Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 571 - Natural Resource Commission › Title III - Assistance Programs › Chapter 23 - Wildlife Habitat Promotion With Local Entities Program › Rule 571-23.4 - Eligibility for Cost-sharing Assistance

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
No project shall be eligible for cost sharing unless it is
				  specifically approved by the commission, or the applicant has received a
				  written waiver of retroactivity from the director, prior to its initiation. A
				  project shall not be eligible for cost sharing unless public hunting and
				  trapping will be allowed; however, the review and selection committee may
				  recommend for commission approval projects with restrictions on hunting and
				  trapping under exceptional circumstances, such as waterfowl refuges. Fees
				  charged for recreational purposes will not be allowed on land purchased or
				  developed with wildlife habitat funds. Wildlife habitat promotion funds shall
				  not be used to fund mitigation lands or banks, or other lands, to satisfy
				  mitigation requirements. Only the following types of project expenditures will
				  be eligible for cost-sharing assistance:
(1)
Acquisition projects.
Lands or rights thereto to be acquired in fee orby any other instrument shall
				be appraised by a competent appraiser and the appraisal approved by the
				department staff. Applicants whose applications have been approved for funding
				must submit an appraisal that meets the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal
				Land Acquisitions "Yellow Book" (2016). The appraisal requirements may be
				waived when the staff determines that they are impractical for a specific
				project. Cost sharing will not be approved for more than 75 percent of the
				approved appraised value. Acquisition projects are eligible for either cost
				sharing by direct payments as described in subrule 23.10(3) or by reimbursement
				to local entities. When a county receives or will receive financial income
				directly or indirectly from sources that would have been paid to the previous
				landowner as a result of a purchase agreement or other title transfer action,
				75 percent of that income will be transferred to the department unless the
				grantee has demonstrated and committed to habitat development projects or
				additional acquisitions on the project site to be funded from the income
				received. The project review and selection committee must recommend, and the
				director and commission must approve, plans for the expenditure of income. In
				the absence of acceptable wildlife habitat development or acquisition plans,
				the county will transfer 75 percent of income received to the department as it
				is received. The department will credit that income to the county apportionment
				of the wildlife habitat stamp fund as described in subrule 23.2(1). The
				schedule of those reimbursements from a county to the state will be included in
				the project agreement.
(2)
Development and enhancement projects.
Equipment purchases are
				not eligible. Donated labor, materials and equipment use, and force account
				labor and equipment use shall not be eligible for cost-sharing assistance.
				Force account means the agency's own labor and equipment use. Development
				projects are limited to lands legally controlled by the grantee for the
				expected life of the project. Development projects are eligible only for
				reimbursement of reasonable costs actually incurred and paid by the public
				agency.