$2.5 Million Awarded to Reduce Nutrients in Local Streams and Chesapeake Bay

Dayton, Va. (June 2, 2006) – Three grants totaling $2.5 million were announced today to reduce nutrient pollution that enters local rivers and streams and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. Through the grants, three Virginia-based watershed partnerships expect to reduce annual nutrient pollution to the Bay by over 6.4 million pounds of nitrogen and 6.8 million pounds of phosphorous.

The announcement took place on Rohrer Brother's Farm, a dairy and turkey operation in the North River watershed. The Rohrer Brothers, George and Ralph, are actively striving to reduce nutrient runoff from their farm, including through the adoption of innovative manure and litter management practices supported through one of these grants. The Waste Solutions Forum will help farmers like the Rohrers raise revenue by converting manure to energy, reduce the cost of manure transport through nutrient concentration technologies, and help them identify markets to sell excess manure as fertilizer.

Tom Kelsch, Director of Conservation Programs for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Rebecca Hanmer, Director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program Office made the announcement. They were joined by local Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.). Goodlatte chairs the Committee on Agriculture in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Nutrient pollution from agricultural and stormwater runoff is the greatest challenge facing the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort,” said EPA's Hanmer. “These projects will provide farmers and others the financial resources they need to demonstrate how we can rise to that challenge by implementing practical, sustainable and cost-effective solutions.”

The grants support three diverse Virginia-based partnerships:

• The Virginia Waste Solutions Forum will work with dairy and poultry farmers to test innovative manure and litter management tools, including manure-to-energy technology, nutrient concentration technology, and by creating new markets for manure as fertilizer here in the North River watershed.
• The Opequon Creek Partnership will implement proven and innovative nutrient management practices, such as wetland creation and restoration and stream fencing, and demonstrate their potential to generate nutrient credits to offset the expansion of a waste water treatment plan.
• The Virginia Tech-Virginia Commonwealth University Oyster Partnership will strategically install oyster floats in three small watersheds and demonstrate the potential for commercial native oyster cultivation to be used as a water filtration practice that generates credits in a water quality trading and offsets scenario.

"While agriculture is a vital part of the economy and way of life in the Sixth District, our communities recognize that the health of our environment is equally as important. These partnerships will help farmers develop new manure and litter management tools while reducing nutrient pollution in our streams and rivers," said Congressman Bob Goodlatte.

“These projects are using market-based, cost effective strategies to encourage farmers, businesses, cities and residents to adopt practical solutions to the serious problem of nutrient pollution,” said Kelsch. “These solutions can be adopted throughout the Bay watershed to dramatically improve the health of the Bay – its water quality, habitat, fish, and wildlife.”

A total of ten watershed-based partnerships are receiving Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watershed Grants of $500,000 to $1 million to help improve the quality of local waters and the Bay. The grants represent a total of $7.7 million being awarded from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Trust.

A national assessment of stream health in America, released by the EPA last month, indicates that more than half of all the wadeable streams in the eastern United States are in poor health, largely due to excess nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment pollution. These are the same pollutants that are primarily responsible for the poor health of the Chesapeake Bay, America 's largest estuary.

Primary funding for the grant program is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through its national Targeted Watersheds Grants Program and Chesapeake Bay Program. Grant recipients must provide at least 25% in matching funds and in-kind services to support the projects.

For a listing and map of the 2006 Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds, visit the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation homepage.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by Congress in 1984 and dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife and plants, and the habitat on which they depend. The Foundation creates partnerships between the public and private sectors to strategically invest in conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. The Foundation awarded over 8,000 grants to more than 2,600 organizations in the United States and abroad and has leveraged – with its partners – more than $300 million in federal funds since its establishment, for a total of more than $1 billion in funding for conservation.