Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts get $44.2M in grants 

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The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have announced grant awards exceeding $44 million to support water quality improvement, habitat restoration and community stewardship efforts in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

The 72 grants were awarded through the Chesapeake Bay Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants and Small Watershed Grants programs, according to NFWF. The programs comprise key funding efforts of the Chesapeake Bay Program partnership.

In addition, both programs support conservation projects that advance regional watershed restoration efforts – which include aiding in the clean up and restoration of polluted rivers and streams, collaboratively working toward the protection of key Chesapeake Bay species and their habitats.

“The grants announced today build upon NFWF’s decades-long history of supporting the conservation of wildlife and habitats within the Chesapeake Bay watershed,” NFWF executive director and CEO Jeff Trandahl said.

“These grants leverage the momentum, expertise and impact cultivated among public- and private-sector partners since the launch of the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund in 1999 in partnership with the EPA. The projects and partners supported today with these grants will engage communities in voluntary conservation efforts across the Bay watershed and accelerate progress toward healthier waterways, wildlife population and natural habitats.”

The awards announced, announced Feb. 11, aim to achieve a variety of goals, some of which include: 

• Restoring 75 miles of riparian forest buffers and implementing 45 miles of livestock exclusion

• Restore 290 acres of wetland and marsh habitat
• Implement 120,000 acres of agricultural best management practices to improve water quality, soil health and farm profitability
• Treat stormwater runoff from more than 350 acres of developed land

This year’s grant recipients were organizations based in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and New York.

The Catoctin Land Trust, Maryland’s only land trust dedicated to preserving the woods and waters of the Appalachian Trail landscape, was awarded $595,269 to advance strategic habitat restoration and conservation priorities of the Heart of Maryland Collaborative. 

Other grant recipients and more information can be found on the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund’s website.