More Than $10 Million Awarded to Help Protect and Restore Chesapeake

The Chesapeake Bay Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have awarded $10.9 million in grants to 55 environmental projects in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Collectively, the projects will preserve 3,729 acres of land, restore 32 miles of forest buffers and stream banks, and install runoff-reducing practices on 2,878 acres.

The funding was awarded through the Small Watershed Grants Program and the Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants Program. Both are part of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.

The Small Watershed Grants Program provides grants to organizations and municipal governments that are working to improve the condition of their local watershed through on-the-ground restoration, habitat conservation and community engagement. The program, funded by a combination of public agencies and private support, awarded $2.8 million to 37 projects. Grant recipients provided an additional $4.4 million in matching funds.

This year’s Small Watershed Grant projects are expected to involve 8,645 volunteers and engage 2,228 landowners in conservation and restoration practices. Many recipients will reduce polluted runoff through techniques such as rain gardens, as well as through outreach and marketing initiatives that promote sustainable landscaping practices.

Recipients of this year’s Small Watershed Grants include:

• Lands and Waters (Va.), which will work with local schools to conduct hands-on schoolyard conservation projects that will promote student stewardship while helping Fairfax meet its TMDL requirements.
• The Pennsylvania Institute for Conservation Education’s Master Naturalist Program, which will educate and train citizens to be leaders in protecting, restoring, monitoring and conserving natural resources in their communities.
• The Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District (N.Y.), which will develop a berm removal program in partnership with local highway departments in effort to restore 8,000 feet of streamside forests.

The Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants Program provides grants to innovative and cost-effective projects that dramatically reduce or eliminate nutrient and sediment pollution into local waterways and the Bay. The program, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, awarded $8.2 million to 19 projects. Grant recipients provided an additional $11.7 million in matching funds. This year’s projects are expected to prevent 600,000 tons of sediment, two million pounds of nitrogen and 700,000 pounds of phosphorus from entering the Bay.

Recipients of this year’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants include:

• The Elizabeth River Project (Va.), which will expand its behavior change program to inspire at least 500 homeowners to reduce fertilizer use, harvest rain and install rain gardens on their properties.
• Frederick County’s (Md.) Neighborhood Green program, which will convert 50 acres of turf into upland and streamside forest and remove 35 acres of invasive species.
• Washington D.C.’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, which will convert fire station roofs into model stormwater management systems that will capture stormwater, treat it and reuse a portion in daily operations.

Through these grants, diverse agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Natural Resources Conservation Service are able to pool resources with corporate sponsors like Altria, Wal-Mart and FedEx to increase the impact any one of them could have alone, according to Tom Kelsch, vice president of conservation programs at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Since 2000, the Small Watershed Grants Program has provided more than $29 million to support 663 projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These projects have leveraged close to $95 million in local matching funds for a total investment of more than $125 million toward on-the-ground restoration.

Since 2007, the Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant Program has provided $26.8 million to 54 projects that reduce the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

For more information, visit www.nfwf.org/chesapeake.