Task Force members –
Larry Sunderland, Barbara Levedahl, Ed Marcato, Vanessa Cruz, and Amy Law
This quarter we have been creating a workflow and process to share information back and forth with the board and management on available grants for capital improvement projects.
At the 2022 TCEQ Public Drinking Water Conference I was able to get information on over 30 federal, state, and private entities providing grants. We are moving through those to find the ones that best fit our requirements. We are focusing on grants. There are many loans available but we, as a board, have chosen to focus on grants only. We will trim down the list then work with management and the board to create costs and plans for nessecary capital projects.
Currently, we are are having a discussion initiated by Bob Youngberg, who contacted and facilitated a conferece call with the Texas A&M Forest Service and Bruce Woods. Woods is the Chief/ Department Head of the Mitigation and Prevention Department of the Texas A&M Forest Service.
They oversee the Texas Wildfire Protection Plan, a coordinated, interactive effort utilizing multiple components:
To create a State Response Plan
Components such as:
• Predictive Services
• Mitigation & Prevention
• Planning & Preparedness
• Applied Technology
• Local Capacity Building
• Rapid Initial Response and Suppression of Wildfires
- Law Enforcement “
“The Community Wildfire Defense Grants are intended to help at-risk local communities and Tribes plan and reduce the risk against wildfire. The program prioritizes at-risk communities in an area identified as having high or very high wildfire hazard potential, are low-income, and/or have been impacted by a severe disaster. “
With them we will be putting together a Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The Forest Service will do a survey of our property and make recommendations as to how to develop our plan. At which point we will do cost estimates of necessary equipment, constracted services, infrastructure, training etc. Then we will apply for a Community Wildfire Defense Grant.