The Outdoor Recreation Planning Assistance Program is designed to help build capacity at the local level through engaging consulting services and utilizing the Division of Outdoor Recreation staff’s technical expertise.
Donor Name: Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation
State: Utah
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/07/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Project Examples and Types
- Community visioning and stakeholder facilitation: With the assistance of the planner, a series of community workshops or meetings will help your community to identify common interests, define a community vision and create a document that will guide future recreation plans.
- Recreation plan coordination and development: Assist communities to develop the scope of a plan and if needed assist to produce the final document itself. With funding available, communities have the option to hire a consultant and the DOR planner can serve as the project manager.
- Community outreach, input strategies and execution: Public engagement is crucial to the planning process and they’re here to help! This could include online surveys, virtual or in person public open houses, social media posts and press releases. ORPA can help you engage your community in a meaningful way.
- Feasibility and environmental studies: The first step to your project may be to determine if a recreation opportunity is feasible. ORPA can help fund and project manage feasibility studies, environmental assessments, or trail alignments to identify the best route forward.
- Recreation data analysis: They can help you assess current visitor use patterns and strategize to collect field data to better inform your community’s decision-making. Mapping and GIS assistance can also be requested to better visualize collected data.
- Conceptual trail design assistance: Assists in an iterative design process to identify the goals of a new recreation opportunity (i.e. trail system) and help you conceptualize trail layout and design objectives.
- Engineering and construction design: Professional engineering and construction designs are the final step to prepare for the construction of your project. They hope to support applicants by allowing 50% of this cost to be covered by ORPA funds.
- Wayfinding/signage support: You may have an existing recreation asset that needs better signage and wayfinding for locals and visitors. ORPA can assist to identify best practices.
- Pre-DOR grant application coordination: Planning involves looking at the big picture and the entire lifespan of a project. Let’s think through next steps, ongoing maintenance needs, and create reasonable funding strategies to make your project a success.
Funding Information
Up to $200,000.
Eligible Projects
All projects/services must be directly related to recreation:
- Feasibility/trail alignment studies
- NEPA/environmental assessments
- Cultural surveys
- Biological surveys
- Community outreach strategies and execution
- Stakeholder/steering committee facilitation (process collaboration)
- Plan development assistance (i.e. Master Trails Plan)
- Wayfinding strategies and/or design
- Conceptual trail & site design
- Visitor use mitigation strategies
- Mapping services
- Funding strategies
- Field data collection (trail assessments)
- Land-use recommendations and scenarios
- User conflict/trail etiquette strategies
- Engineering services/construction design
- Assistance scoping the project in preparation for procurement (i.e. request for proposals, request for quotes, etc).
Eligibility Criteria
- Municipalities
- State agencies
- Federal agencies
- Non-profits
- Tribal governments.
For more information, visit UDOR.
