2012 Watercraft Access Inspections by DNR Staff - Description of Grant Offer

Application Deadline: February 15, 2012

Program Purpose

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Invasive Species Program is offering grants for watercraft inspections by DNR staff in 2012. These grants are intended to help prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species, especially zebra mussels and spiny waterfleas, into Minnesota waters. This grant program is designed to assist local organizations that would like additional watercraft inspections (beyond what is done by the DNR Watercraft Inspection Program) at particular water accesses. This is an offer to split the cost ($15.50/hour) of additional watercraft inspections with cooperators. The cooperating organization can provide input into scheduling the hours of inspection. The DNR will recruit, hire, and schedule the inspectors, and provide supervision, insurance, and social security costs.

Eligible Applicants

  • Lake association
  • Coalitions of lake associations (COLAs)
  • Local citizen groups
  • Local units of government (e.g., conservation districts, lake improvement districts, watershed districts, and counties)
  • Multi-agency collaboration is allowed but not required.

Description of Grant Offer and Funding Levels

If you would like to have DNR Watercraft Inspectors working additional hours at particular water accesses, you must apply through this program. All potential projects will be ranked based on the grant criteria listed in the section below. Highly ranked projects will be offered a grant, by which the DNR will pay for 50% of the cost of watercraft inspection hours. Applicants may be awarded all or some of the requested hours. The maximum number of hours the DNR will provide for any proposed project is 1,000 hours (two full-time watercraft inspectors).

The cost of access inspections is $15.50 per hour. Approximately 10,000 inspection hours will be done under this grant program. Cooperators will be billed for their share of the cost of inspections at the end of the open water season for inspection hours that have been completed. The amount of DNR match and the number of inspection hours offered to cooperators will depend on available funds and how closely the proposed project meets the grant criteria listed below.

Grant Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated by DNR staff within the Invasive Species Program. Proposed projects must focus on the prevention of the spread of aquatic invasive species. Proposed water accesses/waterbodies will be ranked according to the following criteria.

The waterbody/water access will be ranked higher if they are:

  1. waters known to be popular destinations for boaters leaving spiny waterflea or zebra mussel infested waters; based on past watercraft inspector surveys of boaters.
  2. high-use water accesses; based on the number of parking spaces and past watercraft inspector observations. Proposed accesses will be ranked based on their average rate of use. Individual accesses with low use may be dropped from a grant proposal.
  3. waters located in high-use or popular traveler destination areas
  4. water accesses near, or on, zebra mussels and/or spiny waterflea infested waters;
    1. Waters less than 10 miles away are ranked high, waters 10 to 20 miles away are medium, waters greater than 20 miles are low.
    2. Waters infested with spiny waterflea or zebra mussels are medium
  5. waters near or infested with other invasives species (besides zebra mussels or spiny waterfleas)
    1. Accesses on waters less than 10 miles away are ranked high, waters 10 to 20 miles away are medium, waters greater than 20 miles are low.
    2. Accesses on waters infested with other invasives species (besides zebra mussels or spiny waterfleas, but not curly-leaf pondweed) are medium.
  6. water accesses that are on one waterbody or on several waterbodies that are close together (approximately 10 miles apart), so that one inspector can cover the entire project area

In addition grant requests will be ranked higher if the applicant requests inspection time in blocks of 500 hours (one full time inspector) in order to provide efficient use of watercraft inspector's time.

The final amount of DNR match and the number of inspection hours offered to cooperators will depend upon:

  • The total number of inspection hours requested by all applicants;
  • How well the proposal meets the grant criteria;
  • The past history of the grantee on previous prevention grants;
  • The relative ranking of the proposal with other proposals.

If you are interested in this grant program, read and submit the Grant Application for Watercraft Inspections.

Timeline

February 15, 2012 Deadline to submit proposals. They must be received on or before this day by mail, email, or fax. You may also hand deliver your application on or before February 15th during normal business hours (8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday).
March 15, 2012 All applicants will be notified whether or not their proposal(s) will be funded.
March 31, 2012 Successful applicants will receive a contract in the mail for signature.

After the close of the watercraft inspection season cooperators will receive a final report of all watercraft inspections done during the project period and a bill for their share of the cost of those inspections.

Proposals must be submitted on the application forms. Electronic proposals are encouraged. Completed applications should be returned to:

Wendy Crowell, Ecological Resources Grants Coordinator
DNR - Ecological and Water Resources, Box 25
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155
Wendy.Crowell@state.mn.us
Phone: 651-259-5085
Fax: 651-296-1811

You will be notified when your application is received. If you do not receive a notification, please contact Wendy Crowell (651-259-5085).

Further information

Questions about the DNR's Watercraft Inspection Program:

Heidi Wolf
Watercraft Inspection Coordinator
651-259-5152
Heidi.Wolf@state.mn.us

Questions regarding the grant process:

Wendy Crowell
Ecological Resources Grants Coordinator
651-259-5085
Wendy.Crowell@state.mn.us