Jul 21, 2011

Stewardship Grants Open

We’re happy to report that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is accepting applications for Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program grants for land trusts. The deadline for the upcoming round of grants is September 6th. The Stewardship Program will provide land trusts with $12 million in matching grants this fiscal year to help them protect the places that make Wisconsin special. A full program overview can be found here.

Stewardship grants have become increasingly competitive, and the DNR is anticipating that not all applicants will be awarded funds in this fiscal year. Several important changes have also been made recently to the grants application process. One of the biggest changes to the Stewardship grants program is a new scoring and ranking process for land trust projects.

To make projects the most competitive, potential applicants need to review the NCO scoring and ranking criteria, and make sure that their projects are eligible for funding.

The full program overview can be found here and specific questions can be directed to your DNR grants contacts.

In order to prepare the Wisconsin land trust community for this new process, Gathering Waters is partnering with the DNR to host a series of regional workshops across the state to help inform land trusts and other interested groups about the new aspects of the program.