Grant Opportunities Newsletter provided by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy

Brown, Elissa@SNC <Elissa.Brown@sierranevada.ca.gov>
 

Upcoming Grants That Might be of Interest

• The Bay Area Council’s California Resilience Challenge Grants (due February 7) fund planning projects aimed at improving local resilience to climate impacts, including drought, flooding, extreme heat, and wildfire.
• EPA Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Grants (due February 7) assist recipients in building collaborative partnerships to help them understand and address environmental and public health concerns in their communities.
• Endangered Species Conservation and Recovery Program (ESCRP) Grants (due February 7) support conservation and recovery programs for federally threatened and endangered fish and wildlife species.
• The CA Strategic Growth Council Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (due February 13) reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through projects implementing land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices that support infill and compact development.
• Campbell Foundation Grants (due February 14) fund scientifically based and strategically focused programs related to water quality, land-sea connections, and protection of special places.
• National Park Trust: Kids to Parks Day National School Contest (due February 14) funds school events for preK-12 students to participate in Kids to Parks Day (May 16, 2020), a nationwide grassroots movement to celebrate America’s parks and public lands.
• The Rose Foundation California Watershed Protection Fund (letters of inquiry due February 15) supports projects designed to benefit the water quality of California’s watersheds and their ecosystems.
• Strong Foundation for Environmental Values Grants (due February 15) educate, assist, nurture, and sustain local nonprofit grassroots organizations that help build an ethic of environmental stewardship in their communities.
• The Rose Foundation California Wildlands Grassroots Fund (due February 17) supports advocacy for the permanent protection, restoration, and stewardship of intact wildlands to help preserve California’s wilderness and native biological diversity.
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Resilient Community Grants (pre-proposals due February 18) support community disaster preparedness and adaptation through conservation demonstration projects and capacity building.
• Wells Fargo Philanthropic Services: Robert F. Schumann Foundation Grants (due February 20) support programs in education and environmental sustainability, particularly those focused on open-space habitats and animals, especially birds and ornithology studies.
• Schwemm Family Foundation Grants (due February 29) fund local environmental conservation and restoration projects that protect resilient, local ecosystems and related biodiversity.
• Polaris T.R.A.I.L.S. Grants (due March 1) promote safe and responsible riding and preserve access for ATV users.
• Access Fund Climbing Conservation Grants (due March 1) support projects that preserve or enhance climbing access and opportunities and conserve the climbing environment throughout the United States.
• National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund: Tribal Heritage Grants (due March 11) support federally recognized tribes in undertaking a broad range of planning, development, and research projects for preserving and promoting cultural resources.
• USDA Rural Business Development Grants (due March 13) provide funding for business training, technical assistance, and other rural small business resources.
• The National Endowment for the Arts: Challenge America Grants (due April 9) provide funding professional arts programming and for projects that emphasize the potential of the arts in community development, with a focus on underserved populations.
• Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council Grants (concept applications due April 27) fund habitat restoration, trails improvement, and other enhancements of PG&E watershed lands.
• The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (“NFWF”) Sacramento District California In-Lieu Fee (ILF) Program (applications currently being accepted) can be used to create, enhance, and restore wetland resources in designated areas, including most of the SNC Region.

Applying for a Federal Grant?

Remember, you are required to have a DUNS (Data Universal Number System) number  AND a SAM (System for Award Management) registration in order to submit an application for federal funding.  Start early, these can take several weeks to obtain!

Spread the News!

Three-day California Forest Stewardship Workshops – March 7th, 8^th, and 14th: Shasta College, Redding. This workshop series will help landowners develop plans to improve and protect their forest lands in an ecologically and economically sustainable manner. The workshops address management objectives and planning, forest restoration, fuels reduction, project development, permitting, and cost-share opportunities. Participants will connect with other landowners and learn how to develop their own management plans. The workshop series costs $60, which covers lunches on two days and materials. Register at http://ucanr.edu/forestryworskhopregistration.

SNC Funding Team Consultation

Your SNC Area Representative can help you set up an individual consultation with the SNC Funding Team to get advice about specific funding opportunities or general fund development strategies. To take advantage of this resource, contact your SNC Area Representative.

Grant Writing Workshops are available to help build the capacity of organizations that serve the Sierra Nevada Region. If you are interested in organizing or attending a workshop, contact your SNC Area Representative.

