To ensure that all applicants have access to information, the NCRP will post responses to all questions submitted by applicants to this web page weekly (applicant names will not be listed)
The form lists any character limits – in many cases, there is a 3000-character limit, which corresponds to 500-600 words or 4-8 paragraphs.
Yes, see Appendix B on p. 21 of the Guidelines. You will upload the application by responding to questions on the Survey123 form, but you can use the questions in Appendix B to plan your responses.
You do not need to sign into the Survey123 portal. Responses that you enter on the Survey form will be automatically saved. You do not need to complete the application in one session; as long as you re-open the Survey on the same browser, your responses will be saved on the form. Once you hit submit, your responses will be submitted to NCRP and you will no longer have access to them, so we suggest that you save your responses before submitting. You can screenshot or copy & paste the questions and answers into a document on your computer. Another option would be to develop your responses in a word document and then copy them into the Survey 123 portal.
Technical support is available from consultants specifically contracted by NCRP for the purpose of providing up to 5 hours of advising for each applicant. If you would like to request technical support, please use the form to do so. NCRP is not entering in to individual contracts with other consultants to provide technical assistance for this grant proposal.
The Capacity Grants Program webpage provides a form link to request technical advising with application development. Javier Silva and Jessele Perez will respond to Tribal requests and Rose Roberts will respond to non-Tribal requests. They will connect you with the consultants that NCRP has contracted to provide up to 5 hours of technical advising per applicant. We also encourage you to attend the Office Hours, held each Wednesday 1-3 pm starting next Wednesday January 21 and continuing through February 18 (information on the office hours is included here). If you need technical help with any website forms or with submitting your application, reach out to Shelly Hughes or Jessele Perez. We encourage you not to wait until the last minute in case you experience any challenges with the application upload process.
Due to the time frame and the nature of the application, NCRP is offering technical advising of up to 5 hours per applicant, to be provided by consultants that NCRP has contracted with for this purpose.
General questions can be asked using the online form – we will lightly edit the question to ensure the anonymity of the questioner and will provide a definitive answer that has been vetted by the NCRP staff team. Specific questions that are unique to your entity can be asked during Office Hours, as can follow-up questions to those posed during the Workshop or via the website form.
NCRP will only consider one application per legal entity. NCRP encourages collaboration among departments within a particular entity. In all cases, an entity must have authorization to apply from their Tribe, County, NGO board, or organization lead. Please note that the NCRP Leadership Council evaluates proposals based on regional equity of funding allocation and is interested in providing funding to economically disadvantaged and/or historically underrepresented communities.
No, NCRP will only accept one application per legal entity. For applicants who will serve as a grant lead for other groups, you are encouraged to include funds for your own entity as well as for the groups in your alliance in one application (see Guidelines pp.3-4).
See the eligible activities on p.2-3 of the Guidelines. Organizational capacity development, including strategic planning and partner and community engagement, are eligible project activities. Keep in mind that activities eligible for funding should directly support the capacity to plan, fund, and implement a landscape scale portfolio of multi-objective projects that enhance forest health, as well as watershed and community resilience to wildfire. For each funding category that you request, you will be asked to describe how that funding will address the capacity needs and gaps that will allow you to pursue the implementation of your identified project portfolio.
Eligible applicants are listed on page 2 of guidelines: Eligible applicants include federally recognized Native American Tribes or non-federally recognized California Native American Tribes listed on the California Tribal Contact List maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission as described in Section 65352.4 of the Government Code, counties and local public agencies, special districts, local Fire and Rescue service providers (including Fire Related Districts, Volunteer Fire Department/Companies, Combination Departments, Career Departments) and non-profit organizations. Universities are not eligible applicants, although 501 (c) (3) non-profits that are associated with universities are eligible applicants. If your research team is not an eligible applicant per the guidelines, you may wish to consider partnering with an eligible entity.
Applicants may be a lead on one application, and a supporting partner on another. Per the guidelines, applicants are asked to list and describe partnerships. Please note that the NCRP Leadership Council will consider regional equity in making its decisions on funding awards.
No, the NCRP will only accept one applicant per legal entity. For applicants who will serve as a grant lead for other groups, you are encouraged to include funds for your own entity as well as for the groups in your partnership in one application (see Guidelines pp.3-4).
