Chaffee Common Ground offers competitive grant programs for:

• Strengthening forest health and reducing wildfire danger 
• Conserving and supporting agricultural lands and rural landscapes
• Managing the impacts of growth in outdoor recreation 

Funding opportunities encompass projects and planning work. Questions about the application process? Contact Program Administrator Ben Doon.

PROGRAM GOALS

• Strengthen forest health to protect the community from a large wildfire, protect water quality, and enhance wildlife habitat through planning and execution of forest treatment activities.
• Conserve and support working ranches, farms and rural landscapes through conservation easements and tools that enhance economic viability and longevity of working lands.
• Protect landscapes and watershed health from negative impacts of outdoor recreation use through management, hardening, restoration, and education to disperse use and support conservation values.
• Encourage action at scale across the landscape, to include landownership/management boundaries.
• Encourage collaborative thought and action across funding categories.
• Fund successful programs.
• Maximize impact by working to leverage overall Chaffee Common Ground funds by at least 2-1 through cash and in-kind matches on all combined programs (exceptions are permitted for individual programs).

Winter/Spring 2024 SCHEDULE

• Jan. 17 – Applications posted
• Jan. 22 – Grantee Information Session
• Feb. 16 – Pre-application deadline
• March 22 – Full application deadline
• May – Awards announced

OUR GRANT PROGRAMS

Forest Health and Wildfire Resilience Planning Grants are for planning of treatment activities that enhance forest health and community wildfire resilience. Applicants must be a qualified organization; individual landowners are encouraged to work with the Colorado State Forest Service, Colorado FireCamp or a similar organization. View the Application Questions or enter the Chaffee County Grants Portal to apply.

Forest Health and Fire Resilience Project Grants are for the execution of treatment activities that enhance forest health and community fire resilience. Treatments on private lands are only considered as part of a larger project that provides value to the community, such as a fuel break that crosses public and private lands in areas identified as high priority in the Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Treatment for fire resilience is completed only through qualified organizations such as Colorado State Forest Service, Colorado Firecamp, Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS) or similar. View the Application Questions or enter the Chaffee County Grants Portal to apply.

Agricultural Program Grants are to support planning and partnerships that provide services to enhance economic viability and longevity of working agricultural lands. Applicants must be a qualified organization. View the Application Questions or enter the Chaffee County Grants Portal to apply.

Agricultural Enhancement Grants are for projects that support agricultural operations on qualified properties with conservation agreements in place or on public lands. View the Application Questions or enter the Chaffee County Grants Portal to apply.

Land Conservation Grants are for conservation easements and land acquisition. Applicants must be a qualified organization, such as an accredited land trust or government agency. View the Application Questions or enter the Chaffee County Grants Portal to apply.

Recreation Impact Planning and Monitoring Grants are for planning and project development to protect landscape and watershed health from the impacts of outdoor recreation use. View the Application Questions and then enter the Chaffee County Grants Portal to apply.

Recreation Impact Project Grants are for the execution of projects that protect landscape and watershed health from negative impacts resulting from outdoor recreation use. Applications must be from a qualified organization or private landowners with a nexus to public land access and in collaboration with a qualified land management agency, such as US Forest Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife or Bureau of Land Management. View the Application Questions and then enter the Chaffee County Grants Portal to apply.

Mini Grants are for one- to two-year projects requesting $5,000 or less that advance the goals of Chaffee Common Ground through the grant programs outlined above. The intent is to support small projects and allow more participation through a simplified application process. Applicants may only apply for one mini grant in a grant cycle. View the Application and then enter the Chaffee County Grants Portal to apply.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ALL GRANTS

• Permits and landowner permissions are in place and can be documented, with the exception of planning grants.
• The proposal budget, plan and timeline is complete at an acceptable level of detail and quality.
• The proposal demonstrates clear and measurable results.
• For proposals of $50,000 or more, the applicant demonstrates a track record of success with a program of similar scope and scale.
• Agreement that funded proposals can be promoted by Chaffee Common Ground, including public news stories and signage.

Additional Grant Guidelines:

Capital equipment should be limited to project supplies that are used in the project or program. Durable capital items with be considered if the applicant will retain, own and maintain the equipment.

Multi-year funding requests are considered for multi-year projects. All grants are subject to annual appropriations by the Chaffee Board of County Commissioners. Progress reports are required to access ongoing funding.

Site visits may be requested by the Chaffee Common Ground Citizens Advisory Committee for any project to assess need, progress or completion of work. These requests will focus on complex projects applying for or funded at $100,000 or more. 

Staff Capacity support is considered to develop and implement specific projects and programs with time transparently tracked. New government positions must:

• Be innovative, creative, and offer a new solution that supports community goals.
• Be dedicated to accomplishing specific, measurable goals associated with a project or program.
• Provide a clear, current data-supported need.
• Provide a clear path to sustainable funding within 3 years that is not from Common Ground.
• Provide a cash match of at least 50%.
• Establish validity as part of a collaborative community planning process with broad stakeholder engagement and support.

Click here for Communications Guidelines