Fees collected from the sale of Idaho’s special Sawtooth National Recreation Area motor vehicle license plate are available to fund recreation-related projects in the 756,000-acre Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA). The program is administered by the Sawtooth Society under a contract with the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation.
To enable processing and consideration, complete and submit the below application. The application form will generate a .pdf that is automatically submitted to the grants committee via email. To be reviewed for a particular quarter, applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. on the final day of that quarter whether a business day, weekend, or holiday. Applications received after the deadline will be reviewed in the next quarter.
The Society will review grant applications once a quarter ending March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31 and notify applicants of its decisions within 45 days thereafter. Checks will normally be mailed to recipients (with corresponding email notice to applicant contact) soon thereafter.
If you have any questions please contact grants@sawtoothsociety.org
Eligible Projects
Within the boundaries of the SNRA, planning, design, development, construction, repair, and maintenance of:
- Motorized and non-motorized trails
- Camping facilities
- Bridges located on a motorized or non-motorized trail
- Restrooms used primarily by recreationists
- Parking areas used primarily to access outdoor recreation facilities
- Boat launch facilities
- Boat docks, interpretive centers, facilities, and services for recreationists, including informational and directional signs
- Emergency medical facilities and services for recreationists
- Unpaved roads leading to recreation areas
Grant Award Criteria
In assessing grant applications, the Society will generally favor eligible projects that have the following characteristics:
- Provide a public benefit
- Serve large numbers of recreationists
- Have multiple sources of funding or potential funding
- Projected completion within 12 months of grant award (longer periods may be considered, and extensions for anticipated 12-month long projects may be approved upon written request)
- Have a high probability of being completed as proposed
- Maintain or repair existing facilities and services, rather than construct new ones
- Requests to fund labor costs for employees or contractors will clearly describe how the labor relates to a specific SNRA project rather than organizational overhead or projects outside the SNRA
- Provide Sawtooth Society support recognition
- Grant requests of up to $7,500 or less (larger grant requests considered)
Note: Overhead and administrative costs (such as general daily office labor and expenses such as rent, utilities, and other daily expenses) are generally not recommended as uses of the SNRA License Plate Funds. Preferred funding requests are for costs directly related to the SNRA project being completed.
Incomplete or Late Applications
Applications must be completed in their entirety, including all project costs, to be considered. Applications for projects with apparent merit which are submitted with inadequate, incomplete, or unclear information may be returned to applicants with a request to resubmit.
A resubmitted application received prior to the end of the quarter will be considered within that quarter. If returned for resubmission after the end of the quarter, a resubmitted application will be considered for the prior quarter only if returned within 5 days (including weekends and holidays) of the request.
Applications received after the submission deadline will be reviewed the following quarter.
Reporting Procedures
Upon receiving a check for the grant, grantees shall promptly acknowledge receipt thereof to the Society via email to grants@sawtoothsociety.org
Six months, or at midway (whichever is sooner) following the award of the grant, grantees shall submit an e-mail status report to the Society. The report shall describe briefly what has been accomplished, how much grant money has been spent, and advise of the estimated completion date.
Upon completion of the project, grantees shall e-mail a status report to the Society. The report shall describe what was accomplished, how the Sawtooth Society was recognized, how much grant money was spent (including copies of paid invoices), and indicate what, if any, financial assistance was received from other funding sources. Absent Society written approval otherwise, unused grant monies shall be returned at this time.
Failure to comply with any of these reporting procedures may result in future grant disqualification. It is the grantee’s responsibility to maintain records of all applications, as well as reporting compliance for awarded projects.
Commencing January 1, 2009, applicants must indicate whether and when reporting compliance was satisfied for post-2007 grants.
License Plate Grant Program Application Form
