Commission approves 2026 Natural and Cultural Heritage Grant program and allocates $40,000 for seed grants

The Board of Douglas County Commissioners unanimously approved the county's proposed 2026 Natural and Cultural Heritage Grant Program and authorized $40,000 from the Heritage Conservation equipment reserves to support seed grants.

Caitlin Ammerlein, the county's heritage conservation coordinator, told commissioners the program's materials aim to simplify the application process, expand support for smaller seed grants, and broaden the geographic and thematic reach of awards across Douglas County. She said staff recommends reducing the maximum award from $75,000 to $60,000 to better align requests with available funding and introducing a shorter seed-grant application for smaller awards.

Ammerlein described the $40,000 as the unallocated portion of an equipment-reserve balance that has accumulated since 2011 from underspent grants and other returns. She said the $40,000 would supplement a budgeted $210,000 to yield a $250,000 total grant pool for 2026. The county attorney/staff noted a statutory authority allows counties to maintain an equipment reserve fund and use it for projects previously designated by the commission.

Commissioners asked whether the reserve would be spent in a single year or spread over multiple years; Ammerlein said staff intend to spread the funds over multiple years to avoid large spikes in available funding and that seed-grant applicants may apply multiple times (there is no per-applicant limit). A motion to approve the 2026 grant program materials and to allocate $40,000 from the reserves for seed grants passed 5–0.