JCCD Small Project Cost-Share Program

As stated in Jefferson County Conservation District’s (JCCD) Five-Year Plan, the function of JCCD is “to make available technical, educational, and financial resources, whatever their source, and coordinate them to meet the needs of local land users and managers while conserving soil, water, and related natural resources.” Further, “we strive to practice equity and inclusion by listening and learning from our valued and diverse communities and being ready to adapt and design more intentional programs and services or providing additional support in order to be more equitable in our program and service delivery.” Finally, one of the stated values is “community-based cost-effective common-sense solutions.” To that end, JCCD is piloting a local small-project cost-share program administered wholly by JCCD to support voluntary stewardship by local land users.

Program Goals:

• Re-invest Jefferson County Conservation District's (JCCD) resources into the community to address natural resource concerns.

• Offer land users access to financial assistance for small-scale voluntary stewardship projects that might not be funded through other programs. Our priority when considering projects will be to work with land users to pursue other funds first, including, but not limited to, Washington State Conservation Commission (WSCC) grant programs and/or Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) programs, but because those programs will not work in every situation, this program serves as another tool to help land users meet their stewardship objectives.

Application Criteria:

• Proposed projects must be on land within Jefferson County.

• Proposed projects must address natural resource concerns.

• Applicants must submit their project proposals via this online form to JCCD technical staff prior to presenting their project proposals, either in-person or remotely, to the JCCD board and staff at a regular public meeting.

• Applicants are required to obtain any necessary permits for work conducted as part of a District funded project, e.g. HPAs for any in-stream work.

• Applicants are required to follow JCCD's Unanticipated Cultural Resources Discovery Plan for all work that is conducted.

• Applicants whose proposals are awarded funding are required to sign a cost-share agreement that includes a waiver of liability and grants reasonable access to the project site by JCCD staff for monitoring.