Watershed Planning Assistance Grants

DNRC - Conservation Districts Bureau

FY 2010

 

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

● Application cycle: Quarterly. 

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We will be having a third round of the WPAG.

During the first two rounds, grants were awarded to 12 watershed groups.

For our third round we will have approximately $30,000.00

*****Applications for the third round must be submitted by close of business on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Late applications will not be accepted.****

The link to the WPAG guidelines are:

http://dnrc.mt.gov/cardd/loans_grants/watershed_planning_asst.asp

This year there were some changes to the application process that will most likely affect “on-going groups” as described in the guidance. In the past, it had been difficult to determine exactly how our WPAG assistance dollars tied to resource activities of each watershed group. This will be addressed mostly in Section 3 of the application process. If you have any questions, on how this might affect your application please feel free to contact us. 

After reviewing the first round submissions the review team offers the following TIPS to help applicants create a competitive application. Click here for TIPS.

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• Submit Applications to:
• David Martin                                              Phone: 406-444-4253
• DNRC-CARDD                                             e-mail: damartin@mt.gov
• PO Box 201601
• Helena, MT  59620-1601

1. Eligible Applicants:  Conservation Districts.  A hard copy of the cover sheet with a Conservation District Supervisor’s signature must be provided.
2. Grant Maximum Amount:  $10,000 per request.  A Conservation District may submit additional requests if they are associated with separate watershed planning efforts within their district.
3. Application Format:  Use the provided application form and follow the format.  The applications should:
   - be a maximum of three pages excluding cover letter and attachments, and
   - provided electronically.
4. The application is designed so that your group can use existing documents, such as your current work plan and annual budget, to easily fill out the application. 
5. 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 concerns identified by your group.

• The program is intended to support:

New local watershed planning efforts with start-up expenses.

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

for hiring permanent staff

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.

PLANNING ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION.  Demonstration of how the planning assistance requested for coordination, education, or assessment will lead to specific activities or on the ground activities that achieve the watershed group’s goals

TIMELINE.  Activities must be achiev able in a reasonable timeframe.

BUDGET. The budget should show a clear need for the requested funds, tie directly into the proposed acti vities, be reasonable, and show a clear relationship to other funding sources.

NEW VS. ON-GOING GROUPS. New watershed groups will be ranked differently from on-going groups as described below.

AWARD PROCESS  

DNRC staff will review applications after they are received from the sponsoring conservation district.  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 by subcontracts the district are in place.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES
Watershed Planning Grants can be used for a broad range of assistance activities.  The components listed below correspond to directly to the application form.  Attachments may be required or suggested and will be identified below. 

cover sheet and application (word)    

cover sheet and application (pdf)  

SECTION 1 - SHORT DESCRIPTION

Provide a one or two sentence overview that briefly describes your proposed planning activities .  (Planning project d etails will be provided in section 3).

Example.  Provide 12 months of coordination funds including coordinator’s salary to conduct monthly meetings, coordinate steering committee meetings, cover miscellaneous expenses, and implement identified work plan items.

SECTION 2 - LOCAL COMMITMENT - Outline the level of commitment and participation by the CD applicant and members of the community.

• 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. P reference will be given to applications that demonstrate this close working relationship.
• Other local commitment.  Who are the stakeholders that are actively involved in the group and what is their role? 
• Demonstrate that the g roup is inclusive and allows for participation by any local stakeholder.  Advocacy or special interest groups will not be funded.
• Attachment : By-Laws:  Submit a copy of current by-laws as an attachment if you have them.  Highly suggested.

SECTION
3) PLANNING ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION

•  
• How you fill out your application will largely be determined on whether you are a new or an ongoing watershed effort. 
•  
• New Watershed Groups vs. Ongoing Watershed Groups. Two types of groups apply to the WPAG and the expectations are different for each type. 
• New watershed groups  DNRC recognizes that new watershed groups are in the formative stages.  For these groups the activities will be more process driven and will be judged accordingly and should be striving to develop a more organized watershed approach.

New Watershed Groups should attach a detailed narrative that explains the planning tasks and products that will be completed, how they will be accomplished, who will do the work, and how this activity fits into the overall development of a watershed group with clearly defined goals and objectives. 

