Small Watershed Grants Give a Boost to Local Bay Restoration Efforts

Sixty-eight grants jumpstart local restoration efforts

Annapolis, Md. (August 24, 2006) - Community-based organizations and local governments throughout the Bay watershed will launch 68 Bay and river restoration projects thanks to over $2.6 million in grants provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Chesapeake Bay Program.

The Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants, announced today by U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Director of Conservation Programs Tom Kelsch, and EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office Director Rebecca Hanmer, 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.

In addition to building the capacity of local organizations, this year's grants will protect or manage approximately 2,600 acres of critical fish and wildlife habitat, including wetlands, oyster reefs and underwater grasses. Grant recipients will plant more than five miles of forest buffers and restore an additional 21 miles of streams that drain into the Bay. Approximately 10,000 volunteers will participate in the projects, while 47,000 citizens will be educated through outreach materials.

"These small grants are making a big difference in promoting citizen-based stewardship and helping to repair degraded watersheds throughout the Chesapeake Bay basin. And who better to do this work than local community groups -- the river organizations, schools, scouts, homeowner associations, land trusts -- who have the local knowledge, energy and passion to care for their streams and natural resources -- or the local governments which are responsible for local land use and other important decisions," said Senator Sarbanes.

“We're proud to support this program, which gives local organizations and local governments the opportunity and resources to help improve their part of the Chesapeake Bay,” said National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Kelsch. “These projects have a direct impact on improving water quality in our streams and rivers and conserving critical habitat for our region's diverse fish and wildlife species.”

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 all six states in the Bay's 64,000 square-mile watershed – Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia – and in the District of Columbia.

In the past nine years, the Small Watershed Grants Program has provided $17.7 million to support 544 projects throughout the Bay watershed. These grants have been used by recipients to leverage an additional $50.7 million from other funding sources, resulting in over $67 million in support of local community watershed restoration efforts since 1998.

Proposed projects are reviewed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and selected based on set criteria paralleling commitments set forth in the Chesapeake 2000 Bay restoration agreement. The agreement calls on Bay states and the District of Columbia to combine efforts with watershed organizations to restore local water quality and the living resources of the Bay watershed. Projects funded through the Small Watershed Grants Program assist local groups in gaining experience and technical expertise needed to improve watershed protection in their communities.

Primary funding for the Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program Office. Additional funding partners include the USDA Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

For a complete listing and map of the 2006 Small Watershed Grants recipients, please visit the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation homepage or the Bay Program Small Watershed Grants page.