Grant Application Waiting Game
Butte County – a photo taken in late Spring preparing for a site visit with agency funders and regional representatives
While we are in the final, real estate transaction stages of establishing easements for our two Round Eight SALC Program projects in Butte County, we’ve been preparing for the next round of acquisitions and lining up funding for new prospective projects - time for grant applications!
Since April 22nd (Earth Day!) we’ve submitted four project proposals for consideration to fund establishment of easements for 11,500 wooded acres, each with considerable public benefits. We arranged site visits in June and early July with prospective funders and conservation agency partners, in pursuit of developing an acquisition plan funded through various grant programs at the state level. The federal funding sources previously used for forest legacy projects and agricultural conservation easements is uncertain at this time, or are limited in regional scope.
Photo taken during a site visit to a property in Butte Creek Canyon
Pre-proposal project work is landowner funded, in a fee-for-service agreement, while preparing qualifying projects to full proposal submission is funded under our DOC Capacity Grant. The fee-for-service agreements are critical to meeting the match requirements for capacity grants!
Additionally, up to the July 17th deadline, land trust staff worked diligently finalizing full applications representing 3 projects covering 3,190 acres to the Department of Conservation’s (DOC) Round Ten of its Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation (SALC) Program.
These full applications require extensive research, community outreach, real estate transaction work, mapping and revisions to conservation documents, and a lot of writing to get the whole plan into a succinct, yet powerful, proposal. While we originally proposed six projects in the pre-proposal round, our final project count is at three – one in each county of our Service Region! We’ve been quiet during this exciting time, and want to share an update on what we’ve cooked up since our last post!
Northern Butte County – the proposed conservation easement would “protect over 1,150 acres of actively regenerating blue oak woodlands and critical habitat within a major deer migration corridor, contributing to carbon neutrality by safeguarding carbon-rich grasslands and blue oak–foothill pine habitats.
This photo of a ranch north of Chico was taken in Spring 2024 when NCRLT staff first received the inquiry. Just a few months later this property was within the Park Fire footprint, and the habitat is coming back well in the burn scar and protects a crucial wildlife corridor.
Tehama County - approximately 137 acres of irrigated, seasonal grazing land in Tehama County, east of Highway 99 between Red Bluff and Los Molinos, would be conserved by this conservation easement to ensure a year-round, sustainable operation within one county, and simultaneously protect water resources and wildlife connectivity on these parcels.
Glenn & Butte County - Farmed by one family for four generations, 1,000 acres of prime farmland that yields bountiful walnuts, almonds, and pecans along the Sacramento River is proposed to be conserved through establishment of three easements, one in Butte County and two in Glenn, NCRLT’s first projects in Glenn County!
Glenn County - not too far from the Sacramento River, a project to protect 1,000 acres across three separate easements would mark NCRLT’s first Conservation Easements in Glenn County!
Now, we wait. Patiently as we can. We hope to relay good news to our family farmers by Thanksgiving. Good thing we have so many other tasks to distract us! Soon you will be hearing about more of those fun things as we move from Summer and into the late-Summer, pre-Harvest season! Thanks for supporting Your Land Trust and our ongoing conservation of special places.
