Payment Rates and Covered Activities
The intent of the program is to increase the pace, scale and effectiveness of forest treatments in the North Bay area by incentivising and supporting landowners with partial payments to implement planned treatments where they would not otherwise be possible because of financial hardship. This is achieved through incentive dollars.
What are incentive dollars?
In the North Bay Forest Improvement Program, incentive dollars are cash payments to landowners for beneficial forest management activities performed on-the-ground, such as tree thinning or planting. Incentive payment rates are specific to treatment activities and are listed on the NBFIP Payment Rates table below. Actual costs of treatments are based on market research and may not match your contractor’s cost estimate. For a participant to receive incentive dollars, they must first have their on-the-ground activities verified. After payment has been dispersed to the landowner and the landowner has paid the contractor, the landowner must retain proof of payment in the form of a paid vendor receipt. Landowners who choose to fulfill NBFIP contracts by conducting work themselves must keep track of the time they spent implementing treatments. Rebuild North Bay Foundation, as the official contract holder with Cal Fire, retains the right to audit these records up to five years from the payment date.
Combining incentives
Applicants who wish to match NBFIP incentives dollars with dollars from another incentives program, such as EQIP, must provide their current verified agreements in their application. Please note: Applicants that can treat additional acres by combining incentive dollars from multiple incentives programs will earn higher points in the application review process. Express that this is your plan in your application. Incentive dollars can’t be combined with other grant or incentives dollars to pay for more than 100% of the project cost in any case.
About payment rates
NBFIP will pay a percentage of the cap rate, which is variable and based on disadvantaged community (DAC) or Severely Disadvantaged Community (SDAC) status. Projects within DAC or SDAC will receive payments for beneficial practices at 80% of the established cap rate. Projects outside of DAC or SDAC will receive payments for beneficial practices at 60% of the established cap rate. Projects outside of DAC may have the option to accept a lesser payment rate to increase their prioritization ranking. Applicants can indicate that this is their intention in their application.
Assisting landowners in disadvantaged communities is a priority of the program. If the applicant’s property is located in a disadvantaged community (DAC) or Severely Disadvantaged Community (SDAC), additional opportunities are available to them. These communities are identified by the state of California. For locating DAC and SDAC areas, you can use the following mapping tools:
Community FactFinder from Parks for California (Be sure to check the layer “Disadvantaged Community” on the map)
DAC Mapping Tool from CA State Water Board (Be sure to check the layer “Disadvantaged Communities -Block Groups (2018)”)
PAYMENT RATES ARE CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED, 4/10/2024
*Projects outside of DAC may have the option to accept a lesser payment rate to increase their prioritization ranking.