Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Matching grants from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund help to fund land acquisition, development and renovation of public park and recreation areas. Local communities benefit greatly from the new parks, trails, greenways and recreational facilities that provide both environmental stewardship and economic opportunity.

Important dates for the PARTF 2007 grant cycle:

• Jan. 31, 2007 - Applications are due by 5 p.m. to the applicant’s regional consultant at Recreation Resources Service. Only information received by the deadline will be accepted.
• Early May 2007 - The Parks and Recreation Authority selects grant recipients using money from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund from the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
• July, 2007 - The authority selects grant recipients using funds from the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.
  

A complete listing of the grant recipients for 2006 is posted at http://www.partf.net/2006.html

N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund At its regular fall meeting, the 12-member board of trustees with the N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund awarded more than $12.5 million to state agencies to help acquire and protect 8,227 acres of environmentally important land for conservation across the state.

The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources received a grant of $4.16 million for the following projects:

• $3.57 million for the purchase of land for Hickory Nut Gorge State Park, which includes $1.8 million set aside to help buy Chimney Rock State Park.
• $234,300 for the acquisition of Deep River aquatic habitat in Chatham County.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission received $5.48 million grant to expand game lands across the state:

• $4.26 million for the acquisition of land in Eastern North Carolina along the upper Tar, Roanoke and Chowanrivers that had been owned by International Paper.
• $1.2 million for the acquisition of land along the Johns River Loop Road tract in Burke County.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture received $1.78 million grant for the following projects:

• $1.32 million for the acquisition of the nationally-significant White Oak Mountain site, which contains rare species and a well-known set of cliffs.
• A $340,000 portion of the grant will be used to acquire the Hebron Road Plant Conservation Preserve in Durham County.

The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources was awarded $1.13 million to:

• Help secure a conservation easement on forestland and provide public access to the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail in McDowell County, while also protecting the viewshed along the adjacent Blue Ridge Parkway.

Go to www.enr.state.nc.us/html/news.html and click on “N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund Award” for a complete description of the projects included in the $12.5 million that was awarded by the board of trustees with the Natural Heritage Trust Fund. You may also contact Lisa Riegel, executive director of the N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund.

The Natural Heritage Trust Fund will hold the semi-annual board meeting in Raleigh April 22-23, 2007, at the Wildlife Resources Commission. Readers can link to www.ncnhtf.org for more details.

Clean Water Management Trust Fund Gov. Mike Easley appointed former state Representative Phil Baddour, Jr., of Goldsboro, as the new chair of the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund Board of Trustees. Baddour has served on the board since 2003.

The Board of Trustees of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund will hold a special meeting in Raleigh Dec. 21 from 10:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. The meeting will have a limited agenda to discuss the transition of the Fund's executive director. The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel, 421 South Salisbury Street. The meeting follows the Nov. 13 announcement by Executive Director Bill Holman that he was resigning effective Dec. 27.

The Clean Water Management Trust Fund will accept and review applications for clean water grants once per year instead of twice per year. The new deadline to apply for a grant is March 1, 2007. The Board will now meet six times per year instead of 10 times. Check out www.cwmtf.net for more information. 

The Board of Trustees of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund gave final approval to 64 grant requests totaling $55.7 million to protect and preserve North Carolina's water resources. The board considered 101 funding applications totaling $110.4 million for water quality projects all across the state that were submitted for review on June 1.

Approved grants include:

• $11.2 million to The Nature Conservancy for the purchase International Paper properties along the Chowan, Lower Roanoke and Upper Tar rivers;
• $1.5 million to the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation to help purchase Chimney Rock;
• $6.5 million for Phase IV funding of the N.C. Division of Soil and Water Conservation's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program;
• $2.5 million to Harnett County to improve the South Central Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility and improve water quality in the Little River;

A complete list of all grants approved Nov. 13 can be found online at http://www.cwmtf.net/2006Bfinal.htm.

At its Oct. 9 meeting, the board of trustees of the Clean Water Management Trust Fund voted to accept and review applications for clean water grants once ayear instead of twicea year. The new deadline to apply for a clean water grant is March 1, 2007. The Board also voted to meet six timesa year instead of 10 times. Check out www.cwmtf.net for more information.