2008 Conservation Innovation Grants

" Updated " 06/23/2008

Washington's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is participating in the 2008 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) State Component. CIG is a voluntary program intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies while leveraging Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection, in conjunction with agricultural production. Under CIG, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funds are used to award competitive grants to non-Federal governmental or non-governmental organizations, Tribes, or individuals.

CIG enables NRCS to work with other public and private entities to accelerate technology transfer and adoption of promising technologies and approaches to address some of the nation's most pressing natural resource concerns. CIG will benefit agricultural producers by providing more options for environmental enhancement and compliance with Federal, State, and local regulations. NRCS administers the CIG program. The CIG requires a 50-50 match between the agency and the applicant.  The CIG has two funding components - national and state.

• The CIG National Component offers eligible entities the opportunity to apply for grants of up to $1 million. NRCS is making available up to $20 million in this nationwide competition.

• The CIG State Component offers eligible entities the opportunity to apply for grants up to $50,000. This competition is limited to applications for projects within Washington state. Washington NRCS is one of 26 states participating in the CIG program.

2008 Program Facts

Up to $150,000 is available for the Washington CIG state competition. Funds will be awarded through a statewide competitive grants process. The Request for Proposals document outlines the entire application process. Proposals are requested from eligible government or non-government organizations or individuals for competitive consideration of grant awards for projects between one and three years in duration. All proposals must be received in the NRCS Washington state office no later than 4:00 p.m. (PDT) on Monday, May 1, 2008. Complete applications will be evaluated by a technical peer review panel and scored based on the "Criteria for Proposal Evaluation" identified in the "Request for Proposals" document.

CIG State Component

For Fiscal Year 2008, Washington State will offer only the CIG Natural Resource Concerns component.  Applicants will not receive more than one award within the Natural Resource Concern component.

Natural Resource Concerns Component

Applications must demonstrate the use of innovative technologies or approaches, or both, to address a natural resource concern or concerns. The natural resource concerns for possible funding through Washington State’s Conservation Innovation Grants for fiscal year 2008 are:

Water Resources
The objective of this natural resource concern is to implement new technologies and/or approaches to maintain, restore, or enhance water quality and/or quantity in watersheds with predominantly agricultural land uses while sustaining productivity.  Subtopics include, but are not limited to:

    •    Nutrient, pesticide, and/or pathogen transport to surface water and groundwater;
    •    Sediment transport to surface water;
    •    Aquifer recharge/maintenance of groundwater supplies;
    •    Increased water supplies/availability through alternative treatment; enhanced automation, monitoring or scheduling;
            reduced system losses; or reuse strategies; and reuse strategies; and
    •    Small Farm scalable technologies.

Soil Resources
The objective of this conservation concern is to implement new technologies and/or approaches to maintain, restore, or enhance soil resources associated with agricultural and forest land uses while sustaining productivity.  Subtopics include, but are not limited to:

    •    Erosion reduction;
    •    Accumulation of harmful levels of constituents in soils, including nutrients, metals, salts; and
    •    Overall soil quality and productivity.

Atmospheric Resources
The objective of this conservation concern is to implement new technologies and/or approaches to maintain, restore, or enhance air quality and atmospheric resources through agricultural and forest practices while sustaining productivity. Subtopics may include but are not limited to:

    •    Agricultural emissions of particulates, odors, volatile organic compounds, and greenhouse gases;
    •    Carbon sequestration in soil and through other mechanisms;
    •    Bio-based energy opportunities; and
    •    Identification and quantification of management practices for air quality and atmospheric change
            concerns at animal operations.

Grazing Land and Forest Health
The objective of this conservation concern is to implement new technologies and/or approaches to maintain, restore, or enhance grazing land and forest health while sustaining productivity. Subtopics may include but are not limited to:

    •    Invasive species management on grazing;
    •    Effects of pest, diseases, and fragmentation on forest and grazing land quality/health;
    •    Systems or practices to minimize overgrazing and restore lands suffering effects of overgrazing;
    •    Low-input approaches to increasing forage production;
    •    Alternative grasses or forages for livestock; and
    •    Systems or practices that integrate trees-forage-livestock (i.e. silvopasture).

Market-Based Approaches
The objective of this approach is to implement and/or evaluate processes, technology tools, institutional arrangements or systems that are 'market-based' in nature and address one of the above priority resource concerns. Subtopics may include but are not limited to:

    •    Development and application of technology tools that measure environmental services (i.e. benefits)
            in order to document credits for trading;
    •    Greenhouse gas accounting tools and registries;
    •    Water quality improvement accounting tools;
    •    Nutrient trading and/or accounting tools; and
    •    Demonstrations of ecosystem-bases services that facilitate conservation implementation.

 

The following documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader.

2008 Washington State Grant Application Materials

2008 WA State Full Announcement and Application Package  (PDF; 179 KB)

2008 Application Package Check List  (PDF; 15 KB) 

SF 4248 Supplemental Instructions  (PDF; 41 KB)

Example of a completed SF 424a  (PDF; 126 KB)

Obtaining a Data Universal Number System (DUNS) Number (PDF; 23 KB)

All forms necessary for CIG submission are available on the following Grants.gov website:
Grants.gov - Find Grant Opportunities - Opportunity Synopsis .

Rules, Notices, and Additional Information

Final Rule  Federal Registrar, Published 1/11/05  (PDF; 64 KB)

Interim Final Rule with Request for Comments  Published 3/29/04  (PDF; 133 KB)

CIG Fact Sheet

CIG Key Points

CIG Program Description  

CIG Questions and Answers

For More Information

For more information please see the National NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants webpage, review the CIG Announcement of Program Funding on the Grants.gov webpage, read the information in the files listed above, or contact one of the Washington NRCS personnel listed below.

Amy Smith
Contract Specialist
509-323-2925

Dave Brown
Assistant State Conservationist - Programs
509-323-2971

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