Forest Conservation

Portal ID:
83009
Status:
Active
Opportunity Type:
  • Grant
Last Updated:
 | 

Details

Purpose:

The Forest Conservation Program supports planning, acquisition, and restoration projects throughout California’s forests, consistent with the Board's Strategic Plan.

Description:

The Program was created on November 7, 2006 with the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 84). That Act charged the Board to develop a grant program and “…promote the ecological integrity and economic stability of California’s diverse native forests for all their public benefits through forest conservation, preservation, and restoration of productive managed forest lands, forest reserve areas, redwood forests and other forest types, including the conservation of water resources and natural habitat for native fish and wildlife and plants found on these lands” (PRC section 75055a).

Additional funding for the Forest Conservation Program was provided by the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018 (Proposition 68) which authorized the Board to advance “…protection, restoration, and improvement of upper watershed lands in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains, including forest lands, meadows, wetlands, chaparral, and riparian habitat, in order to protect and improve water supply and water quality, improve forest health, reduce wildfire danger, mitigate the effects of wildfires on water quality and supply, increase flood protection, or to protect or restore riparian or aquatic resources” (PRC section 80132d).

Project examples include, but are not limited to:

• Meadow restoration

• Forest thinning (hazard fuel reduction)

• Post-fire restoration

• Aspen stand enhancement

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants:

  • Nonprofit
  • Public Agency
  • Tribal Government

Eligible Geographies:

Statewide

Matching Funding Requirement:

Cost share is not required but may be beneficial, in particular to complete a larger project. Applications with higher proportions of secured cost share contribution towards total project cost will score more points through the “Cost Share” application evaluation criterion.

Important Dates

The date on which the grantor expects to announce the recipient(s) of the grant.
Continuous
The length of time during which the grant money must be utilized.
2-4 year grant terms

Funding Details

The total projected dollar amount of the grant.
$10,000,000
A single grant opportunity may represent one or many awards. Some grantors may know in advance the exact number of awards to be given. Others may indicate a range. Some may wish to and wait until the application period closes before determining how many awards to offer; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Grant opportunities representing multiple awards may offer awards in the same amount or in varied amounts. Some may wish to wait until the application period closes before determining per-award amounts; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) provide a letter of intent.
Yes ( see Description for details )
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) be able to fully or partially match the grant award amount with another funding source.
No
The funding source allocated to fund the grant. It may be either State or Federal (or a combination of both), and be tied to a specific piece of legislation, a proposition, or a bond number.
  • State

Funding Source Notes:

$10 million of funding specific to the Sierra and Cascade mountain range watersheds. However, WCB will consider general funding sources to support forest restoration projects in watersheds outside the Sierra and Cascade mountain ranges.

The manner in which the grant funding will be delivered to the awardee. Funding methods include reimbursements (where the recipient spends out-of-pocket and is reimbursed by the grantor) and advances (where the recipient spends received grant funds directly).
  • Advances & Reimbursement(s)

How to Apply

State agencies/departments recommend you read the full grant guidelines before applying.

Resources

For questions about this grant, contact:
Jen Stanfield, 1-916-539-4868, Jennifer.Stanfield@wildlife.ca.gov