FWC Grant Program  
The Board has charged the FWC with coordinating a process by which fine money could be appropriately “expended for the protection, conservation, propagation, and preservation of fish and wildlife” [Fish and Game Code 13100]. Since 1996, the FWC has implemented a structured process for reviewing funding requests. The FWC developed a grant application packet (attached), which includes a cover letter to explain the grant process and funding priorities, an application to solicit relevant information about the project, and a copy of the expenditure criteria established by California law for the Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund.  
  
Public Outreach to Advertise the Grant Program  
In July 2019, the application packet was sent to the Fish and Wildlife Committee mailing list, Contra Costa Watershed Forum mailing list, and to teachers and programs that could benefit from the grant program including Contra Costa County Office of Education, Contra Costa College, Diablo Valley College, Los Medanos College, UC Berkeley and Mills College. Joan Morris wrote a short article in the Contra Costa Times regarding the availability of the grant application packet. The CCC Office of Communications and Media distributed a press release to local and regional media outlets regarding the availability of the grant application packet and printed an article about the grant program in the Fall 2019 issue of County Clips. CCTV publicized it on the CountyNet Bulletin Board which reaches 400,000+ homes in the County. It was also made available on the Committee’s website and to anyone who requested a copy.  
  
FWC Grant Review Process in 2020  
A total of 21 applications requesting a total of $162,701.00 were received by the application deadline.  
  
The Fish and Wildlife Committee members considered the funding of the applications at their January and February meetings. Some applicants attended FWC meetings to make themselves available to answer questions regarding their applications.  
  
Recommendation of Funding on Grants for 2020  
The Contra Costa County Fish and Wildlife Committee (FWC) has completed its review of grant requests for funding from the Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund (Fund) and, at the direction of the County Administrator, is forwarding its grant award recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. The Board's Internal Operations Committee annually reviews these recommendations first but did not meet in April and May due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The FWC received and reviewed 21 grant applications and recommends 15 of them for full or partial funding. This memo provides background on the grant program, explains the review process performed by the FWC and documents the FWC’s recommendations on grant funding  
  
The 15 projects recommended for funding total $85,891.00 and are geographically located across the County. More details are provided on the attached grant recommendations chart, which provides information on all of the applications. The specific FWC recommendations and votes are listed on Pages 2 - 5. Members in attendance and voting on these items were: Susan Heckly (District II), Daniel Pellegrini (District V), Rhonda Gehlke (At-large), Kathleen Jennings (At-large), Heather Rosmarin (At-large) and Jeff Skinner (At-large). Nicole Kozicki, the At-large Alternate, was in attendance and contributed to the discussion of the grant proposals.  
  
The following recommendations are for full funding of the project as proposed unless noted otherwise.  
  
FWC Recommendations:  
1) Appropriate $5,900.00 to The Regents of the University of California for their Native Bees in Urban Brentwood and Agricultural Brentwood project. This is a continuation of Dr. Frankie's research on native bees in the Brentwood area which will focus on the movement of native bees between urban and ag Brentwood and their role in providing pollination services. Funds will be used for travel, materials and supplies, and a bee taxonomist to be hired on a contract basis to identify the bees.  
  
2) Appropriate $611.00 to Friends of Alhambra Creek for their Alhambra Native Plant Trail project. The project has direct benefits to wildlife and creates an opportunity to teach volunteers and visitors about the importance of native plants and wildlife. Funds will be used to purchase native plants, plant labels, garden signs, and soil enhancements for existing sites and possibly future new sites on the Alhambra Native Plant Trail and also for the printing of their brochure that they offer at several local environmental events.  
  
3) Appropriate $1,400.00 to Friends of Pinole Creek Watershed for their Pinole Creek Watershed Native Plant Garden at the Pinole Library project. The project has direct benefits to wildlife and creates an opportunity to teach the public about the importance of native plants and wildlife. Funds will be used for supplies, plants and a fiscal sponsor fee.  
  
4) Appropriate $6,000.00 to KIDS for the BAY for their Watershed Action Program project. Third, fourth and fifth grade students will increase their knowledge of watershed science in the classroom and in the field, as well as develop leadership skills, by completing an Environmental Action Stewardship Project in their local watershed environment. Teachers will receive professional development and professional-level academic credit units learning to teach the WAP alongside their students and continue to teach it themselves to new classes. Funds will be used for field trip transportation costs.  
  
5) Appropriate $10,000.00 to Marine Science Institute (MSI) for their 2020 Delta Discovery Voyage (DDV) project. The DDV program teaches science that is unique and relevant to the region where the students live, human direct effect on the Delta ecosystem, and why it is important to protect watersheds. Funds will be used for expendable supplies, MSI instructors' overnight stays in an Antioch motel and fuel for the ship/MSI vehicles and Antioch Marina fee.  
  
6) Appropriate $3,100.00 to Mt. View Sanitary District for their McNabney Marsh Nesting Bird Survey and Raft Repair Project. The project will protect migratory bird nests, eggs, and chicks from flooding and/or drowning in the Marsh. Partial funding is recommended and may only be used for hardware/substrate for the rafts ($2,400) and one nesting bird survey ($700).  
  