Or  

On-going  watershed groups should have clearly defined goals and objectives including a Watershed Plan.  Attach a current Watershed Plan and/or Plan of Work for on-going watershed efforts.  The application should clearly demonstrate how the proposed planning activities relate to the implementation of the attached plan. 

PLANNING ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION****

To determine if this application meets our guidelines we need to track both:

The assistance or operational activities requested through this grant, and

Activities and projects (sometimes referred to as on the ground activities” that address the resource issues identified by the watershed group, many of which are not funded by WPAG.

You must provide information on both and there must be clear linkage between the assistance funds we provide and the activities they lead to in the sections below. 

WPAG Assistance		Watershed Group Activities
Section 3A Planning Assistance Grant: -Coordination -Assessment -Education		Section 3 B Progress in a chieving g roup’s  objectives and tasks as identified in work plan

Section 3A  - Eligible WPAG Planning Activities fall into three areas (1) Coordination (2) Assessment, and (3) Education

•  
• Coordination activities eligible for funding include:

facilitation and/or coordination of public meetings.

development and/or implementation of an entire watershed plan or a specific subcomponent of that plan.

incidental costs (supplies, postage, photocopies, meeting room, etc.).

provide temporary staffing or private consultant services tied to a specific task or product.

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,

your delivery mechanism, and

the expected outcome.

• You will be asked for other information related to the your assistance request in Sections 4 and 5. 
•  

Section 3B – describes the objectives and tasks identified in your annual work plan that the WPAG leads to even though we may not provide funding for implementation. It is important for us to have starting point so that we can gauge see how our WPAG funds lead to addressing real resource issues.   

• In many cases the WPAG funds will only help to partially reach your goals and objectives.  Show us what activities and projects the WPAG are most likely to lead to by removing them from your attached work plan and inserting them in this section. You will be required you to attach a copy of your current work plan so that we can put our funding into perspective. 
•  
• Work plans are usually written from the general to the specific often in the form of Goals, Objectives and Tasks.  The level of detail provided in your work plan is important.  Activities should be described to the objective or task level.  Broad-based plans are not fundable. For more on watershed plans – click here.

• At end of a grant you should be able to answer questions related to your work plan such as:
•  

How many acres of weeds were treated? 

Was your stream bank restoration project completed?  If not, how close to completion are you?

If you held workshops, how many did you hold?  How many people attended and how successful were they?

If you developed a prioritization plan, has it led to putting any new projects on the ground? 

If you collected information, was the information used to make resource decisions?  If not, how do you anticipate it will be used? 

Attachment:  Attach your current watershed plan in its entirety.  Required for On-going Groups.

To see a previously funded application that the WPAG review committee felt presented the application information in a clear succinct manner click here. 

• 4) TIMEFRAME
• Provide definite starting and ending dates.  The timeframe should be broken out according to the above planning activity description, providing deadlines for major work items as necessary. 

The baseline timeframe for the grant is one year.

5)  ITEMIZED BUDGET

• Funding is competitive and is based on need.  DNRC coordinates its funding both internally and with other grantors.  Please help us by, providing information on other existing, pending, and/or past contributions (grants, loans, in-kind services) that pertain to the activities requested with this grant.  For each grant include the grantor, the amount, and expiration date.  If the WPAG is providing partial funding show the entire budget and how WPAG fits into the overall picture.
•  
• Provide a d etailed itemization on how grant funds would be used should be broken down for the assistance requested in your planning activity description see section 3A.    Budget information should clearly show how the grant funds will be used and how the grant  funds fit into the overall budget.  You must :

Show that costs are reasonable.

Demonstrate Need. If the WPAG funding will not fully support the WPAG requesting activities, show all other funding sources.  For example:  If a study costs $20,000 show the other funding sources that will be used in conjunction with the WPAG.  A table is provided in the application. 

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.  A table is provided in the application.

• Budget Attachment: Providing and annual operating budget if you have one.  There are no match requirements, but identifying local contributions and other state/federal/private program involvement is important. Highly Suggested.

Attachments. 
The bulk of your information should be addressed through the application process described above. However, attachments can be an important part of your application. Attachments were addressed in the guidance above include:

Watershed Group By-Laws

Watershed Plan/Annual Work Plan

Budget

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Submit Requests to:

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