Wildfire Mitigation Outreach Grant Program
Grant application period closed Feb. 29, 2024.
The Colorado General Assembly established the Wildfire Mitigation Outreach Grant Program in 2022. This program provides state support to conduct outreach among landowners in high wildfire hazard areas. To be eligible, a recipient must be an agency of local government, a county, municipality, special district, a Tribal agency or program, or a nonprofit organization.
The Colorado State Forest Service has $300,000 available for grant awards through this program.
Download the Wildfire Mitigation Outreach grant application.
Request for Applications
The Wildfire Mitigation Outreach Grant Program, administered by the Colorado State Forest Service, was created during the 2022 legislative session when the Colorado General Assembly passed House Bill 22-1007. This competitive grant program provides state funding assistance to support wildfire mitigation outreach efforts directed at landowners located in high wildfire hazard areas within Colorado.
Nonprofit organizations and local government entities including, but not limited to, municipalities, counties, cities, special districts, or Tribal agencies or programs are eligible to apply for grant funding. In addition, all applicants must be able to function as the fiscal agent or have a designated fiscal agent, and nonprofits must be registered and in good standing with the Secretary of State’s Office.
Qualifying projects will consist of outreach efforts targeted primarily at residents located in high wildfire hazard areas, as defined by the Colorado Forest Atlas. Projects may include efforts related to the development and implementation of outreach and/or educational programs, events, materials or other relevant activities, with a primary goal of educating residents located in high wildfire hazard areas on wildfire mitigation. All outreach messages and materials generated using grant funds that provide guidance for wildfire mitigation to homeowners must align with the guidance in the CSFS Home Ignition Zone guide.
Applicants are encouraged to use the State’s Live Wildfire Ready (LWR) campaign resources that are targeted to help Colorado residents, especially those who live in the wildland-urban interface, understand their wildfire risk and what they can do to mitigate that risk to their life, home and property. As part of the qualifying project and upon request, CSFS staff may be available to customize specific items (e.g., banners, handouts, social media graphics) in the Live Wildfire Ready Partner Toolkit to reflect local needs. If awardees create their own materials, they are encouraged to acknowledge the State of Colorado’s support and promote the LWR campaign through the funded project(s). Examples of this include placing the LWR logo at the end of a video, or on printed or digital materials like flyers and social media graphics; verbally acknowledging the support of the State and the LWR campaign at events; etc.).
Examples of allowable project components include outreach and engagement events; printed or digital materials such as flyers, guides and social media graphics; educational videos and apps, etc.
To determine a project area’s wildfire hazard risk, the applicant should consult the Wildfire Risk Reduction Planner web mapping application within the Colorado Forest Atlas. To access this application, an account must be requested for the Colorado Forest Atlas. This account is free of charge and is usually approved within 24 hours of receiving the request. The Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Risk layer will need to be enabled to identify high wildfire hazard areas in Colorado.
$300,000 is available for the 2024 grant cycle. The CSFS reserves the right to award full or partial funding to successful applicants.
Budget requests must be clearly explained in the budget narrative section of the grant application. A description of specific outcomes generated by the proposed budget and methods for successfully expending resources within the proposed timeline is required.
Matching funds
All applicants must contribute matching funds in an amount of at least 10% of the total project cost. Matching contributions can be either cash, in-kind contributions or a combination of cash and in-kind contributions, and they may be in the form of private, local government, state or federal support for the project. State funds may be used as match; however, no more than 50% of the applicant’s matching funds can come from another state funding source, unless the applicant is a state agency. In-kind contributions must be clearly quantified and justified in the budget narrative section of the grant application. In-kind contributions may consist of donated supplies, equipment or volunteer time/sweat equity (based on hourly value). Donated time should be accounted for using current volunteer labor rates ($34.36/hour per individual for 2024).
Successful applicants will work with the CSFS to finalize approved project activities prior to beginning projects. Activities deemed to be unachievable may be modified or removed from the final award.
Successful applicants will be reimbursed for actual (cash) costs incurred in implementing the project after the following requirements: 1) completion of project activities outlined in approved award packet, 2) documentation that project funds have been matched at the approved minimum ratio, and 3) submittal of reports and reimbursement paperwork.
At the completion of the project, awardees must share their project with the CSFS to ensure the final product meets the standards outlined in the approved Scope of Work in the award packet. A final report containing a narrative of accomplishments that includes the following, where applicable, is also required:
- Number of individuals, homeowners, communities, etc., reached
- Description of outreach efforts and materials used
- Digital photos of outreach and education efforts in action
- Map of project boundary where outreach efforts occurred
Applicants should combine the grant application and allowable supporting documents into single pdf and email it to CSFS_WMO_Grant@colostate.edu. Hard copies will not be accepted.
- Request for applications (RFA) release – Jan. 16, 2024
- Application deadline – Feb. 29, 2024, by 5:00 p.m. MST
- Award announcement – March 29, 2024
- Project completion deadline – March 29, 2027
Applications will be independently scored by the CSFS. The evaluation/scoring criteria used to score applications are included in the application instructions.