Annual Water Supply and Demand Assessment Workshop

Tuesday, March 9, 2020

10 AM – 4 PM

Sacramento State Harper Alumni Center

6000 College Town Drive, Sacramento, CA 95826

REGISTER:  Register now! http://www.cvent.com/d/pnq0v6

Lunch option (for fee) with registration closes March 1.

Please note: Registration does NOT include lunch.

Lunch is available through registration for a fee.  Or you can bring your own lunch.

Workshop continues through lunch and the facility is located far from fast and accessible eateries.

 WORKSHOP PURPOSE: Convene urban water suppliers, and interested parties to:

• Present information regarding the new requirement to conduct an annual water supply and demand assessment pursuant to Senate Bill 606.
• Work closely with other professionals and brainstorm best practices on how to conduct a supply and demand assessment (WSDA).
• Provide a forum for participants to give their perspective and experience to DWR to inform the development of WSDA guidance.

WORKSHOP INFORMATION: The workshop will incorporate targeted presentations by water suppliers discussing challenges and successes they’ve experienced in assessing their water supplies. Facilitated round table discussions will allow all participants to discuss their challenges with peers and mutually learn and share with each other. DWR will take all participant feedback and use it to prepare the upcoming guidance document to support water suppliers throughout the State.

DWR CONTACTS:

For any content-related questions, please contact the project lead Nancy King at Nancy.King@water.ca.gov.

For any logistical or administrative questions, please contact James Campagna at James.Campagna@water.ca.gov.

PARKING INFORMATION:  Please note a parking permit is required to be displayed while parked on campus. You can purchase a daily pass for $7 at the permit machine in the Alumni Center parking lot, or from machines located in any of the student parking lots/structures.

• Please note: Registration includes three questions to help DWR structure this workshop to be most informative and beneficial to you as a participant.

Urban Water Management Plan Guidebook Development Workshop

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

10 AM – 4 PM

Sacramento State Harper Alumni Center

6000 College Town Drive, Sacramento, CA 95826

REGISTER: http://www.cvent.com/d/rnq13r

Please note: Registration includes a lunch option for a fee since the facility is not located near any walkable or easily drivable options. If you do not choose the lunch option, we suggest you bring your own lunch.

 WORKSHOP PURPOSE: Convene urban water suppliers and interested parties to explain the changes in state law that affect the Urban Water Management Plan requirements, and to get feedback on developing guidance for these changes. Input provided by participants will inform the development of DWR’s Urban Water Management Plan Guidebook Update 2020.

WORKSHOP INFORMATION: The day will be structured so that in the morning the group will review the changed requirements for the Urban Water Management Plans, and the afternoon will facilitate discussions and feedback for the new requirements of the five-year Drought Risk Assessment and revised requirements for structuring the Water Shortage Contingency Plans.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For content specific/technical questions, please contact Julia Ekstrom at Julia.Ekstrom@water.ca.gov.

For administrative/logistical questions, please contact James Campagna at James.Campagna@water.ca.gov.

HOLD THE DATE – March 9, 2020 – Sacramento

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is holding an IMPORTANT workshop regarding the requirement to conduct an annual water supply and demand assessment pursuant to Senate Bill 606.  Water suppliers and the consultants that support them should attend.

 BACKGROUND: Water Code Section 10632 requires each urban water supplier to conduct an annual water supply and demand assessment and submit an annual water shortage assessment report to DWR on or before July 1 of each year. The annual report should include information for anticipated shortage, triggered shortage response actions, compliance and enforcement actions, and communication actions consistent with the supplier’s water shortage contingency plan.

 This workshop will give you an opportunity to work closely with other professionals and brainstorm best practices on how to conduct a supply and demand assessment. DWR will use this information to prepare the first Guidance Document for this effort. Your perspective and experience are needed to inform this!

WORKSHOP INFORMATION: At this workshop, there will be active participation to share and learn together.  The workshop will focus on: 

• Key Data Inputs for Supply & Demand
• Infrastructure & Integration Considerations
• The Decision-Making Process

The day will include a series of brief, targeted presentations, followed by facilitated round table discussions with other participants about the presentation topic. 

The targeted presentations will be by water suppliers that have developed assessments under different circumstances – the challenges and successes they’ve experienced. 

