LITTLE THOMPSON WATERSHED RESTORATION COALITION (LTWRC) JOURNAL Issue 13, May 19, 2014
UPCOMING EVENTS
Public Meeting – Master Planning Session – Wednesday, May 28 at 6pm in Berthoud
Volunteer Workday – Berthoud (Weld) Neighborhood – Saturday, June 14
NEXT PUBLIC MEETING – 6 PM, WEDNESDAY, MAY 28 IN BERTHOUD
Our next big meeting will be a Master Planning session with Tetra Tech. We’ll break out into neighborhood groups covering different reaches of the river. This will be a VERY
IMPORTANT opportunity for you to learn about what the Tetra Tech team has uncovered in their research and field work, and a time for you to give them feedback about what you hope to see implemented through the Master Plan. Also, we’ll be
handing out King Soopers gift cards, part of our new fundraising strategy (see below). Please be there!
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Berthoud Community Center and will go a little longer than usual, until 8:30 or 9. Light refreshments will be served. Bring your checkbook or a small amount of cash—see below:
THE RIVER SHE IS A RISIN’ – WHERE ARE THE SANDBAGS?
You may have noticed that the water level in the Little T went up this weekend, especially in areas east of the foothills. The farmers aren’t irrigating and the ditch
companies have shut down the diversions leaving the water nowhere to go except down
the streambed. If the water starts getting too close for comfort and you want sandbags, contact jstrange@serve68.org for Larimer County and go to
https://www.bouldercounty.org/flood/emergencypreparedness/pages/flashfloodsafety.a spx for instructions in Boulder County. Or you can go to our website ltwrc.org and click on “I Need Sandbags”.
WELCOME ABOARD JENNY
Jennifer Sanders (Jenny) is joining the LTWRC to directly support Larry Glover and
Gordon Gilstrap. She will be helping Larry organize volunteers and help Gordon with the administration work that goes along with rounding up information on hours and
expenses spent on river recovery. Jenny comes to us with a great set of credentials
and is very understanding of the loss some of you have suffered. She lost her home on the Big Thompson River.
NEW FUNDRAISING STRATEGY—GROCERIES AND FUEL
The Big Thompson Conservation District (BTCD) has created an account for the LTWRC at King Soopers/City Market supermarkets to raise money for operating costs. Here’s how it works:
- At the meeting on May 28, we’ll have a King Soopers Gift Card linked to the BTCD/LTWRC account, for you. We’ve preloaded it with $2.50, the minimum needed to activate the card. This goes towards groceries or fuel.
- We ask that you please consider “purchasing” your card, by reimbursing BTCD for the $2.50 (which is still on the card, for you to spend), or making a small donation–$5, $10, $20—whatever you can afford. Cash or check is good.
- For every dollar you spend on groceries or fuel, the Coalition will get 5%.
- Next time you grocery shop or fuel up, take the card to the checkout counter (or service desk or fuel kiosk) and load it with any amount. You can use cash, check, or credit card. Just be sure to do this before the cashier begins ringing up your purchases.
- Before they scan the first item, say to the cashier, “I’m going to pay for this using my Gift Card, but first I have to put money on it.” They do this all the time; they’ll know exactly what you mean.
- Pay for your groceries or fuel using the LTWRC Gift Card. If you load it with
$300 and your order came to $260, you can spend the balance of $40 next time. Every time you shop—load with more funds. The card does not expire.
- You can still use your King Soopers Rewards Savings Card to get the usual discounts and points—just scan that, too. You don’t spend a single penny more than usual. This costs you nothing except the few minutes it takes to load up your LTWRC Gift Card.
- When your card runs out, just load it up again. It works like a debit card (but only at King Soopers/City Market stores, of course) and never expires. It’s your card and your money.
- King Soopers donates 5% of the amount you put on your gift card into the Coalition’s account. That’s where the link to BTCD comes in. For every $100 you spend on groceries and gas, the LTWRC gets $5. With several hundred of us participating, it will add up fast. Every month, King Soopers will send us a check.
