Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking applications for the 2009 federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Program grants. Applications are due Feb. 27, 2009.
Typical facilities eligible for funding require significant advanced planning and include: ball fields, campgrounds, golf courses, ice-skating ponds, picnic facilities, tennis courts, playground equipment, and hiking trails.
Since 1965, Montana has received over $36 million for outdoor recreational projects from the LWCF program. The funding for the next round of projects won’t be known until Congress appropriates the funding in the next several months. The maximum grant per project is $75,000, and the grant may provide up to 50 percent of a local project’s total costs. A project sponsor must have total project costs committed at the time of application.
Other LWCF Program requirements are:
- the applicant must be a city, county, school district or similar official state entity or sovereign Indian Nation within Montana.
- the applicant must own the project site, or have control of the property under a long-term lease from the federal government.
- the applicant must have adequate resources to operate and maintain the area after the project is complete.
- the area within the park boundary must be maintained for public outdoor recreation in perpetuity.
- the applicant must include the results of a recent survey that demonstrates outdoor recreation use by local citizens.
The program, established in 1965, encourages a partnership between national, state and local governments to plan and fund outdoor recreation projects. Applications for LWCF funding will be reviewed and rated by a selection committee using a standard set of criteria.
Details on the application process are available on the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks web site at
fwp.mt.gov on the Parks and Recreation page, LWCF
Local Community Grants, or call: 406-444-3750.
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