SFM grant application deadline set

The Idaho Water Resource Board is actively inviting applications for the 2023 State Flood Management Grant program. Applications are due by Friday, June 2.

The State Flood Management Grant program is open to flood control districts, drainage districts, irrigation districts, canal companies, municipalities, counties and other public entities that may have incurred flood damage in recent times. The Idaho Legislature has made the Flood Management Grant program a permanent program with about $1 million in funding available statewide.

The maximum budget for each project is $200,000; a 50-percent local match is required with non-state dollars. In general, eligible projects include: repairing stream channels damaged by floods; stream- channel improvement; flood-risk reduction; and flood-prevention projects.

In July 2022, the Idaho Water Resource Board approved 10 flood management grants statewide at a cost of approximately $1,070,000. The board had about $70,000 in carryover funds from last year. A similar schedule will occur in 2023. New grant applications will be scored by staff and projects will be recommended for consideration at the board's July meeting.

Board officials are encouraging applications from new water entities/communities in the 2023 grant program. New applicants will receive five extra points in the scoring of proposals. Projects also are scored on the basis of readiness, urgency, benefits, cost-share funding and more. Projects must be shovel-ready and under construction in the late fall of 2023, according to the grant criteria, or funds could be reallocated to other projects.

The board's intent is to distribute grant funds to projects well distributed around the state. No more than 50 percent of the total budget can be spent in any single board region of Idaho.

Application guidelines and forms can be found online at bit.ly/3GJzI06.