Preparedness/CalFire2018Grants/CalFire2018GrantElements

Proposal elements

this section is used to gather background info & to break out the formal proposal's writing elements.

Grant Conditions

1. Grants can be made only to “eligible” applicants.
2. Projects must include or provide benefits to habitable structures in the State Responsibility Area (SRA). Non-SRA lands may be included within project boundaries but project activities must provide a benefit to SRA.
3. Fire Prevention qualifying projects and activities are limited to those where the proposed project or activity addresses the risk or potential impact of wildfire to communities and forested landscapes.
4. Applicants must consider greenhouse gas emissions of project activities and plan to reduce emissions as much as possible during project activities.
5. Grantees must have the ability to satisfactorily plan, administer, and complete a grantproject
6. For some projects, the grantee may be required to prepare a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) or National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document. Those projects requiring CEQA/NEPA review are required to provide documented compliance with in 12 months from the grant execution.CEQA/NEPA compliance must begin immediately after grant execution. Documented CEQA/NEPA compliance is required prior to commencing any on -the-ground activity.
7. Fire Prevention grant projects are eligible to qualify for CEQA suspension pursuant to the Governor’s 10-30-2015 Emergency Proclamation if the applicant certifies the following:
   1. The project is located within a High Hazard Zone; and
   2. The project is removing dead and dying trees that pose a threat to public health,safety, or located in Tier 2 high hazard zones, and
   3. The removal of dead and dying trees will comply with the Tree Mortality Task Force (TMTF) Guidelines for removal of dead and dying trees dated March 1, 2016, see Appendix A – CEQA Compliance.

. Costs already funded or budgeted through another source (i.e. supplanting). • Income, fees, revenues, or wages lost or voluntarily waived by a local agency. • Activities or costs associ ated with permanent work such the construction of a biomass facility. Examples of non - qualifying project types and activities: • Purchase of capital equipment greater than $100,000. • Installation, creation, upgrade, or maintenance of fire protection feature s, such as roads, bridges, structures or water storage facilities. • Any project submitted by a for - profit company or corporation. • Projects or activities utilizing CAL FIRE staff without corresponding reimbursements or requests seeking funding for services a lready provided by CAL FIRE. • Removal of dead and dying trees that do not pose a threat to public health and safety , and, are not located in Tier 2 high hazard zones .

Grants must be completed by March 15, 2022. ** Conditions 1. Grants can be made only to “ eligible” applicants . 2. Projects must in clude or provide benefits to habitable structures in the State Responsibility Area (SRA). Non - SRA lands may be included within project boundaries but project activities must provide a benefit to SRA. 3. Fire Prevention q ualifying projects and a ctivities are limited to those where the proposed project or activity addresses the risk or potential impact of wildfire to communities and forested landscapes. 4. Applicants must consider greenhouse gas emissions of project activit ies and plan to reduce emissions as much as possible during project activities. 5. Grantees must have the ability to satisfactorily plan, administer , and complete a grant project . 6. For some projects, the grantee may be required to prepare a California Envi ronmenta l Quality Act (CEQA) or National Environmental Policy Act ( NEPA ) document. Those projects requiring CEQA /NEPA review are required to provide documented compliance with in 1 2 months from the grant e xecution. CEQA/NEPA compliance must begin immediatel y a fter grant execution. Documented CEQA /NEPA compliance is required prior to commencing any on - the - ground activity. 7. Fire Prevention grant projects are eligible to qualify for CEQA suspension pursuant to the Governor’s 10 - 30 - 20 15 E mergency Proclamation if the applicant certifies the following: 6 a. The project is located within a High Hazard Zone

and b. The project is removing dead and dying trees that po se a threat to public health, safety , or located in Tier 2 high hazard zones, and c. The removal of dead and dyin g trees will comply with the Tree Mortality Task Force (TMTF) Guidelines for removal of dead and dying trees date d March 1, 2016, see Appendix A – CEQA Compliance . 8. Projects proposed on a “forested landscape” will require a n R PF to design and oversee any f uel hazard reduction vegetation removal as defined in Public Resource (PRC) Code § 753 and 754 , copied below . The RPF will conduct at least one site visit during active project operations to ensure vegetation removal is being conducted according to the pre scription. A n RPF is not required to provide the general project information required in the Scope of Work during the grant application phase, but the applicant must demonstrate how CEQA /NEPA compliance will be met, including RPF involvement, in Item E4 o f the Project Scope of Work and include this cost in the budget if applicable. PRC § 753 - “Forestry,” as used in this article, refers to the science and practice of managing forested landscapes and the treatment of the forest cover in general, and includ es, among other things, the application of scientific knowledge and forestry principles in the fields of fuels management and forest protection, timber growing and utilization, forest inventories, forest economics, forest valuation and finance, and the eva luation and mitigation of impacts from forestry activities on watershed and scenic values, to achieve the purposes of this article. The practice of forestry applies only to those activities undertaken on forested landscapes. The professions specified in Se ction 772 are not practicing forestry when mitigating or recommending mitigation of impacts from previous forestry activities on related watershed or ecological values within their area of professional expertise or when recommending those mitigations for p roposed timber operations. However, public and private foresters are required to be licensed pursuant to this article when making evaluations and determinations of the appropriate overall combination of mitigations of impacts from forestry activities neces sary to protect all forest resources. 9. Projects outside of a “forested landscape” should consider the use of a professional ecologist, biologist, certified rangeland manager, arborist, RPF , or other professional with knowledge of local ecosystem processes to develop an appropriate fuel haz ard reduction removal project. 10. Fuel reduction vegetation treatment prescriptions shall focus on reducing fire hazard, improving tree growth, an d increasing forest resilience. Treatments shall eliminate the vertical and hor izontal continuity of vegetative fuels for the purpose of reducing the rate of fire spread, duration and intensity, fuel ignitability, or ignition of tree crowns. 11. Required project deliverables for all hazardous fuel reduction projects to be included in I tem E3 of the Project Scope of Work

7 a. Pre - and post - treatment description of site conditions and project results relative to hazardous tree or vegetative conditions , wildfire hazard reduction goal accomplishments , and pre - and post - dead and dying tree counts or measurable metric for evaluation of the project (such as number of acres treated) . b. GIS data files supporting the project map to allow CAL FIRE to accurately document the spatial extent of the project. c. Documented CEQA /NEPA compliance within 12 months of grant execution. This includes CEQA or demonstration of exemption. d. Documentation of at least one site visit during active project operations to ensure vegetation removal is being conducted according to the prescription. 12. Grant applications must describe t he method used to determine the grant amount requested. This m ethodology must include the grant costs less any income from forest product s or other revenues received from the grant implementation. 13. All project and activity work related to grants must be co mpleted by March 15, 202 2 . 14. Final invoices for grant - related work must be submitted to CAL FIRE no later than April 30, 2022. 15. Projects must demonstrate all efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions . Projects most likely to have significant emissions red uctions will be favored