Small Grant Teams

Priority Watershed Concerns

OWEB encourages teams to use the Small Grant Program as a complement to local watershed-related plans in an effort to further establish goals for watershed enhancement and protection. Such plans include but are not limited to, Watershed Council Assessments and Action Plans, Agricultural Water Quality Management Area Plans, and urban non-point source pollution management plans. Priority watershed concerns adopted by the Small Grant Team should address the source of watershed health problems rather than the effects.

Overview & Eligibility

The Small Grant Program is an excellent opportunity for watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts, and tribes to build strong local support for watershed stewardship activities. Oregon has 28 Small Grant Teams, each eligible to receive $100,000 for the biennium to put toward eligible Small Grant Projects. Teams are cooperative arrangements where all members work together to establish strong connections with each other, citizens, and state and federal agency representatives. To be eligible for OWEB funding, a Small Grant Team must have at least two actively participating members, one from a council and one from a district. All team members should be familiar with the OWEB Small Grant Program administrative rules.

Team Contact

The Team Contact is essentially the person who agrees to assume leadership of the team for the biennium. In particular, this person organizes team meetings and serves as the team point person for OWEB Small Grant staff. The Team Contact also signs grant agreements on behalf of the team.

It is not the Team Contact’s responsibility to shoulder the entire burden of the local Small Grant Program. The success of a local Small Grant Program depends on the support and cooperation of all team members.

In conducting team meetings, the Team Contact should devote a portion of the meeting to getting a status report from the Record Keeper and others on current grants and a portion to discussing and acting on new applications.

Record Keeper

The team Record Keeper is instrumental in keeping the team organized. This person maintains a spreadsheet of all denied and recommended applications. The Record Keeper should update the spreadsheets regularly, and should give brief reports at team meetings. Lastly, the Record Keeper keeps on file for five years a copy of all applications received, whether recommended for funding or not.

Outreach Coordinator

The Outreach Coordinator is responsible for placing ads in local media outlets to inform citizens of Small Grant funding opportunities. The ads should be consistent with the team’s identified priority watershed concerns. The coordinator is responsible for other related duties, as agreed upon by the team.

In its bylaws, the team appoints an individual responsible to write the team’s Biennial Report, due to OWEB and the Soil and Water Conservation Commission no later than 60 days after the close of each OWEB biennium (no later than August 30). Typically, this person is the Record Keeper since he or she has been maintaining most of the pertinent information over the course of the biennium.

The Biennial Report addresses how the team’s funded projects:

Generally demonstrate clear watershed benefit to aquatic species, wildlife, or watershed health.
Specifically met local priority watershed concerns and Agricultural Water Quality Management Area Plans.

The Report evaluates the effectiveness of the team’s interactions externally and internally:

With landowners, applicants, grantees, project partners, and OWEB Small Grant Program staff (i.e., the challenges that faced the team with each of these groups and whether the team was successful at resolving them).
Within the team (i.e., the challenges the team faced and whether the team was successful at resolving them).

It also includes tracking sheets for recommended and denied applications for the current biennium.

The Small Grant Biennial Report Form can be downloaded from the Forms section on this page.

View the map of teams with contact information from the Links section of this page.

Tips for using the map:

To view the list only, close the map by clicking the 'X' at its upper right.
Zoom in by double-clicking the map at the area of interest or by using the slider on the left side of the page. To view a larger map area, close the list by clicking the 'X' at its upper right.
Reposition the map by clicking and dragging.
Click a dot on the map that is nearest your area to see the contact information. Click "View details for this row" to see full information.
Click the "Navigate to location" icon at the upper left of the map and enter your address to find your distance to a team.
To download a spreadsheet of the contacts table:

Click the blue "Export" button (upper right)
Select "OWEB Small Grants Teams Map" from the "Download a specific layer's data" menu.
Click "CSV."

Notes: If you need to reset the map or table, refresh the browser window. Some functions of the interactive map may be limited if you're using Internet Explorer.

By August 30 of a new biennium, each team should have submitted their Biennial Report from the recently closed biennium, as well as the team’s revised Bylaws, Priority Watershed Concerns, and Eligible Project Types for the current biennium.

In their bylaws, teams establish application deadlines for the biennium and their application review schedule. They also select officers, including the Team Contact, Team Record Keeper, Outreach Coordinator, and the individual responsible for the Team Biennial Report to OWEB.

Once the team has completed the above tasks and no team member (council, district, or tribe) has outstanding OWEB reports, the Team Contact signs a grant agreement with OWEB, effective after both parties (OWEB and the Team Contact) have signed. The grant agreement is valid through the end of the current biennium for which it was signed.

Teams may meet electronically or in person. They meet no fewer than 8 times in the biennium (the meeting schedule for the biennium is laid out in the bylaws). The role of teams is to review and discuss applications, deny applications or recommend them to OWEB for funding, and to check the status of currently funded projects.

Small Grant Teams are encouraged to invite local individuals with expertise in a watershed restoration discipline or other watershed restoration interests to consult with the team on its priorities, program elements, and recommendations for project grant awards.

Contact

Please direct questions to Kathy Leopold, Small Grant Program Coordinator, 971-345-7016.

Documents

Links

Interactive map of teams with contact information