This capacity grants program is intended to support the capacity to implement project portfolios within the NCRP region. If the footprint of your project portfolio is partially within the NCRP region and partially outside of it, please specify how the capacity investment you are requesting supports the part of your portfolio that is within the NCRP region.
Organizational strategic planning is an eligible activity for the Capacity Grants Program. For each of the proposed activities in the Capacity Grant budget you submit, NCRP suggests that you articulate how the proposed activities would increase your entity’s capacity to implement the project portfolio that you have identified that enhances forest health, as well as watershed and community resilience to wildfires, that you have identified in Part 2 of the application.
This map shows the boundaries of the NCRP region. The project portfolio you describe in Section 2 of the application must be located within the NCRP region. A lead entity that is located outside the region must demonstrate that the proposed capacity investments directly benefit communities and landscapes within the North Coast region, and are not investments intended to support the entity’s broader capacity to do work outside the NCRP region. Please note that NCRP policies include a preference for providing funding to entities within the NCRP region, and to supporting economically disadvantaged and historically underrepresented communities.
Yes, upgrades to existing equipment are eligible; partial funding for equipment where the applicant has other funding match to cover the balance is also eligible.
Yes, the minimum proposal amount under Track Two is $75,000 – proposals that link or integrate equipment purchases with other capacity investments may score higher (see Proposal Applications & Scoring Criteria on p. 9 of the Guidelines). See question below.
A small water tender was used as one example in the guidelines, along with chippers, chainsaws, ATVs, and burn trailers. NCRP defers to applicants regarding their equipment needs. Note that equipment costs are capped at $50,000 and are only available for Track 2 applications (See Guidelines Appendix B, p. 22-23, for caps and conditions on budget items). Applicants should be aware of the equipment requirements listed in Appendix A: Equipment is an item of $5,000 or more per unit cost and has a tangible useful life of more than one year. For any equipment or vehicles purchased or built with funds that are reimbursable as a direct cost of the project, the sub-grantee must be the sole owner on the title. During the sub-grant agreement term, equipment must meaningfully increase the subgrantee’s capacity to perform the tasks outlined in the grant scope of work and the sub-grantee is required to maintain an inventory record for each piece of non-expendable equipment or vehicles purchased or built with funds provided under the terms of a sub-grant agreement. See question above.
Please see p. 2-3 of the guidelines. Note that this program does not fund project implementation, but supports the capacity to plan, fund, and implement a landscape-scale portfolio of multi-objective projects that enhance forest health, as well as watershed and community resilience to wildfires. Capacity support is not restricted to entities working on fuel reduction projects. Capacity support for entities working to enhance watershed and community resilience to wildfires is also eligible, and this includes enhancing the capacity of local fire response entities. See the categories of eligible project activities on p. 2-3 of the Guidelines.
NCRP suggests that you articulate how the proposed staff hours would increase your entity’s capacity to implement the project portfolio that you have identified that enhance forest health, as well as watershed and community resilience to wildfires.
The Leadership Council has a strong emphasis on supporting partners within the NCRP region and supporting economic development within the NCRP region. Out-of-state travel is not currently an allowable expense under this grant program . Any contractor you hire to provide services must fit within your entity’s purchasing policy. You would need to articulate how this application (including patent development) would increase the capacity of an applicant within the NCRP region to implement an identified project portfolio within the NCRP region.
Yes, training and certification are eligible activities under this capacity grants program when the training and certification will increase the capacity to implement your identified portfolio of projects.
Choose the entity type for the lead entity on the collaboration, so in this case, non-profit organization.
This is not predetermined and will be decided by the Leadership Council based on the applications received. At least $2 million will be awarded in total. See the Guidelines pp. 5-6 for more on the factors that the Leadership Council will consider in their award decisions.
NCRP defers to the applicant as to how you define your current capacity and which Track you feel is appropriate for your organization. Track 1 is intended to support entities that are building foundational capacity and who may not have a track record of implemented projects, or who may not have a portfolio of projects in the advanced planning or implementation-ready stages. Track 2 is intended to support the capacity of entities with demonstrated experience in past project implementation, who may need expanded capacity support to be able to implement their portfolio of projects. Track 2 does not require partnerships, although evidence of partnerships may lead to higher scores, based on the criteria in the guidelines and NCRP Leadership Council and CA Department of Conservation objectives.