Facilitated round table discussions will allow all participants to discuss their challenges with peers and mutually learn and share with each other. DWR will take all participant feedback and use it to prepare the upcoming guidance document to support water suppliers throughout the State. 

SCHEDULE AND NEXT STEPS: Save the date for March 9, 2020 in Sacramento.  A registration link will be sent early next week. 

This workshop will be partnered with a related workshop on March 10 about upcoming Urban Water Management Planning Guidebook update.  Stay tuned for information on that as well.

James Campagna, Office Assistant

Water Use Efficiency Branch, California Department of Water Resources

James.Campagna@water.ca.gov

You are receiving this message because the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association is a subscriber to the AB 1668/SB 606 Water Conservation Listserv. 

The Department of Water Resources Water Use Efficiency Branch will hold a Technical Workgroup meeting on February 12, 2020 from 9:30 AM-4:00 PM at the Center for Collaborative Policy’s facility in Sacramento (304 S Street).

At the meeting DWR and the Landscape Area Measurement Team will:

• Provide a general update on the overall project progress.
• Present and discuss examples of LAM results from pilot project water district study areas.
• Review a web portal.

You are being notified as an interested party of the Water Use Studies Workgroup. The agenda and materials for the meeting will be emailed and posted as they become available. Participants at the meeting should bring a laptop for web portal interaction.

To help us plan appropriately for this meeting, please RSVP by sending an email to James Campagna of DWR noting whether you will attend in-person or online or by telephone.

If you are no longer your organization’s representative for the Water Use Studies Workgroup, please provide the new contact to James Campagna so we know who to communicate with for future Water Use Studies meetings.

RSVP Contact and Meeting Logistics: 

James Campagna, Office Assistant, Water Use and Efficiency Branch

California Dept. of Water Resources

(916) 651-9671 James.Campagna@water.ca.gov

LAM Meeting Content Questions Contact:

Glenda Marsh, Water Use Efficiency Branch, Landscape Area Measurement Project

California Dept. of Water Resources

(916) 651-9297 glenda.marsh@water.ca.gov

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

On behalf of the Mountain Counties Water Resources Association member agencies (MCWRA) who must frequently navigate the NEPA process in order to deliver the high-quality services that the public demands and deserves, it sent a letter of support to the Council on Environmental Quality for undertaking the proposed rule making.

Click the link for the letter: NEPA

Sean Maguire – State Water Resources Control Board

MCWRA sends letter to the Governor’s Office to support the reappointment of Sean Maguire to the State Water Resources Control Board.

Click the link for the letter: Sean Maguire

The Superior Court of California, El Dorado County, denied the lawsuit filed by Georgetown Divide Taxpayers Association, Steven Proe, and Michele Turney against the District. The Court concluded that the District’s new water rates are supported by substantial evidence and the District complied with Proposition 218.

In its ruling the Court determined, “After independently reviewing the evidence, the court concludes that the District’s new water rates are supported by substantial evidence, and the District met its burden of showing compliance with Proposition 218’s procedural and substantive requirements. The petition for writ of mandate is denied.“

Click here for GDPUD Press Release

For more information contact Steven Palmer, PE, General Manager
spalmer@gd-pud.org, 530-333-4356

A message from the Greg Quist, Chairman of MCWRA Associate member:  Urban Water Institute

Dear Colleagues and Fellow Board Members,

As Chairman and a fellow member of the Urban Water Institute board, I am excited to share this reminder and invitation for our upcoming conference in Palm Springs, which takes place February 19-21, 2020.    Please click here for the Agenda.

Thank you for your continued support, participation, and the sharing of your talents with the Urban Water Institute.  Our success in bringing leading edge, 360° water policy and economic issues to our conferences can be traced to the support and energy of our board members, as well as the financial support that stems from the membership, attendees and sponsors.

So our theme for the Spring Conference is: “2020 Foresight – The Past Is Prelude”.

The UWI Planning Committee has once again done a phenomenal job of pulling together experts and luminaries to discuss a number of relevant and exciting topics, including: Just How Ugly Can Cyber Threats Be; I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Rain about the Paradise Fire; and Wild Wild West Coast and Central Coast Ground Water Basin- A History!

