Organizations Awarded More Than $2.1 Million to Help Protect and Restore Chesapeake Bay Wetlands, Forests and Waterways

Key Indicators Highlight Restoration Challenges, Successes throughout Watershed

Annapolis, Md. (July 24, 2008) - The Chesapeake Bay Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation today announced the recipients of more than $2.1 million in grants for 34 environmental projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The projects will protect 3,400 acres of land, restore approximately 15 miles of streams and plant more than 160 acres of marsh and wetland grasses.

The funding was awarded through the Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants program, which provides grants to organizations and municipal governments working to improve the condition of their local watershed.

“Each project receiving a Small Watershed Grant this year is a vital component of the broad partnership of organizations working to restore the Bay and its local waterways,” said Jeffrey Lape, director of the Chesapeake Bay Program.

“These locally-driven conservation projects not only engage communities in restoring their local streams and watersheds, collectively they are key to restoring one of the country’s most vital natural resources – the Chesapeake Bay,” said Mike Slattery, director of the Foundation’s Eastern Partnership Office.

The 2008 Small Watershed Grants were announced at Tyler Elementary School in Washington, D.C., which will benefit from a $50,000 grant to install a 13,000-square-foot rain garden on its grounds. The rain garden will filter polluted runoff, integrate watershed education into school studies and provide a model of low-impact development techniques for other urban schools.

"This generous grant will allow us to begin to realize our vision for the Tyler Outdoor Classroom Project, a place where our students will be able to play and study outside in green space and shade," said Caterina Roman, parent coordinator at Tyler Elementary School. "The grant funds will help us incorporate environmental studies into the curriculum, while at the same time creating a space designed to protect our vulnerable natural resources."

Also featured at the event was D.C. Greenworks, which received a $75,000 grant to work with the District Department of the Environment to develop a green roof subsidy and incentive program to increase the number of green roofs in the District of Columbia. The project will develop a green roof toolkit to educate homeowners and businesses about the benefits and financing of green roofs.

At last year’s Executive Council meeting, the District of Columbia agreed to champion green development by promoting the use of green roofs, urban trees and other green infrastructure to reduce polluted runoff. D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells and D.C. Department of the Environment Director George Hawkins participated in the grant announcement and spoke of the value of the D.C. projects to the city and health of the Chesapeake Bay and its local waterways.

In addition to projects that will filter pollution, protect land and restore wildlife habitat, other grant recipients this year include:

• The Friends of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge will release sterilized, radio-collared rodents named nutria to allow scientists to track and eradicate invasive nutria populations on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
• The Henrico County (Va.) Soil & Water Conservation District will provide 2,500 county residents with soil test vouchers to promote proper fertilizing and reduce nutrient runoff to the James River.
• The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay will hold a biofuels summit to develop a strategy that integrates water quality concerns into developing the Chesapeake region’s biofuel industry.

Since 2000, the Small Watershed Grants program has provided $20.8 million to support 555 projects. These grants have been used to leverage an additional $65.4 million from other funding sources, resulting in more than $86.2 million being invested in watershed restoration efforts.

The Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants program is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and funded primarily by the U.S. EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office. Additional funding partners include the USDA Forest Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“It’s important that we continue to invest in the health of the Chesapeake Bay,” said Perry Gayaldo, deputy director of the NOAA Restoration Center. “It takes the work of many community volunteers, agencies and organizations to help restore the Bay, a feat none of us could accomplish alone.”

For more information about the Small Watershed Grants Program and a full listing of grant recipients, visit www.chesapeakebay.net/smallwatershedgrants.aspx and www.nfwf.org/chesapeake.