Maryland

Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
Maintaining Best Management Practices in the Anacostia Watershed (MD, DC)
Promote successful, long-term best management practice maintenance and water quality improvement through a virtual maintenance resource center, inspections, cost-share maintenance services and a neighborhood volunteer program. Project will increase the functionality of at least 300 installed best management practices and document improvement in the abilities of 200 property owners to maintain their practices over time.
$500,000

American Forests
Leveraging Urban Forests for Climate, Health and Tree Equity Scores (MD, VA, DC)
Build a deep-dive Tree Equity Score Analyzer tool for use across the greater Washington metropolitan region. Project will provide a way to set urban forestry narratives, plan strategies and focus resources on communities of highest need to improve tree canopy where its benefits are most needed.
$49,911

Audubon Naturalist Society of the Central Atlantic States
Designing a Training Program to Expand the Community of Green Infrastructure Professionals (MD)
Design a conservation landscape and rain garden for Audubon Naturalist Society’s Woodend Nature Sanctuary in Chevy Chase, Maryland and create a program to train the owners and employees of small and underrepresented landscape contracting companies in the construction of conservation landscapes and rain gardens. Project will provide a path forward for promoting increased use of green infrastructure to manage stormwater and improve water quality within the Anacostia and Rock Creek watersheds.
$25,011

Baltimore Municipal Golf Corp
Developing an Environmental Master Plan for the Forest Park Golf Course (MD)
Develop an environmental master plan for the Forest Park Golf Course in Baltimore City, Maryland. Project will identify the highest priority stormwater management project to proceed to final design, permitting and plans review in order to produce a shovel-ready set of construction documents for implementation.
$49,935

Blue Water Baltimore
Restoring Model Watersheds to Improve Urban Water Quality in Baltimore County (MD)
Continue watershed restoration implementation that improves urban water quality in Baltimore County on private property. Project will install priority restoration projects that can be used as model projects, reduce watershed pollution to help Baltimore County meet its watershed improvement plan goals, motivate homeowners to change behavior and plant a tree in their yard and engage residents in pollution detection and stream learning opportunities.
$268,871

Canaan Valley Institute
Coordinating Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture Strategies and Goals (multiple states)
Continue the activities of the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture in the historic range of the species. Project will refine the strategic objectives and key conservation priorities of the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture using the results of the recently completed status assessment of wild brook trout at the catchment scale.
$74,999

Carroll County Government - Bureau of Resource Management
Assessing and Prioritizing Restoration Opportunities in Little Pipe Creek (MD)
Develop a comprehensive watershed assessment and prioritization process evaluating the needs and opportunities for restoration projects to improve the water quality in the Little Pipe Creek sub-watershed in Carroll County. Project will identify and rank high priority areas to be targeted for potential restoration opportunities.
$49,998

Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Farm Stewardship and Regenerative Agriculture Education in the Upper Potomac Watershed (MD)
Implement agricultural conservation practices in the Upper Potomac Watershed. Project will provide “whole farm” technical assistance and financial incentives to farmers, engage volunteers in tree plantings and buffer maintenance and educate consumers about local regenerative agriculture to inform their purchasing decisions.
$379,430

College of William and Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
RecFish: Engaging Recreational Anglers as Community Scientists Using a Mobile App (MD, VA)
Develop a smartphone application, called RecFish, that allows recreational anglers in Maryland and Virginia to automatically identify, measure and log their catch to enhance their fishing experience while contributing data to the RecFish database as community scientists. Project will engage 10 vessels in testing the application along with relevant government entities and supplement existing data collected through fisheries surveys allowing for enhanced analysis.
$323,163

Defensores de la Cuenca
Promoting Watershed Stewardship Through Spanish-Language Stormwater Education (MD)
Create “La Academia de Defensores de la Cuenca” based on existing Watershed Stewards Academy models. Project will pair workshops with hands-on experiences to train primarily Spanish-speaking participants on watershed issues, culminating in the completion of a stormwater project by each participant.
$167,807

Future Harvest
Improving Soil Health and Water Quality through Purposeful Cover Crop Planning and Management (MD)
Demonstrate the agronomic and environmental benefits of purposeful, site specific cover crop planning at the farm scale on 12 collaborating grain farms on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with the goal of catalyzing and accelerating adoption of innovative cover cropping strategies across the region. Project will support 12 row crop farmers in implementing site-specific plans for cover crop planting and measuring agronomic and environmental benefits of the practices over time.
$302,750

Greater Grace World Outreach
Implementing a Green Infrastructure Master Plan for Greater Grace (MD)
Install components of Greater Grace World Outreach’s green infrastructure master plan and plant 100 community trees. Project will install two micro-bioretention areas and one bioretention system as well as remove 7,014 square feet of impervious surface, which will result in the annual treatment of 1.3 acres of impervious surface.
$200,785

