NFWF Announces $23.8 Million in Grants to Support Chesapeake Bay Watershed Restoration Efforts

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 4, 2024) – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) today announced $23.8 million in grant awards to support water quality improvement, habitat restoration and community stewardship efforts in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The 56 grants will leverage $12.8 million in matching contributions to generate a total conservation impact of $36.6 million.

The grants were awarded through the Small Watershed Grants (SWG) program, a key funding mechanism of the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) partnership designed to support projects within the Chesapeake Bay watershed that promote voluntary, community-based efforts to protect and restore the diverse and vital habitats of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary rivers and streams. Major funding for these awards is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with additional support provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Forest Service and Altria Group.

The SWG program is administered under NFWF’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund (CBSF), in partnership with CBP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The CBSF is an ongoing 25-year partnership between NFWF and other federal and private funders that provides grant funding, technical assistance, networking and information sharing programming in support of local, on-the-ground conservation and restoration efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

“Today’s awards further NFWF’s longstanding goals for advancing voluntary habitat and watershed restoration and conservation efforts across all 64,000 square miles of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, from the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia to its headwaters streams and forests across Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “Through strategic investing, and by leveraging local on-the-ground conservation leadership and expertise, we’re demonstrating how efforts to help the Bay can provide real and meaningful value to local communities and stakeholders across the watershed.”

“Investments such as these are paramount to ensuring progress across the Bay and in all sectors,” said EPA Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz. “We are proud to work with our partners and fund these projects to make a difference in the restoration of the Bay watershed.”

Grant awards under the SWG program are an important mechanism to advance collective progress toward the commitments of CBP partners under the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement through direct support for on-the-ground conservation and restoration efforts of nonprofit organizations, local governments and their community partners. The new awards announced today will provide measurable contributions toward more than a dozen key partnership commitments for water quality improvement and healthy watersheds, community stewardship, forest buffers and urban tree canopy, oyster restoration, and restoration of stream and wetland habitats for brook trout, black duck and migratory fish.

Examples of this year’s grant recipients include:

• Trout Unlimited ($1,444,500) will restore brook trout habitat and install conservation practices on private and public lands in the headwaters of the Potomac River in West Virginia and Virginia by restoring 9 miles of riparian forest habitat, installing 7.5 miles of livestock exclusion fencing and reconnecting existing brook trout populations to 12 miles of headwater habitat.
• The Stewardship Network ($1,081,700) will partner with the Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition to accelerate the installation and maintenance of nature-based green infrastructure solutions across Central Maryland by growing the Climate Crew Network (CCN), a network of green workforce training centers employing traditionally underserved residents from historically undeserved communities. The project will result in improved stormwater runoff from 9 acres of urban lands and 2,700 trees planted to enhance water quality, urban wildlife habitat and community climate resilience.
• City of Corning ($712,600) will design and implement green stormwater infrastructure at Denison Park in Corning, New York, including bioretention features and permeable pavement area treating 5 acres of urban land and conversion of nearly 9 acres of turf lawn into sustainable conservation landscaping.
• Nanticoke Watershed Alliance ($567,300) will stabilize and restore a severely eroding shoreline and improve the habitat along the Broad Creek at Janosik Park in Laurel, Delaware, restoring nearly 600 feet of shoreline and reduce annual sediment pollution by more than 60 tons.
• WeConservePA ($360,000) will provide Pennsylvania land trusts with financial assistance to conduct planning work and cover transaction fees in support of conservation easements, ensuring quality legal, title, survey and baseline documentation work crucial for easements to protect water quality and deliver conservation value in perpetuity.
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ($150,000) will assist the Nansemond Indian Nation in planning or enhanced natural and nature-based community resilience. Project will work with the Nansemond Indian Nation, a federally recognized Virginia tribe, in adapting the Resilience Adaptation Feasibility Tool Scorecard and process for their community by developing a community plan that best meet their strengths, weaknesses and current capabilities for enhanced resilience.

A complete list of the 2024 Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants recipients is available here. 

Since 1999, NFWF has awarded more than 1,300 grants through the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, totaling more than $248 million in funding to local, on-the-ground restoration and technical assistance projects, leveraged by more than $351 million in local matching resources. 

For more information about the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund or to download the 2024 Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Slates, visit www.nfwf.org/chesapeake.

About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate, foundation and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 6,800 organizations and generated a total conservation impact of more than $10 billion. NFWF is an equal opportunity provider. Learn more at nfwf.org.

About the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Grants
Every year, EPA awards more than $4 billion in funding for grants and other assistance agreements. From small non-profit organizations to large state governments, EPA works to help many visionary organizations achieve their environmental goals. With countless success stories over the years, EPA grants remain a chief tool to protect human health and the environment.

About the Chesapeake Bay Program
The Chesapeake Bay Program is a regional partnership consisting of federal, state and local governments, academic institutions and non-governmental organizations. Primarily funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Chesapeake Bay Program has set the guidance and policy for restoring the Chesapeake Bay since 1983. Learn more at www.chesapeakebay.net.

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Contact:

Rob Blumenthal, 202-857-0166, rob.blumenthal@nfwf.org