- We need as many people as possible to use these LTRWC Gift Cards. We can order more and pass mail to you—then pass on to your family, neighbors, colleagues and friends to help our Coalition raise funds. The more people using the cards, the better for our river.
- Place your order with us. We’ll get them from King Soopers so they are linked to our account (you can’t just buy a gift card at the store—they have to come through King Soopers HQ and get linked to our account). Email Gordon@bigthompson.org to place your order. You mail us a check, we’ll mail you the cards. Mail checks to: BTCD/Little Thompson Watershed Restoration Coalition, PO Box 441, Berthoud, CO 80513. Gordon will email everyone a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions so you can pass it on to your card people to help them understand what it’s all about).
- It isn’t millions, but it’s enough to pay for mailings, photocopies, and the refreshments served at the Public Meetings. Over the next year, we’d like to raise funds to rent an excavator, a bulldozer, a chipper, pay for permit application fees, and other things to get the Little Thompson River back in shape. If we have 300 people—all of you living on the river and your other neighbors— spending $150 a month with your LTWRC Gift Cards, that earns the river $2,250 a month…..debris clean-up suddenly gets a lot easier.
- It’s our river—let’s get this going!!
VOLUNTEER WORKDAY IN BERTHOUD (WELD) ON JUNE 14
Stay tuned…. Details coming soon. In the meantime …
Volunteers Needed for Weld County
The Coalition is seeking a landowner who can help coordinate volunteer day events covering the river between I-25 and Milliken. Based on the volunteer days which have
already taken place, it is really helpful to have someone from the immediate area who knows the neighbors. If this is your stretch of the river, your involvement will greatly increase the benefits of having a volunteer day. Can you help? Please contact Kevin McCarty at kevin@mccartylw.com
MORE HELP
If you need help with flood-related home and infrastructure repairs, your business was impacted by the flood, you have medical needs, or you need help with legal or
insurance matters, contact your County Long-Term Recovery Group:
Boulder – 303-442-2178
Larimer – 970 461-2222
Weld – 970-590-8401
WELD COUNTY LANDFILL VOUCHER PROGRAM
The Weld County Voucher Program will remain in effect until August 1, 2014. Under this program, landowners are responsible for transporting flood debris to an approved Weld
County disposal/recycling facility, but the county pays the disposal fee. In order to get
vouchers, you must contact Bethany Pascoe at 970-353-6100, Ext. 3555. She will set up a time to inspect the flood debris and you’ll be issued the appropriate number of
vouchers to cover the flood debris on your property. This specifically applies to trash
and tires, not woody debris and scrap metal. She has contact information for businesses which accept scrap metal, including one which will come to your property.
TURN YOUR TIME INTO MONEY
Volunteer time and landowner time spent doing recovery work is like money in the bank. A lot of federal grants require matching funds of 25% or more of the total project
cost. Often they allow volunteer time/expenses to be used as “in-kind” contributions
towards that 25%. We will need millions of dollars to complete the restoration of the
Little Thompson River, and may be expected to raise at least a quarter of that amount on our own. That’s why it’s so important to account for every hour, mile, and dollar you
spend working on flood recovery.
It’s a bit of a hassle, but look at it this way: Every dollar’s worth of your time and expense helps us qualify for 4 to 8 times as much in State and Federal aid. The instructions for loading your recovery hours and expenses into the database are still in the works. Look for your instructions to arrive soon.
Keep tracking hours, activities, receipts and all expenses relating to flood repairs or clean up. This information will be critical to establishing grant amounts. Be meticulous and track every dollar. Each landowner will soon be able to input this information on the LTWRC website in a secure, anonymous system that only you and a few select District staff will be able to view
TRUCK DRIVERS NEEDED
We have an opportunity to get a large quantity of rock and fill material from the Colorado Department of Transportation, from a roadwork project that is a short distance from the Little Thompson River near Lyons. This is an area that suffered severe erosion, and the fill material is desperately needed to stabilize the river and protect existing homes. The material is free, but we have to haul it a few miles. The
Busters (of Lyons Sandstone) have generously offered the use of two of their 10-wheel trucks, but we need drivers with a commercial class A or B license who can take shifts.
