County to host Envision grants for forest health and working‑lands projects; formal transfer planned by March

County staff told commissioners they are working to transfer grant‑host responsibilities for Envision’s on‑the‑ground forest health, working‑lands and recreation stewardship projects from the Chaffee County Community Foundation to the county before a March funding deadline.

Staff said some program activities—such as contracting for boots‑on‑the‑ground crews, recreation rangers and local implementation grants—fall outside the community foundation’s charter and are better hosted by the county. "Because of the on the ground boots programmatic things that Envision is involved in…they needed to move those functions and those grants out of the foundation to another host. The county is obviously the logical place to host those grants," a staff member said.

Commissioners emphasized the importance of maintaining program continuity during the transition and noted a likely increase in county responsibility for stewarding public lands if federal hiring and funding levels continue to tighten. Staff said the move is currently informational (no formal action at this meeting) and that they will return with formal transfer paperwork and grant documents by the March deadline.

No formal commitment of county funds was made at the meeting; commissioners asked staff to confirm grant terms, permissible uses under grant agreements, and timelines before finalizing the transfers.