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Carbon County awarded $15,000 grant for climate-informed conservation plan; staff outline outreach and materials
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Summary
County staff announced a $15,000 OSI Appalachian Landscapes catalyst grant to develop a climate-informed conservation plan for Carbon County and described outreach plans including rack cards, QR placards, an outdoors expo presence and a proposed kickoff when the fall grant round opens July 2.
Staff told the Carbon County Open Space Advisory Board that the county was awarded a $15,000 OSI Appalachian Landscapes catalyst grant to create a climate‑informed conservation plan and that project lead Maggie (a GIS specialist) will begin work at the end of the month.
“The grant award officially starts at the end of the month,” a presenter (speaker 7) said, adding that Maggie would likely attend the April or May meeting to walk the board through the plan and timeline. The project is being framed as a conservation plan for Carbon County, incorporating climate‑resilience criteria alongside existing open‑space priorities.
Staff also described outreach and public‑education steps: an informational rack card about data centers and program offerings, stickers and printed materials to distribute to township offices and at events, and a plan for QR‑code placards that incorporate the program logo for trail markers. Staff said they plan municipal outreach to encourage towns to lean on county programs and funding streams (examples mentioned: DCED, DCNR, PENVEST) to support local infrastructure and open‑space priorities.
The board discussed possible outreach venues (outdoors expo, local festivals, and a suggested location at Penn's Peak) and agreed staff should continue planning. Separately, staff previewed a fall grant‑round kickoff idea — either a casual outdoors press event or a formal presentation — with the grant round opening July 2.
Staff also announced a Carbon County housing summit next week (approx. 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.), co-hosted with Reimagine Carbon, United Way and local development partners; one speaker will be a co‑writer of the Governor’s housing action plan.
Board members encouraged distributing printed materials to township offices and volunteered to staff booths and events. Staff said they would circulate draft materials to board members for feedback and coordinate next steps and schedules.
Sources: staff updates and presenter comments at the Carbon County Open Space Advisory Board meeting (transcript segments beginning SEG 383).
