Partnership Background
In the Summer of 2023, the Southwestern Water Conservation District (SWCD) board proposed the development of a water conservation and infrastructure partnership to pursue and implement projects identified in SWCD strategic priorities, SW Basin Implementation Plans (BIP), and other community-engaged processes. SWCD and regional partners planned to request federal, state, and other funding to support the Water Conservation and Infrastructure Partnership (Partnership), which included developing a Priority Project Pipeline and creating a Community Navigator position. Additionally, as part of developing the federal funding application, SWCD and partners identified the additional capacity needed to implement such a program.
This ongoing program identifies, funds, and coordinates watershed-scale, multi-benefit infrastructure and water conservation projects requiring complex regional partner collaboration and larger monetary investments. Ultimately, the program seeks to leverage unprecedented federal funding to increase SWCD’s capacity to assist regional partners and stakeholders in developing and implementing local projects. These projects aim to address the goals and needs of multiple stakeholders in the San Juan and Dolores River basins within southwest Colorado.
The program consists of four integral parts:
1. Expanding the amount of funding available to constituents in the Southwest Basin;
2. Creating a Priority Project Pipeline across the Southwest Basin;
3. Establishing a Community Navigator position; and
4. Ensuring the appropriate capacity at SWCD and other partner organizations.
To apply funds strategically and with maximum benefit, a Priority Project Pipeline has been developed to identify the priority and readiness of projects to implement. This was done by working with local partners and following the SW BIP goals and strategies/actions to guide prioritization. The newly updated project pipeline identifies 245 multi-benefit, landscape-scale, and water conservation and infrastructure projects, an increase of nearly 100 projects from the SW BIP. The Community Navigator continues to update and maintain this list. Using this tool, the Community navigator can effectively identify projects that qualify for funding sources and bundle them together with common themes.
Throughout this process, multi-benefit, infrastructure, watershed-scale, and water conservation projects will be identified. These are projects that can support the SW BIP goals on a watershed-scale across multiple sub-basins and bring together collaboration between multiple local partners and stakeholders. With an expanded grant program, the basin will have the funding and capacity to implement larger watershed-scale, multi-benefit, and water conservation projects in the near term.
To achieve the goals of supporting watershed-scale, multi-benefit, and water conservation projects, a dedicated position called a “Community Navigator” is recommended to coordinate and facilitate collaboration between project partners to leverage larger federal investment. A community navigator was retained between SWCD and Harris Water Engineering in the Spring of 2024.
Community navigation can connect local project proponents to “bundle” or elevate regional-scale projects that are more likely to garner federal funding support. Shared goals, strong relationships, and connected partners are essential to successfully accessing grant funding. In addition, this role will help community organizations navigate funding opportunities, align projects with available federal funding resources, support the development of proposals for federal funding, coordinate with federal agencies (e.g., USFS, BLM) on funding opportunities, understand what’s needed to prepare to apply for funding, and coordinate stakeholders during project implementation.
To design this role to provide the best service to the Southwest Basin, background research will be done to identify gaps in coordination that currently exist within the Southwest Basin (e.g., Pine River, Florida River, etc.). It will also be important to understand how this position can complement other community navigation that is currently underway in the Southwest Basin (e.g., through TNC with Tribal partners and MCD). This position will ideally be designed for longevity, with consistent funding sources identified to support it in the future. TRCP will provide ongoing support to SWCD in identifying and pursuing long-term capacity resources. Other communities that have created similar positions will be helpful resources for this information. TRCP will also work with the navigator to troubleshoot any challenges in navigating/accessing federal resources and help leverage NGO support for SWCD proposals. The community navigator position is in alignment with the Colorado Water Plan grant funding criteria which could potentially be a funding source for the position.
