Funding Opportunities for Parks and Trails

To kick off our SEMCOG University workshops for 2019, grants officers from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources joined us to provide information on funding opportunities for parks and trails. Their main recreation grant programs are the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF), Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and the Recreation Passport Grant Program (RPGP), which award millions of dollars in grants to communities throughout Michigan each year.

A few highlights from the workshop:

• Statewide results from last year’s grants, including the success rate for applications in each program:
  • MNRTF – 64 grants awarded from 121 applications, $26 million in total
  • LWCF – 17 grants awarded from 33 applications, $3.2 million in total
  • RPGP – 14 grants awarded from 68 applications, $1.6 million in total
• Funding priorities for this year:
  • Developing water trails or projects along the core route of Michigan’s Iron Belle Trail
  • Acquiring recreation land that provide ecological corridors for wildlife habitat, or public access to the Great Lakes
• Details on how grant applications are evaluated, and how to develop a project that will score well:
  • Collaborative maintenance agreements to ensure a project’s sustainability.
  • Universal Design and providing accessibility beyond ADA requirements.
  • Environmentally friendly features that go beyond industry standards.
  • Incorporating plans for crime prevention, safety programming, and marketing.
• How to avoid common problems that applicants face:
  • Building public support and planning for outreach.
  • Meeting ADA requirements and demonstrating Universal Design principles.
  • Providing adequate match, and how to use other grants to do so.
• How to develop and submit a 5-year Recreation Master Plan, which is required to be eligible for DNR recreation grant funds.
• Tips for navigating the new DNR Website.
• An overview of other DNR grant programs, which provide a significant funding source for wildlife and aquatic habitat improvements, community forestry, trails, waterways, and boating infrastructure.

The full presentation from the workshop is available here, with additional resources on the DNR website. SEMCOG also offers assistance to communities developing recreation plans and grant applications, with more information available here.