Oregon’s Agricultural Water Quality (Ag WQ) Program offers grant funding to Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) and Watershed Councils (WC).
The funding must meet program goals of:
- prevent and control water pollution from agricultural activities,
- prevent and control soil erosion, and
- achieve applicable water quality standards.
For more information about Strategic Implementation Area (SIA) Technical Assistance Grants and SIA Restoration Grants, go to Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board's
SIA grant page.
Stream Temperature Monitoring Grant
This project is intended as 20 years of stream temperature monitoring and riparian assessment to see whether ODA can show that reductions in stream temperature (if any) can be related to improved riparian conditions. Air temperature and stream flow are tracked to determine their potential influence on stream temperature over the long term, 20 years. Data will not be analyzed as a whole by ODA until 2033, but ODA may decide before then to analyze parts of the project.
This grant is only available to established local partners.
Agricultural Water Quality (Ag WQ) Support Grant
ODA's Ag WQ Program was directed by the legislature to establish a competitively awarded grant program. These grants are intended to provide capacity to support voluntary agricultural water quality work in small watersheds and to meet the goals of the Ag WQ Management Area Plans and the SIA initiative.
Grant eligibility
SWCDs and WCs may submit grant applications for projects between $20,000 to $149,000.
Eligible proposal types
ODA will award grant funds for proposals that include any or all of these proposal types:
A. Agricultural Land Condition Assessments. Assess conditions on agricultural lands that contribute to water quality, such as:
- presence/absence of riparian vegetation or groundcover,
- irrigation methods,
- fencing,
- livestock watering,
- manure management.
Eligible assessments track progress toward Ag WQ Program goals or inform adaptive-management decisions, as outlined in your local Area Plan. Completed assessments should also include a prioritization of next steps following the results of the assessment.
B. Monitoring. Create plans for and conduct monitoring specifically to address needs identified in applicable Area Plans or TMDLs. Eligible projects may evaluate current conditions, mid-management conditions, or long-term conditions. Proposals may fund AgWQ monitoring equipment and/or testing results.
Please note: A monitoring plan, utilizing the ODA Monitoring Plan template, or an accepted alternative as determined by the ODA Monitoring Specialist, must be completed and approved prior to the beginning of monitoring efforts. Discuss options with your ODA regional water quality specialist. Unless otherwise approved by the ODA Monitoring Specialist, all water quality data need to have an approved sampling and analysis plan, and quality assurance project plan and are expected to meet DEQ’s “A” level quality criteria and must be submitted to DEQ Ambient Water Quality Monitoring System database within one year of collection. Monitoring plans should briefly describe the following: partner(s) and SWCD role(s), parameters to monitor, frequency, and geographic scope.
C.
Outreach and Engagement: Engage farmers, ranchers, rural landowners, and/or partners in workshops, tours, site visits, etc., related to reducing non-point source pollution from agricultural lands. Develop printed materials designed to inform and educate farmers, ranchers, rural landowners, and/or partners on non-point source pollution from agricultural lands.
D. Technical Assistance. Provide technical assistance to farmers, ranchers and rural landowners in order to reduce non-point source pollution from agricultural activities and/or improve water quality.
Grant cycle calendar
Grant application materials
Grantee forms