put the bulk of the information in the application section. Under our revamped application format we are not setting a limit at this time. Please keep the application as short and succinct as possible. Ways to do that include:

The length of what you write is not as important as the clarity; include both narrative and quantitative writing.
If you are referring to information in an attachment, give the reviewers a clue where to find that information. They are not expected to search through attachments.

The application format is based on using your current watershed plan. You should be able to take goals objectives and tasks from your watershed plan use other documents such as existing project proposals, assessments, etc. to fill out the WPAG application.

*** Level of detail is important. Some watershed plans can be broad-based. You may need to add details as appropriate. The review committee is not familiar with all of the nuances of your activities. Having to read between the lines may affect the funding decision. ***

The application has 3 sections, Local Commitment, and Activity Description which has two subsections the Planning Activity Description and the WPAG Assistance Breakdown, and an Application Summary.

Cover Sheet

Round 1 Application form PDF or WORD

SECTION 1 – LOCAL COMMITMENT – Active involvement by local stakeholders is essential to a successful voluntary watershed effort. Describe the level of commitment and participation by the following entities.

Describe the role of the conservation district in the watershed effort. CDs are strongly encouraged to have at least one elected CD Supervisor or an appointed Associate Supervisor actively engaged in each watershed group in their District. Preference will be given to applications that demonstrate this close working relationship. Tell which CD personnel are involved and what they will be doing?
Other local commitment. Who are the stakeholders that are actively involved in the group and what is their role?
Demonstrate that the group is inclusive and allows for participation by any local stakeholder. Advocacy or special interest groups will not be funded.
Other helpful information includes how often does the group meet and how many people attend those meetings?
Attachment: By-Laws: Submit a copy of current by-laws as an attachment if you have them. Required. If you do not have by laws then please state that in this section.

SECTION 2) PLANNING ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION For this section you need to provide a description of your activity and the requested WPAG assistance broken into major subtasks including timelines and a budget.

Part 1 - PLANNING ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

The basis for this component of the application should come directly from your watershed plan. Describe the activity you will be requesting assistance for (how to break out the assistance will be explained below). Be sure to address:

How this activity will help your group address your identified resource issue(s)?
How will you measure the success the effort?
If this is part of an effort that is already in progress, give enough background information so that the current effort can be put into context.
Demonstrate need. How critical is the activity to your watershed effort? What will happen if this activity does not occur?
Attach your current watershed plan in its entirety so that we can see how the proposed activity fits into the bigger picture.

Cross reference your proposed WPAG request with your work plan. For example, “Goal 1 Water Quantity, Objective 2 – Drought Management Plan, Task 2-4. (See Page 6).

PART 2 WPAG ASSISTANCE BREAKDOWN

The section shows the WPAG assistance that is needed to accomplish the activities described in Part one above. Break the activity into major subtask s and provide the information requested below:

Description/Outcomes for the subtask
A timeline for each subtask.
Budget for the subtask.

Attachments.
The bulk of your information should be addressed in the application itself. Please be judicious on the number of attachments you provide. More is not always best. Be sure to:

Keep them separate and label them clearly; i.e. “Work Plan” or “Study”
Some attachments may not be in an electronic form. If not, a hard copy may suffice.
If you are referring to information in an attachment, give the reviewers a clue where to find that information. They are not expected to search through attachments.

SECTION 3) APPLICATION SUMMARY Total up your WPAG requests for the planning activities. You are allowed for assistance on up to 3 activities and total $10,000 in activity costs. The CD is allowed to take up to a maximum of 10% for administration based on the total activities cost.

Submit Requests to:

David Martin
DNRC-CARDD
1625 11th Ave.
PO Box 201601
Helena , MT 59620-1601
Phone: 406-444-4253
email: damartin@mt.gov

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