It is expected that Track 2 applicants would be able to include a list of projects that they have completed in their Statement of Qualifications, and to provide more details about the planned Project Portfolio described in Section 2. Track 2 applicants are asked to provide additional information that Track 1 applicants are not required to submit, such as Technical & Reference Supporting documents for the project portfolio and a description of existing partnership & collaborations. The funding range is different for the two tracks and only Track 2 includes equipment purchase as an eligible expense. NCRP suggests that you look carefully at these factors in the grant application and decide which funding track is most appropriate for your entity. Also note that Track 1 & Track 2 applications will be scored and ranked separately, so your application will only be compared to others within the same track.
The Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program, DOC, and NCRP are focused on achieving outcomes on the ground that increase wildfire resilience for watersheds and communities. The intention of these capacity grants is to support eligible applicants in developing, expanding, and maintaining the capacity to plan and implement a portfolio of projects that meet the criteria listed in the guidelines. The program does not fund generic capacity building that cannot be tied directly to the implementation of the project portfolio. We encourage you to articulate how the eligible indirect costs and/or personnel costs, consultants, equipment or training costs listed in the guidelines (page 2-3 and 11-13) will result in the implementation of your identified project portfolio. Please keep in mind that this capacity grants program is expected to be highly competitive, and the NCRP Leadership Council will be evaluating the benefits and outcomes from the capacity needs identified by applicants.
See p. 21 of the Guidelines – there is information there and in other parts of the Guidelines that describe what NCRP and DOC are looking for. NCRP is expecting these capacity grants to support long-term, sustainable capacity enhancement in entities that are leading in their communities on wildfire, forest, and watershed resilience. For example, if an entity asks for funding to enhance capacity to implement a 20-acre invasive species removal project, this is not likely to score well given that this project would not be considered a multi-benefit, landscape-scale project portfolio. Whereas if an entity asks for capacity funding to implement eligible project types or activities within a large-scale footprint, this project portfolio is likely to meet many or most of the criteria in the guidelines. The projects within the portfolio do not have to be contiguous or connected, however, applicants should identify the ways in which each individual project connects to the overall project portfolio to support wildfire resilience.
This funding supports your entity’s capacity to implement projects; it does not pay for project implementation. All of the project types described above are valid and acceptable project types to be included in your project portfolio. Question 9 of the Application allows you to choose from the following list of project types in describing the projects in your portfolio:
No implementation projects will be funded under this program. But in Section 2 of the Application, you are asked to describe the portfolio of projects that you plan to implement, and the ways in which the enhanced capacity provided by this grant will help you to implement. This portfolio of projects is not limited to forest health grants and can include a wide range of project types. See the response above for a list of project types you can include in your project portfolio.
This funding does not cover project implementation. Eligible activities for this NCRP Capacity Grants Program directly support the capacity to plan, fund, and implement a landscape scale portfolio of multi-objective projects that enhance forest health, as well as watershed and community resilience to wildfires See the response above for a list of project types you can include in your project portfolio.
Yes, you may apply for Track 2 funding. Project(s) included in the Project Portfolio can be at the implementation (shovel ready) stage, at the planning stage, or even at the conceptual stage. Capacity support requests that move projects in the portfolio from the conceptual or planning to the shovel-ready stage are encouraged. If desired, you may indicate in Question 7 roughly what percentage of your projects are in the implementation/shovel ready, planning, and conceptual stages. You can also use Question 14 to describe how the requested capacity investments will help you advance your projects to the shovel-ready stage.
You can select multiple project types to describe the projects in your portfolio.
When you draw the project boundary in Question 8, the tool will automatically calculate the acreage for the whole project portfolio. When you describe the specific treatments by selecting Project Types in Question 9, and enter an estimated budget and estimated acres for each Project Type/treatment, include the acreage proposed for that specific treatment. Different treatments may occur on the same acres (i.e. mechanical thinning followed by prescribed burn – two different treatments on the same acres) or different treatments may occur on different acres within the project boundary (i.e. mechanical thinning in one area, prescribed burn in a different area). This is fine.
