NRCS along with other Federal agencies, organizations like the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and local governments throughout the bay watershed have launched 93 Bay and river restoration projects thanks to nearly $3 million in grants provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Chesapeake Bay Program. The grants, provided through the Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program, aim to accelerate the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers by providing funds to help local communities restore their part of the Bay watershed.

Projects funded through the program include creating rain gardens that reduce polluted runoff to planting streamside forest buffers that prevent erosion to restoring underwater grasses that provide critical habitat for the Bay's fish and animals. Programs will take place across the Bay's 64,000 square-mile watershed in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

In addition to building the capacity of local organizations, this year's grants will manage or protect approximately 4,000 acres of critical fish and wildlife habitat including wetlands, oyster reefs and underwater grasses. Grant recipients will plant more than 35 miles of forest buffers and improve an additional 60 miles of streams that drain into the Bay. More than 8,000 community volunteers will actively participate in the projects, while some 85,000 citizens will be educated through the dissemination of outreach materials.

For a complete listing and map of the 2004 Small Watershed Grants recipients in your area or state, please visit the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation homepage  or the Chesapeake Bay Program.