Our “Hindsight is 2020” panel are all famous luminaries – Prof. Steve Erie, Michael George, and Kevin Hunt – talking about historic water agreements like the IID transfer and the QSA, digging into what was good and what was not so good with these deals and other contentious water history, all discussed from their unique and insightful perspectives.

In addition, we will have a fun panel considering how we deal with technological change, with Lisa Ohlund, Bob Siemak and Cristina Ahmadpour as judges on the Shark Tank Panel, Who’s Swimming with the Sharks?

I invite each of you to take time to attend and participate, and suggest you also bring one or two colleagues.

One of the most appealing and valuable aspects of the UWI is the opportunities to meet and talk with panelists and conference participants during, before and after the presentations.  There’s a wealth of experience and insight to be shared with our conference participants.  This is a rich and meaningful couple of days.

For those who have already arranged for sponsorship and invited members of your organization, thank you!

There are only a few more sponsorship opportunities left available at various financial levels. Please click here for sponsorship and exhibitor information.

I am very excited about another great conference, and very much look forward to seeing you in Palm Springs!

Sincerely yours,

Greg Quist, Chairman

Urban Water Institute

AUBURN, Calif. (January 7, 2020) — The Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) announced today that Andrew Fecko has been appointed as the Agency’s next General Manager. The PCWA Board of Directors approved his contract at its meeting on January 6.

Mr. Fecko currently serves as PCWA’s Director of Strategic Affairs, a position held since 2017. Hired in 2006 as a Resource Planning Administrator, Mr. Fecko has led a number of high-priority projects for the Agency including the relicensing of PCWA’s Middle Fork American River Project. In 2013 he assumed the position of Director of Resource Development where he was responsible for operational and environmental management of the Agency’s hydroelectric assets, including state and federal regulatory compliance, and energy marketing and sales. In his current position, Mr. Fecko manages PCWA’s strategic business partnerships, and regulatory and government affairs. He recently served as a representative for the Sacramento region in statewide Bay-Delta water quality negotiations.

“As California’s water paradigm grows more complex, Andrew’s skills and experience uniquely prepare him to lead PCWA into the future,” said PCWA Board Chairman Robert Dugan. “During his time with the Agency, he has shown himself to be a passionate defender of PCWA’s interests and is a highly-capable and respected leader at the local, state, and national levels.”

Andrew Fecko said, “I am truly grateful for the Board’s trust and confidence with this appointment. PCWA has a rich tradition of strong leadership and it is an honor to be able to serve the people of Placer County in this capacity and to carry forward PCWA’s mission.”

Andrew Fecko will succeed current General Manager, Einar Maisch, who will retire from PCWA on February 28, after a 34-year career with the Agency.

PCWA NEWS RELEASE: PCWA_Appoints_Andrew_Fecko_as_Next_General_Manager

MCWRA Photo: Andy joins the discussion with partners on the French Meadows Forest Restoration Project; a case study

MCWRA Photo: Andy moderating a statewide issues panel in Auburn

Congratulations Andy!

MCWRA EXECUTIVE MEMBERS:

FRENCH MEADOWS, Calif. – After six months of strategic forest treatments near French Meadows Reservoir, partners of the French Meadows Forest Restoration Project (Project) are
wrapping up their first season of implementation work. Located in the headwaters of the Middle Fork American River, in the Tahoe National Forest, the Project is one of the first instances of private and public interests coming together to fund and implement active forest management on public land. While completion of the Project is slated to take several more years, the conclusion of work this season is the culmination of years of planning, preparation, and partnership.

Click for JOINT NEWS RELEASE Success in the Sierra – French Meadows Partnership Completes its First Season of Work

Nevada Irrigation District (NID) is poised to take the next steps to help secure local control of our community’s electrical distribution system and make the priority an uninterrupted supply of safe, clean power for our region.

On Wednesday, Dec. 11, NID Directors will decide to file a request with the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) to get authorization for an application to provide retail electric service. As part of the consideration, Directors will conduct a public hearing to welcome questions and comments from community members.

NID began looking into potential acquisition of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) assets after hearing the community voice concerns about the reliability of service when PG&E activated prolonged Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) in the fall to protect against weather-caused heightened fire risks. Those shutoffs had widespread, costly effects on the community, including on schools, medical facilities, businesses and on daily life in general.

Read entire news, click here

Read the agenda item here.