No.Regardless of total acreage, explain how the increased capacity that would be achieved through this funding will support a landscape level project portfolio that will have a signficant impact related to wildfire, community and watershed resilience. Note that Track 1 and Track 2 applications will be scored separately, and that the expectation is that Track 2 applicants will have a well-developed project portfolio with significant impact. Applicants who wish to work on a smaller area may be more competitive in Track 1.
Yes, you still need to draw the project boundary. Data is derived from the hand-drawn polygon that will be used by the Leadership Council to make funding decisions. The supplementary map you upload will be helpful in understanding more accurate details of your project portfolio, but the hand-drawn project boundary is required.
NCRP suggests that you include all of the projects in your project portfolio. You can use Question #10 to describe the nuances of the relative inclusion of projects in mapped disadvantaged communities and the unmapped areas and how the project portfolio as a whole benefits the communities you serve.
This will be negotiated with successful applicants who are awarded funding. There is no need to include this amount in the capacity grant budget on your application. There is an expectation of close collaboration with the NCRP staff team and that time will be covered for your entity’s staff over and above what you asked for in your proposal.
NCRP suggests that you articulate how the proposed staff hours would increase your entity’s capacity to implement the project portfolio that you have identified that enhance forest health, as well as watershed and community resilience to wildfires.
Yes, the grant term ends December 31, 2027.
For now, yes. If more funding for the program becomes available, the Leadership Council may approve an increase to the amount of funding for proposals that have been awarded funding, but there is no guarantee that they will increase funding above the current cap amounts. The application form will not allow applicants to exceed the listed caps for Track 1 and Track 2 applications.
Generally, the indirect rate is capped at 20%, but this is nuanced due to the nature of the grant – as a capacity grant, some things are allowed as direct costs that would usually be included in an indirect rate. See Appendix A on p. 11 of guidelines. Read this section carefully and you can bring specific questions to Office Hours.
NCRP TA supports project development and grant applications for on-the-ground projects that improve forest health and increase wildfire resilience. If you have a project that needs consultant support for project and grant development, you are welcome to apply for NCRP TA on February 1. That application will be considered separately from an application you submit to the NCRP Capacity Grants Program. Project and grant development are also eligible activities in the NCRP Capacity Grants Program, so you could also include these activities in your Capacity Grants application.
You can incorporate costs for sub-recipients, contractors, and consultants into the appropriate budget category in Question #15, and describe the cost breakdown for that category in the Description/budget justification box. If a sub-recipient does not fit into one of the budget categories listed, you can include the costs in i. Other and describe how the costs included are directly related to the capacity grant scope of work.
Equipment is defined as an item of $5,000 or more per unit cost and has a tangible useful life of more than one year (guidelines p. 13). The maximum that can be spent on small equipment purchase is $50,000 for Track 2 applicants only (guidelines p. 23). $50,000 is the cap on equipment purchases, you cannot add the 20% allowed for indirect costs to the $50,000 maximum cap on equipment purchases.
Travel, attendance and lodging are all eligible. Please put in placeholder estimates for three workshops in the Eureka area. NCRP realizes that the directions in the guidelines are incomplete at this stage, and will work with applicants who are awarded funding to develop a refined budget for this item.
Staff time is eligible under several budget funding categories provided that the work is directly related to the capacity grant scope of work. There is no overall cap on how much of the budget can be used for staff time. See Gudelines p. 11-12 Staff Costs & Indirect Costs, which provides more detail on allowable costs.
See Guidelines p. 11: Although payment for services rendered, and costs and expenses incurred, will customarily be made in arrears, advance payments may be considered if a financial hardship is demonstrated. Advance payments will be made solely at the NCRP Administrator’s discretion and decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis. The availability of advance payments to sub-grantees will be contingent upon the ability of Humboldt County (NCRP Grantee) to secure an advance payment from the Department of Conservation (Grantor). Further details of this process will be provided in the sub-agreement, and associated forms will be provided.
Include under supplies (i.e. office supplies)
To submit a question, please use this form: NCRP Capacity Grants Program Question and Request Form