Remember when you used to play with toy trucks in the sandbox, and dreamed of driving one for real? If you want to live out those fantasies, or you just want to help, please contact Denise@footprintz.net for details.
NOTICES OF INTENT
The Big Thompson Conservation District submitted pre-applications for five grants under the Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery program on behalf of the Little Thompson Coalition. This is the $62.8 million grant from HUD announced in January and approved to accept applications a few weeks ago. If the Colorado Dept. of Local Affairs gives us the go-ahead, we’ll proceed with the two-month application process. The grants we’re seeking would provide some of the matching funds for Federal grants—yet to be secured—for some of the restoration work in the river, and for improvements to emergency warning systems. Applying is no guarantee that the funds will be granted, but this is the only way we can get a shot at this money.
Other qualifying agencies are applying for grant money that has been set aside for housing disaster relief. Some of this has already been released, which means there’s been an influx of cash into programs for which you may be eligible. If your home or farm was affected in any way by the flood, contact your county Long Term Recovery Group to find out if there’s money for you!
Boulder – 303-442-2178
Larimer – 970 461-2222
Weld – 970-590-8401
The best way to get these grants for home restoration is if you are registered with the Long Term Recovery group in your area. The time to do that is NOW. Don’t miss out on this potential opportunity. Information for registering with the Long Term Recovery Group in your county is on the www.ltwrc.org web site.
Added note from Gordon: Deidre Daly, Denise Cote’ and Bill Zawacki spent many hours writing the Notices Of Intent. Say “thanks” the next time you see them. The documents will be on the website soon.
AG GRANTS IN THE WORKS
Individuals and Ag businesses should check with NRCS and FSA to ensure they have reported property and livestock damage. Most of the sign up dates have expired, but they will still work with producers who have not reported.
The Colorado Dept. of Agriculture is administering the HUD grants to AG producers.
LTWRC provided a quick overview of the program on May12. We’ll help you sign up for an appointment with Lara Duran from CO Dept of AG to fill out an application, or sign up for an appointment on your own. Go to http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/ag_Main/CBON/1251646276937
and click on the word “doodle” next to the CSU Extension Office nearest you. These grants will award from $15,000 to $150,000 to eligible producers and landowners.
Keep tracking hours, activities, receipts and all expenses relating to flood repairs or clean up. This information will be critical to establishing grant amounts. Be meticulous and track every dollar. Each landowner will soon be able to input this information on the LTWRC website in a secure, anonymous system that only you and a few select District staff will be able to view.
Added note from Gordon: Larry Lempka and Julia Stapp organized a workshop for AG producers that was held last Monday at Johnson’s Corner. Larry prepared and gave a great presentation on the AG program. It will be on the website soon.
DONATIONS
The Big Thompson Conservation District (BTCD) is the sponsor of the Little Thompson Watershed Restoration Coalition (LTWRC) and has been paying for all the ongoing costs of the LTWRC. Since the BTCD operates on donations* (not taxes), we are asking your
help in covering the costs of the LTWRC work to restore the Little Thompson River. If you suffered a loss in the flood, we aren’t asking for monetary help from you. However, if you were fortunate enough to emerge from the flood unscathed, please help us out
with a donation of any size. We have chosen the gofundme.com website to collect donations. Please click on the link below to access this secure payment site. http://www.gofundme.com/83ah28
If you prefer to donate by check, please make the check payable to
“Big T CD/LTWRC Fund” and mail to: Big Thompson Conservation District
P.O. Box 441, Berthoud, CO 80513
*The BTCD is an agency of the Colorado Dept. of Agriculture, not a non-profit agency. Donations aren’t tax deductible.
GO TO THE WEBSITE: www.ltwrc.org
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LTWRC
