Section 571.23.5. Eligibility for cost-sharing assistance.

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.

       23.5(1) Acquisition projects. Lands or rights thereto to be acquired in fee or by 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. 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 23.12(7) 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.

       23.5(2) Development projects. Eligible expenditures for development projects shall include seeding and planting of habitat to support or enhance the wildlife area. Requests to purchase equipment will not be approved. 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.

       23.5(3) Enhancement projects. For purposes of this rule, “enhancement” shall be considered to be synonymous with “development.”

This rule is intended to implement the provisions of Iowa Code section 483A.3.

[ARC 8885B, IAB 6/30/10, effective 8/18/10]