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<br />Page 18 of 24 <br /> <br />organizations for further expertise, and potentially with NCWF for <br />collaborative volunteer days to utilize their volunteer base, in addition <br />to ERA’s, for planting efforts. Both organizations have significant <br />experience in reforestation, proven as we have collaborated with both <br />in previous efforts. <br />24. a. Have your <br />collaborators/partners <br />completed projects of this type <br />in the past? <br />b. If so, what funds were <br />used? <br />☒ Yes ☐ No <br /> <br />☒ Funding used (Please describe): Bluestem Community NC <br />used private donations and operational funding to establish <br />their Piedmont Prairie. Prairie Ridge Eco-station is State- <br />owned, operated, and funded. NCWF and We Plant It Forward <br />operate on grants and private donations. <br />25. Please describe any other <br />relevant expertise or capacity <br />to carry out the project in your <br />application. <br />ERA staff have recently grown in their capacity to conduct prescribed <br />burns through our Land Stewardship Manager’s completion of the NC <br />Forest Service Prescribed Burner certification. This has increased <br />internal capacity to streamline the creation of burn management plans <br />and implementation of the prescribed burns. <br />We will turn to local partner organizations, Bluestem Community NC <br />and Prairie Ridge Eco-station, for their expertise in prairie restoration. <br />All our stewardship project implementations are made possible <br />through extensive use of our strong volunteer pool. We will utilize <br />volunteers throughout much of the implementation stages of this <br />project, including prescribed burns for building fire lines and keeping <br />watch, prairie restoration for seeding, and reforestation for planting <br />and general maintenance needs. <br />26. Please describe any prior <br />challenges you have <br />encountered in past grants <br />and how you have worked <br />through them. How may this <br />impact this proposed project? <br />Given that much of our work is focused on nature-based solutions, we <br />can face challenges with timelines on projects due to weather <br />conditions. Environmental conditions have postponed our projects in <br />the past, making our projects take longer than expected. For this <br />project, we plan to account for potential weather-related delays and <br />expand our projected timeline. Some potential delays could be <br />unsuitable weather conditions for the prescribed burn or planting. <br />27. Please describe one to three <br />key partnerships/ <br />collaborations that add the <br />most value to the success of <br />the proposed project. <br />ERA has a significant opportunity for growth through conducting our <br />first prairie restoration project. Becoming versed in this effort and <br />turning to key partners, such as Bluestem Community NC, for their <br />expertise on this matter will allow us to successfully complete this <br />project and conduct similar projects of the like in the future. Bluestem <br />Community NC is a local partner located a short distance away from <br />the Confluence Natural Area, also in Orange County. Their successful <br />efforts in prairie conversion will allow us to learn from their successes <br />and lessons learned in previous attempts. <br />Triangle Prescribed Burn Association (TPBA) is a group of like-minded <br />Docusign Envelope ID: 044C3299-6F90-4782-B8F5-C4A7339F0897