All projects must occur within the Riley Purgatory Bluff Creek Watershed District. Check to see if your property is located in the District.

Applicants must be the property owner or authorized representative. Eligible applicant categories include:

• Individual homeowners
• Non-profits (including home, townhome and lake associations)
• Schools
• Businesses
• Local government ​​​

• Homeowners:                       Up to 75% of the project cost ($5,000 maximum)
• Non-profits:                           Up to 75% of the project cost ($20,000 maximum)
• Gov/school/business:         Up to 50% of the project cost ($50,000 maximum)

The grant review committee evaluates applications for their level of benefit to water resources. The award percentage for eligible projects may range from 25% to 75%.

Before submitting a grant application, you must first request a site visit with a District representative. Site visits are scheduled on weekdays during business hours and subject to staff availability. The site visit allows evaluation and discussion with the property owner about the potential project idea.

After completion of the site visit , you may submit a grant application. The application is first reviewed by the grant program coordinator to determine if the application contains sufficient information. If the application is complete, it will be forwarded to the grant review committee, which meets about once a month to evaluate and make decisions on applications. Decisions may include a request for more information, adjustments to project design, denial of a grant award, or offer of a grant award.

Typical grant award offers range from 25% to 75% of project cost. Projects with a greater water quality benefit tend to score higher than those with a smaller water quality benefit. If a grant award is offered, the applicant must review and sign the grant agreement. Non-profits and businesses will also have to sign and file a maintenance declaration with their county recorder office. Once approved by the District Administrator (in some cases the Board of Managers must also approve), the project may begin.

The grantee pays for all project costs up front. Once the project is complete or near complete, the grantee will need to schedule a project inspection. The grantee must also submit a project report including receipts and photos. After inspection and report submisstion, the grant coordinator will submit paperwork for the grant reimbursement. The actual grant payment (in the form of a check) will mailed to the grantee following the next available Board of Managers meeting.

1. Read the program policies.
2. Fill out/submit the request a site visit form.
3. We will notify you by email about a site visit day/time within 7 business days. [IMPORTANT: Sometimes this email gets caught in spam/junk folders. Check these folders in your email account or add lforbes@rpbcwd.org  to your email contacts.]
4. Design your project. You can design the project yourself based on recommendations from the technician, or you hire a private company/contractor to design the project. If you work with a private company (or design it yourself), we encourage you to submit the plan to technician for preliminary review. The technician can help calculate the water quality benefits portion of the application. Make sure you are meeting requirements for your project type:
   • Requirements for Habitat Restoration Projects
   • Requirement for Shoreline and Wetland Buffer Projects
   • Requirements for Rain Garden and Infiltration Basin Projects

1. Before you submit the application, review a reference copy of the grant application form (pdf ). NOTE: This pdf is for reference only - do not use this when submitting an application. You need to use the online form to submit your application. Questions? Email the grant coordinator.
2. Review the project-specific requirements if you have one of these projects:
   • Requirements for Habitat Restoration Projects
   • Requirement for Shoreline and Wetland Buffer Projects
   • Requirements for Rain Garden and Infiltration Basin Projects
3. Gather all of the necessary information needed BEFORE submitting an application. The more detailed information you provide, the less likely we'll have to go back-and-forth to ask for more information. Information/materials you will need to provide:

• Project map: Provide a map showing the location of where the project would be on your property. An aerial (satellite) image of your property with contour/topographic lines is preferred. [Tip: Go to the "Tools & Resources" section at the bottom of this page to find links for your county's online property map; these have measuring and drawing tools!] Reach out to the grant coordinator for assistance. A hand-drawn map is fine if it provides details adequate for assessing your project. Take a look at these examples: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3. 
• Project design: Provide a sketch of your project design with details such as location of features, planting plan with locations of plants, etc. Include a size reference to help us understand the approximate size of your project. If your project is simple, like adding a rain barrel to a downspout, this may not be needed.

• Photos: Provide two or more photos of project area as it looks now (before project installation).

• Cost estimate: If you plan to do the project yourself, you'll need to submit an itemized cost estimate (materials, equipment rentals, in-kind labor, etc.). If you plan to hire a company/contractor to do part or all of the project work, please provide a detailed quote or bid from that company. Download this Grant Project Estimator (this is an Excel file you can open in Microsoft Excel or open in Google Sheets through your free Google/Gmail account) to help you estimate costs.

3. Once you have gathered all information and materials, fill out and submit the online grant application form. Be prepared to complete this step all at once as your form responses may not be saved on your local device.  Tip: Use a word processing program (e.g. Word) to put together your application responses in advance, then copy and paste these into the form.  

If you've reached the maximum file upload in the application form, you can email additional files to the grant program coordinator at lforbes@rpbcwd.org.

1. We will send you a grant agreement. Once this is signed, you can get started!
2. Keep track of your expenses including all receipts.
3. Issues come up. If you think you need to make a change to your plan, contact us for approval
4. Take lots of photos! Before, during, and after. You’ll need photos to submit in your project report.
5. You’ve got ONE YEAR to complete your project once grant has been approved.

1. Submit a project report to the grant coordinator. Your report must include:
   • Total project cost
   • Copies of receipts that show vendor information, date of purchase, and item name/cost (invoices must be marked as "paid in full" or have proof of payment to be considered a receipt). If your receipt includes items not used for the project (e.g. candy bar), please draw a line through these on the receipt or communicate these items to the grant coordinator.
   • List of in-kind contributions (e.g. personal labor hours) you would like credited to the project
   • Photographs of completed project
   • Short written description about project (how did it go, what did you learn, how do you plan to maintain the project site, etc.)
2. Request a project inspection by emailing or calling the grant coordinator. If you submit your project report and haven't scheduled the project inspection, we will reach out to you. *Timing: you may schedule the inspection as soon as the project is nearing completion.
3. Once your project has passed the inspection, the grant coordinator will submit a payment request to the District administrator for approval. Once approved, the reimbursement will have to be approved at the monthly board meeting. After the board meeting, payment will be in the form of a check mailed to your address (see timing info below).

When will I receive my grant reimbursement payment? That depends on when you submit your project report. If you submit all required information (including receipts) and there's enough time to perform a close-out site visit by the 15th of the month, then your reimbursement is likely to be mailed to you during the first full week of the following month.  If your report and close-out site visit occur after the 15th of the month, then your reimbursement would likely be pushed back to the next District finance cycle (month after next).

1. Take care of your project. Depending on the type of project/location, you are required to to maintain your project for 5 years or 10 years (see program guidelines for full details).
2.  Complete an online project report each year to let us know how things are going. Please do this annually for 5 to 10 years (depending on what's stated in your grant agreement).
3. At the end of year two, the CCSWCD technician will stop out for a progress visit.
4. Stay in contact! The watershed district often offers continuing education on topics such as maintenance plus other opportunities to learn and get involved.