1. (1) The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) may provide funding for a locally administered Small Grant Program from its Watershed Conservation Grant Fund. Funds may be allocated for the Small Grant Program in amounts and at times decided by the Board.
2. (2) This Division supplements the OWEB Grant Program rules under OAR 695-005 and provides specific requirements for the Small Grant Program. In the event of any conflict between these requirements, and requirements identified in OAR 695-005, the Small Grant Program requirements in this Division take precedence.

3. (3) The goals of the Small Grant Program are to:

   1. (a) Support implementation of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds.
   2. (b) Support projects designed to improve water quality, water quantity, and fish and wildlife habitat. Such projects include, but are not limited to, those developed to address Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), Agricultural Water Quality Management Area Plans, urban nonpoint source pollution management plans, and the Board of Forestry's Forestry Program for Oregon.
   3. (c) Make funds available to local Small Grant Teams to address local priority resource concerns, habitat values, and watershed functions.
   4. (d) Encourage landowner participation in watershed improvement by making funds available more quickly than is possible through OWEB's other grant programs.
   5. (e) Treat the source of watershed health problems through technically sound projects that use proven techniques from one of the approved sources listed in OAR 695-035-0030(2), and that demonstrate benefits to aquatic species, wildlife, or watershed health across all land uses.
   6. (f) Encourage partnerships among eligible grant applicants and landowners and operators.

Statutory/Other Authority

ORS 541.906

Statutes/Other Implemented

ORS 541.890 - 541.969

History

OWEB 2-2024, amend filed 10/29/2024, effective 07/01/2025
OWEB 2-2018, amend filed 04/27/2018, effective 04/27/2018
OWEB 1-2011, f. & cert. ef. 10-18-11
OWEB 3-2005, f. & cert. ef. 6-8-05
OWEB 4-2004, f. 11-2-04, cert. ef. 2-1-05