Gunpowder Valley Conservancy
Cultivating Stronger Partnerships for Clean Water in the Gunpowder Watershed (MD)
Expand restoration project implementation by working with old and new partners and by engaging businesses in implementing rain gardens or micro-bioretention practices. Project will implement stormwater best management practices, plant native trees and increase community engagement in stormwater restoration in the Gunpowder Watershed.
$364,586

Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake
One Water Partnership: Innovative Network for Scaled Conservation (MD)
Extend engagement of private land-owner congregations to address fragmented non-source pollution issues through implementation and stormwater management, diversify communities and partners engaged and adaptively manage practices and partnerships through a uniquely developed hub benchmarking system. Project will accelerate water quality outcomes across targeted geographies in the Chesapeake Bay through an integrated conservation value chain across private landowners, implementers and funders.
$882,750

Manomet
Managing American Oystercatchers and Minimizing Coastal Engineering Impacts Along the Atlantic Coast (multiple states)
Coordinate the American oystercatcher recovery initiative, implement best management practices for disturbance and predation management along the U.S. Atlantic Coast and Gulf Coast of Florida and develop long-term improvements in coastal engineering protocols to restore habitats critical to focal shorebird species. Project will support the goals of the Atlantic Flyway Business Plan by creating a framework for long-term protection, restoration and creation of shorebird habitat at key sites.
$189,999

National Wildlife Federation
Building Living Islands to Enhance Shoreline Protection (MD)
Use a combination of natural and nature-based features including beach nourishment, dune restoration, cobble headland breakwaters and the creation of five offshore living islands to mitigate impacts at several high-priority sites identified through the Town of Oxford’s Stormwater Management and Shoreline Protection Master Plans. Project will employ an innovative and holistic design approach to address flooding and erosion impacting the Town of Oxford.
$1,436,701

Oyster Recovery Partnership
Integrating Shellfish Industry Reporting into a Comprehensive Electronic Reporting (MD)
Integrate shellfish industry harvest reporting into an existing electronic harvest reporting and monitoring system using established methods and protocols for Maryland already serving more than 900 fishermen in other fisheries. Project will enhance data timeliness, quality and usability of harvest data and will bring the shellfish fleet into the 21st century with a comprehensive business tool.
$226,888

Ridge to Reefs
Implementing a Spring Bioreactor and Creating and Enhancing Wetlands (MD, VA)
Construct a denitrifying bioreactor on a spring in Lacey Springs, Virginia, design a second spring bioreactor on a springhead draining into a tributary of Smith Creek and construct wetlands on a farm in Worton, Maryland. Project will reduce nitrogen and benefit in-stream conditions for brook trout and provide habitat for American black duck.
$246,142

Shorerivers
Engaging the Community to Increase Urban Tree Canopy Coverage in Maryland Watersheds
Implement volunteer-identified and initiated tree-planting projects in the communities of the Sassafras, Chester, Miles-Wye and Choptank River watersheds. Project will partner with an existing Tree Stewards program to plant trees, train volunteers from partnering organizations and committees, conduct outreach, make gains in nutrient pollution mitigation and increase shade on impervious streets and public walkways.
$53,609

Shorerivers
Activating Restoration in Three Underrepresented Communities in the Choptank Watershed (MD)
Engage three underrepresented communities from across Maryland’s Choptank watershed in implementing restoration projects prioritized by each community that will improve water quality, address resource concerns such as stormwater flooding and enhance private lands and shared spaces. Project will build on existing engagement to activate a diverse community of stewards through a power- and resource-sharing implementation model.
$79,886

St. Mary’s River Watershed Association 
Engaging the Community in Oyster Habitat Restoration in St. Mary’s River (MD)
Restore vibrant oyster habitat in prioritized shellfish sanctuary areas of St. Mary’s River. Project will engage partners and volunteers to make habitat structures, improve bottom substrate, grow spat, plant seed and conduct monitoring within targeted areas of the St. Mary’s River Shellfish Sanctuary.
$125,173

The Sixth Branch
Creating a Tree Nursery to Increase Urban Canopy Coverage in the Broadway East Neighborhood (MD)
Build “One Green Acre,” a tree nursery and community hub in the Broadway East neighborhood, which will be the capstone to the Montford Avenue Green Corridor project. Project will create a unique tree farm, nursery, community hub and center for workforce development that will return native-tree production to 
Baltimore City.
$59,374

Trout Unlimited 
Protecting and Restoring Brook Trout Habitat in the Savage River Watershed (MD)
Permanently protect a high-quality riparian corridor and restore riparian buffers, in-stream habitat and aquatic organism passage within the Savage River Watershed eastern brook trout stronghold. Project will increase habitat integrity and reduce sediment and nutrient runoff destined for the Chesapeake Bay while improving productivity for local agricultural producers, enhancing a native fishery and engaging community members and students in a shared vision for watershed health.
$360,124

Washington College
Establishing Native Grass Buffers and Restoring Wetlands in the Lower Shore (MD)
Extend the successful Natural Lands Project to the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. Project will work with landowners to establish native grass buffers and restore wetlands primarily targeting riparian zones of marginal agricultural land on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore.
$400,000