Grand County briefed on new state Outdoor Recreation Mitigation Grant; July application expected

Grand County officials updated the Moab Tourism Advisory Board on a new state Outdoor Recreation Mitigation Grant tied to recent legislation, saying the award process is still being finalized and applications are expected to open in July after state rulemaking.

Andy Smith of Grand County EMS told the board the grant is structured to prioritize visitor-related emergency costs — search-and-rescue and EMS personnel and associated fuel and health-care expenses — ahead of equipment purchases. Smith said committee discussions favor county-level, single-application prioritization (counties submit one ranked application listing local priorities) and that standardizing per-hour or per-mile reimbursement rates for UTVs/SAR teams could simplify claims and statewide comparisons.

Smith said the grant pool currently contains about $6.6 million and that the first application round is likely in July because of pending administrative rulemaking. He cautioned that the bill’s current language may exclude private ambulance providers (many in rural counties are privately operated), which could unintentionally remove several counties from eligibility if sponsors do not clarify the rules. County staff indicated they will push for language or policy solutions to allow subsidized private providers to access funding through county-sponsored applications.

Board members asked whether the grant would fund airport-related safety costs or longer-term road improvements. Staff said the primary focus is emergency and visitor-safety costs (personnel, fuel, incident reimbursements) and that emergency road repairs tied directly to visitor incidents could qualify, while long-term road upgrades would be less certain under the emergency-cost priority.

Staff asked board members to prepare county priorities because the county will likely submit a single prioritized application; the board will be asked later to make a formal recommendation that staff can forward to the county commission. Staff also agreed to circulate the draft application and grading criteria to the board when available and to update members after the committee meets in March.

Next steps: county staff will circulate the draft application and proposed scoring details, continue outreach to impacted rural EMS providers, and bring recommended local prioritization for board review ahead of the July application window.