This funding opportunity has closed.  Fiscal year 2016 applications will be posted to WebGrants in July of 2015.  Applications for the fiscal year 2016 Noxious Weed Trust Fund Local Cooperative funding opportunity will be due by December 1, 2015

The 2015 LC-New funding opportunity is for New Local Cooperative projects that have a minimum of three cooperating, adjacent landowners.  Applicants must contact and work with an organization, such as a weed district, conservation district, extension office, or tribe to be the funding recipient for grant dollars.  Noxious Weed Trust Fund grants are a reimbursement type of grant.  All grant applications should complement and enhance the Montana Weed Management Plan.

The Noxious Weed Trust Fund grant program provides 50:50 cost-share for herbicides, commercial applicator, and re-seeding mixtures.  Projects will be funded only if matching funds are available from the participating cooperators.  The maximum grant amount is limited to $75,000/application.  The grant deadline is midnight on December 1, 2014.

All local cooperative grant applications must attach a readable project map with the township and range identified along with cities and towns.

Participating landowners should have a committed dollar amount for the acres to be treated in the coming year, prior to grant submission.  This summarized information is used on the Herbicide Worksheet form.  Project participants should have already completed:

• weed mapping of target noxioius weed infestations (GPS or hand drawn),
• one year of cooperative work within the weed management area, and
• identify a project coordinator.

NEW LOCAL COOPERATIVE PROJECTS REQUIRE AN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (EA)  The EA portion of the grant application directs the grant participants in making the appropriate choice of herbicides to use depending on the noxious weed species along with environmental characteristics, such as groundwater depth, surface water resources, soil type, non-target plant damage, along with threatend, endangered, and sensitive species.  It is important to start gathering EA information early to allow enough time to complete the enviornmental assessment forms that ask for a description and a mitigation statement.  For more information on the EA process scroll down to the Attachments section on this page and open or download the Enironmental Assessment resource information file by clicking on the file name.

The Trust Fund will not fund:

• capital improvement projects or annual herbicide for cropland or CRP practices,
• equipment needs for the project participants,
• biological control agents for landowners due to the Trust Fund supporting school insectaries, and
• any costs associated with grant writing or expenses to attend the grant hearings in Helena, MT.