7) Appropriate $9,000.00 to Mt. View Sanitary District for their Wetlands Field Trip Program for Contra Costa County Schools project. The 4-hour, hands-on, outdoor education program provides instruction on pollution prevention and water quality, the value of wetland habitats for people and wildlife, and aquatic animal adaptations. Funds will be used to pay for Lindsay Wildlife Experience instructors.  
  
8) Appropriate $3,600.00 to Salesian College Preparatory for their Wildcat Creek Monitoring: Cross-Agency Outdoor Science and Water Quality Curriculum project. This project is in partnership with the City of San Pablo and The Watershed Project. The City of San Pablo’s Wildcat Creek Restoration Project will improve and restore a vital 800-foot section of Wildcat Creek to create a more natural creek habitat. The creek monitoring program will train and engage citizen scientists on improving water quality in CCC in order to provide suitable habitat for fish populations. Funds will be used for meters, calibration standards, bioswale monitoring gear and bioswale lab testing fees.  
  
9) Appropriate $1,050.00 to Worth a Dam for their Mystery at the Beaver Pond: The Case of the Missing Salmon project. Children will be ‘nature detectives’ and solve a mystery at a beaver pond, learning to identify the habits and tracks of various riparian wildlife. Funds will be used for cards, envelopes, magnifying glasses, exhibit location map festival brochures, artist pastels, children's pastels, printing of signs and quizzes given to the children after they complete the activity.  
  
10) Appropriate $4,000.00 to Lafayette Creeks Committee, City of Lafayette for their Lafayette Arundo Eradication Project. This project is in collaboration with the Walnut Creek Watershed Council. Arundo is an invasive, non-native plant that grows in thick stands that eliminate native plants and the wildlife habitats and values associated with them. Removal from upper watershed areas like Lafayette not only provides improved habitat for the removal sites, but also reduces the likelihood for Arundo to become established at downstream sites through water transport of live stems and roots. Funds will be used for Arundo removal and site clean-up, plants and irrigation, planting, and site maintenance.  
  
11) Appropriate $2,530.00 to SPAWNERS for their Increasing Educational use of Wilkie Creek restoration site by elementary school students project. Partial funding is recommended and may only be used for restoration and educational materials (no outreach materials). SPAWNERS is expanding their educational programming, both in their in-class lessons as well as their service learning field trips to the Wilkie Creek restoration site. Funds will be used on restoration and educational supplies.  
  
12) Appropriate $18,000.00 to Regional Parks Foundation for their Kids Healthy Outdoor Challenge project. This program promotes outdoor education and play while also supporting the delivery of third-grade curriculum. Funds will be used on bus transportation to regional parks for low-income schools and printing of student booklets.  
  
13) Appropriate $12,500.00 to International Bird Rescue (IBR) for their Resolving Negative Human-Wildlife Interactions (AKA Urban Wildlife Conflicts) project. IBR is a referral hospital and often treats the most challenging cases that are beyond the capacity or skills of other regional wildlife centers and clinics. This funding will offset costs for birds admitted from Contra Costa County to IBR's San Francisco Bay-Delta Wildlife Center between April 1 and December 31, 2020. The goal of the project is to address known, ongoing Urban Wildlife Conflicts (negative human-wildlife interactions) in CCC in 2020. Funds will be used for medication, supplements, vitamins, nutrition, and veterinary supplies.  
  
14) Appropriate $1,000.00 to The California Urban Streams Partnership, A Project of Earth Island Institute for their Equipping the California Urban Streams Partnership for Greater Impact project. Partial funding is recommended and may only be used for supplies. With the addition of the requested tools, CUSP staff will be able to decrease time spent harvesting willow by more than half, allowing them to focus more time working with people to better watersheds and habitat. Funds may be used to purchase necessary tools including a chain saw, pole saw, coir fabric, fabric staples, pop-up tent, work gloves, hand pruners and a five gallon water dispenser.  
  
15) Appropriate $7,200.00 to Outside The Box 925 and Friends of the Creeks for their School wide Creek Restoration Projects. Outside the Box 925 is an education company that is working to connect city creek groups with their associated schools in Mt. Diablo Unified School District. This is a pilot project to put together place-based curriculum, outdoor experiences and year long projects that support classroom teachers to get students involved in exploring, monitoring and improving their nearby natural spaces. Funds will be used for class trips, class instruction, bus transportation, and teacher training sessions.  
  
16) Further, the FWC also recommended that within a year* of grant funding approval, or within one month of project completion, whichever comes sooner, recipients must submit a final project report which includes invoices and receipts documenting how funds were spent and the results of the project. Details will be outlined in the grant award packet provided to all successful applicants.  
  
[6 ayes/0 noes]  
Ayes: Gehlke, Heckly, Jennings, Pellegrini, Rosmarin and Skinner; Noes: None; Abstain: None; Absent: Bendix, Dawson and Morris  
  
Staff recommends that grant awardees may request modifications to the budget allocations described in their grant applications in writing and those requests may be approved by the Fish and Wildlife Committee or the Conservation and Development Director or his designee. *The County Health Officer Order (Order) to reduce the rate of transmission of Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) began on March 16, 2020, a month after the Fish and Wildlife Committee made their grant recommendations. Due to the uncertainty of the duration of the “Order” staff recommends that all grant recipients be allowed an automatic additional year to complete their projects.