Posted on: March 9th, 2016

Boulder County is currently accepting applications for our 2016 Community Chipping Reimbursement Program. A story of a past chipping program, the program overview, and the program application forms are attached. Please forward this information to anyone you know who may be interested in applying. Applications are due March 22^nd.

If you have participated in this program in the past, we thank you for all your hard work. If you have not, we strongly encourage you to apply after reading the attached information and researching how to develop a competitive proposal.

Best regards,

Jim

 

Jim Webster

Wildfire Partners Program Coordinator

720-564-2600

jbwebster@nullbouldercounty.org

2045 13^th Street

Boulder, CO 80302

Mailing Address: PO Box 471, Boulder, CO 80306

 

Applications for the 2016 chipping program are available at www.bouldercounty.org/foresthealth. Applications are due March 22. For more information, contact Jim Webster at 720-564-2600 or jbwebster@nullbouldercounty.org.

 

2016 Boulder County Community Chipping Reimbursement Program Overview

For over 20 years, Boulder County has offered financial assistance to encourage mountain communities to set up community-based chipping days. We encourage all residents to perform effective wildfire mitigation on their land and to be active stewards of their backyard forests. We are excited to offer chipping reimbursement funding to encourage community members to work together as they prepare their land for future wildfires.

Reimbursement is only available for direct costs related to chipping or transportation of slash. It is not available for tree cutting.

How much financial assistance is available?
Subject to prior approval, the County will reimburse up to 50% of direct costs up to a maximum of $4,000 per community.

Who can apply?
Communities, community organizations, incorporated towns, homeowner associations, and fire protection districts are eligible. In order to receive reimbursement, you must provide a valid tax identification number.

Funding priority will be given to events that:

• Assist Wildfire Partner participants as they pursue their program certificate.
• Encourage more residents to undertake wildfire mitigation and forest health efforts Heavily utilize community volunteers to help build community, increase organizational capacity, strengthen ties among neighbors, and leverage limited county funds.
• Support the establishment of Firewise Communities/USA or the programing of established Firewise Communities/USA. For more info visit: http://www.firewise.org/communities/usa-recognition-program.aspx or contact Jim Webster at 720-564-2600 or jbwebster@nullbouldercounty.org.
• Create partnerships among Boulder County and program participants.

What types of chipping events are most likely to be funded by Boulder County?

Below are three types of events that will be prioritized for funding in 2016:

1. Ideal projects will offer an organized “curbside community chipping event” on a property-by-property basis. Slash will be chipped at the curbside or picked up and transported to a slash disposal site on a predetermined date.

Why Curbside?

Boulder County continually sees the most effective projects utilizing a curbside pickup model. The most successful communities select a specific deadline in which slash must be placed on the curbside. By setting a specific slash pickup day, community members have a target date to work toward. It also builds community awareness about the chipping event by utilizing peer pressure to encourage greater levels of mitigation. In addition, a specific chipping date makes the work less expensive. By requiring all slash to be at the curbside by a predetermined date, the chipping contractor may follow a strategic loop from house-to-house. This is more efficient than conducting random, small projects over a number of days or months.

Curbside Pick Logistics

Boulder County staff is available to advise communities on how to organize a successful curbside pickup program. A key component of a successful curbside pickup program is to provide specific geographic eligibility restraints, and specific guidelines for slash pile size, construction and placement.

2. Reimbursement is available to communities who organize “neighborhood chipping parties” in which community volunteers work together to help each other mitigate their land.

3. Reimbursement is available to communities who offer a central drop-off site for slash and logs. Communities located within five miles of a Community Forestry Sort Yard site will be a lower priority for funding if they use this method of slash collection.

4. Reimbursement may be available to communities who offer other types of chipping projects not listed here. In your application, please describe why a different method of slash collection is best for your community.

Eligibility Requirements

• Reimbursement is only available for direct costs of chipping and/or biomass transportation to a Community Forestry Sort Yard or other slash disposal site.
• Reimbursement is not available for costs related to cutting of trees.
• Projects may not be eligible for the maximum funding if it serves less than 20 property owners.
• Each community must hire its own chipping contractor, rent its own chipping/transportation equipment, and be responsible for all project coordination efforts.
• Each community must provide acknowledgement to each participate that Boulder County is providing funding for this project.

How does my organization apply? When are applications due?
To apply, submit the following by no later than March 22, 2016 to Jim Webster at jbwebster@nullbouldercounty.org.

• Submit complete details about your project to Boulder County Land Use Department, using the Chipping Reimbursement Application Form.
• Submit an IRS form W-9 (IRS forms can be downloaded from irs.gov).

Counting Volunteer Time as In-kind Match 

Boulder County may reward communities who heavily utilize community volunteers while implementing their chipping event. We will review each application and if your project is determined to be a “Volunteer Based Community Chipping Project,” then you will be eligible to count volunteer time as in-kind match. The current value of volunteer time adjusted for Colorado is $25.68 per hour.

If your community would like to count volunteer time as in-kind match please provide a detailed explanation of how volunteers will be utilized to leverage county funding on in your application. Projects that may qualify would heavily utilize volunteers to work on properties other than their own on tasks such as helping drag slash and assisting with chipper operations on day of event. Your project will not qualify if the only volunteer time is for project coordination and advertisement of the event.

How will we know if our project has been approved?
The County will inform successful applicants if their project has been approved by April 3, 2016.

After project completion, how do we request reimbursement?
Communities must submit a “Request for Reimbursement Project Completion Form” within 30 days of final project completion or by November 15, whichever is the earliest.

Reporting Requirements:

• Original invoices for chipper, truck or trailer rental (if applicable).
• A photocopy of the front of the payment check is required.
• Photos from your event.
• Use the county’s template spreadsheet format to provide full names and addresses of each property owner served.
• Use the county’s template spreadsheet with names of volunteers and hours donated.

Contractor Invoices must clearly state all of the following:

• Invoices for chipping services ONLY with per hour fee, dates work occurred, and number of hours worked.
• Invoices must be itemized, only chipping and transportation services are reimbursed.
• Invoices must clearly show they are paid invoices.

If you have any questions, please contact, Jim Webster, at 720-564-2600 or jbwebster@bouldercounty.org

Community Chipping Reimbursement Program Website: http://www.bouldercounty.org/property/forest/pages/chippingreimbursement.aspx