Forest Restoration & Wildfire Risk Mitigation Grant Program – Colorado

The Colorado State Forest Service is requesting applications for its Forest Restoration & Wildfire Risk Mitigation Grant Program.

Donor Name: Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS)

State: Colorado

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 10/10/2024

Size of the Grant: Not Available

Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned

Details:

The Colorado Legislature established the Forest Restoration & Wildfire Risk Mitigation (FRWRM) grant program in 2017. This program provides state support through competitive grant funds that encourage community-level actions across the state for some specific purposes:

• Reduce the risk of wildfire to people, property and infrastructure in the wildland-urban interface (WUI)
• Promote forest health and forest restoration projects
• Encourage use of woody material for traditional forest products and biomass energy.

Qualifying Projects

Two types of projects are eligible for funding: 1) Fuels & Forest Health and 2) Capacity Building. Separate applications must be submitted for the two project types. Projects may be located on one or more ownership types. Projects that include federal lands must maintain continuity (within 1-mile) across a landscape including federal lands, and the total federal acres must be less than the combined total of non-federal acres. All grant funds must be used on lands within the state of Colorado.

• Fuels & Forest Health Projects
  • Fuels & forest health projects must strategically reduce the potential risk for damage to property, infrastructure, water supplies and other high-valued assets as a result of wildfire and/or limit the probability of wildfires spreading into populated areas. Projects must promote forest health through scientifically based forestry practices that restore ecosystem functions, structures and species composition.
  • Fuels & Forest Health Projects must meet the following criteria:
    • Reduce Hazardous Fuels
      • Successful projects will facilitate and implement strategic fuels treatment at a meaningful scale in Colorado WUI areas at risk of wildfire. All projects should be designed to reduce the potential wildfire risk to property, infrastructure, water supplies and other high-value assets, and/or limit the probability of wildfires spreading into populated areas. Projects must include a plan to utilize saleable woody materials where applicable, as well as a plan to remove and dispose of slash and non-merchantable materials generated from project work. Successful applicants will consider all elements required to implement treatments on the ground, including acquiring necessary permits and consultations from forestry and/or wildfire experts.
      • Examples of qualifying project elements
        • Creation or maintenance of defensible space around homes and structures based on current CSFS defensible space guidelines
        • Creation or maintenance of fuelbreaks based on current CSFS fuelbreak guidelines
        • Fuels reduction by various appropriate methods, including mechanical thinning, prescribed fire and others, designed to protect water supplies and/or reduce potential fire intensity
        • Removal of saleable woody materials with specific utilization plans
        • Removal/disposal of slash and non-merchantable materials using methods such as chipping, mulching, grinding, pile burning, broadcast burning or mechanical removal.
    • Promote Forest Health
      • Projects should incorporate forest restoration and management techniques, based on current science applicable to the forest type(s) being treated. Proposals should include existing ecological conditions and desired future conditions for project areas. Existing ecological conditions relevant to this grant program may include highly erodible soils on slopes that may affect water quality, over-stocked forests that increase wildfire risk, stands of unhealthy trees, reduced water yields, and low species and structural diversity. The desired future conditions should promote the healthy function, structure and composition of essential ecosystem components. Essential ecosystem components may include tree age and size class diversity, tree species diversity, desired forest cover and tree density in relation to water quality and quantity and wildfire risk, and water quality associated with soil erosion.
      • Examples of qualifying project elements
        • Reducing fuel loads and excessive competition among trees
        • Restoring ecosystem function, structure and species composition, including through the reduction of non-native and/or invasive species populations
        • Preserving older and larger trees to restore ecosystem function or for ecological value, based on scientific research
        • Replanting trees in deforested areas that have been negatively affected by wildfire, insects and disease, or other large-scale disturbance.
• Capacity Building
  • Capacity building projects must increase community capacity by providing the community with the resources and staffing necessary to plan and implement forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation projects. Capacity grants will be limited to 25% of the total available grant funds.
  • Successful applicants will describe how funding will support capacity expansion to plan and implement forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation projects including community and partner outreach and engagement, identifying priority project areas, prescription planning and acquiring community equipment that will address unmet implementation needs at the local level. Capacity grant applications should clearly describe how the capacity building efforts will be sustained to promote implementation of treatments beyond the life of the initial project. Capacity building projects that include equipment purchases should address applicable training and safety measures for the use of equipment. The expectation is that equipment will be used and maintained by the awardee for a minimum of five years following the grant.
  • Examples of qualifying project elements
    • The purchase and use of equipment for implementation of hazardous fuels reduction treatments, including the removal and utilization of slash and/or other woody biomass (e.g., purchasing a wood chipper to be made available to communities)
    • Outreach efforts to plan forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation projects, including project prioritization and project prescription development
    • Increased staffing or related capacity building for collaborative and/or community groups that support planning and implementation of forest restoration and wildfire risk mitigation projects.

Eligibility Criteria

All proposals must benefit more than one individual and have a goal of reducing the risk of wildfire to people, property and infrastructure in the WUI and therefore projects must be located within, or within close proximity to, the WUI as defined in the Colorado Forest Atlas WUI Map Layer. For capacity-building projects, the primary proposed efforts that will occur from using grant funds must occur within or within close proximity to the WUI. The following individuals, organizations or entities may apply:

• Local community groups such as homeowner, neighborhood or property associations;
• Local government entities including counties, municipalities, fire protection districts and other special districts;
• Public or private utilities, including water providers;
• State agencies; and
• Non-profit groups.

For more information, visit CSFS.