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Committee to Focus on Matching and Capacity Barriers, Seeks Presentations from Funders
Summary
A FHAC leveraging-resources committee meeting prioritized two funding barriers—matching requirements and administrative capacity—and agreed to invite programs such as Restore and rural grant navigators to present; staff will share communication toolkits and the group approved minutes before adjourning early.
The committee charged with leveraging resources for the Forest Health Advisory Council agreed to prioritize two funding pinch points—grant matching requirements and administrative capacity—and to solicit presentations from funders and programs that might address those gaps.
The chair opened the discussion by urging the group to help publicize the Forest Resilience Planning Guide and to consider how the committee could support dissemination. "Our sort of goal for this year is to align funding sources with forest planning needs for ease and equity of access," the chair said, presenting a staging framework that maps funding sources to stages of project readiness.
Amy, a committee member, described an operational challenge that emerged from focus groups: "One of the things that can be a challenge is the lag of concept to application to contract to funding," she said, noting that applications filed early in a year may not be contracted until many months later, complicating momentum and implementation. Members also flagged reimbursement timelines and reporting burdens as barriers for smaller or early-stage collaboratives.
The group reviewed a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) spreadsheet cataloging state and private funding sources and discussed sorting those programs by the committee's stages of readiness. Committee members noted that implementation-stage (stage 3) funding appears more abundant than resources for stages 1–2 (visioning and early strategy development), and asked staff to coordinate with DNR to ensure an updated list is available.
To learn practical approaches to match and capacity issues, members recommended inviting speakers from programs such as Restore and the rural grant navigator initiative and from partners like the National Forest Foundation. "We could develop a set of questions so folks come prepared to speak to how they handle match and capacity," a member said, proposing a discussion guide to shape presentations.
Staff and members agreed to draft brief communications materials—slides, one-pagers and copy for email/newsletters—to help committee members and the wider council share approved products. The committee also decided to defer wide distribution of the draft 2025 vision for forest health until the vision document is finalized and formally approved.
Procedural items: the committee approved the Jan. 13 meeting minutes by voice vote and later moved to adjourn early; members said staff will follow up by email with the meeting notes and next steps.
The committee will begin scheduling presentations and prepare question sets for funders at upcoming meetings.
