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NFWF Announces $13.1 Million In Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund Grants, Including PA

On December 3, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced more than $13.1 million in grants to support the restoration and conservation of the Chesapeake Bay watershed in six U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

The 49 grants will generate nearly $21.9 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of nearly $35 million.

Pennsylvania will benefit from $1.9 million in grants for in-state projects and from another $2 million in grants for regional projects that include the Commonwealth.

This year’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund grant recipients in Pennsylvania are:

-- Turkey Hill Clean Water Partnership: Building A Market-Driven Model For Conservation Action, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay ($1 million): Build on existing partnership with Turkey Hill Dairy and the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association to accelerate conservation planning and practice implementation. Project will provide farmers with technical and financial assistance necessary to meet Turkey Hill commitments for sustainable milk production.

-- Engaging The Plain Sect Community & Market For Clean Water, Lancaster Farmland Trust ($198,463): Increase adoption of farm conservation practices through engaging Plain Sect community leaders, creating learning farms to provide peer-to-peer understanding

and enthusiasm for conservation, and implementing best management practices on farms. Project will engage market demand for sustainability via dairy supply chain players under increasing pressure from consumers to address sustainability and create replicable model that can scale more broadly across the watershed.

-- Lakemont Park Green Infrastructure & Urban Runoff Management, Blair County Conservation District ($195,000): Construct green infrastructure in Lakemont Park, including three rain gardens, a vegetated permeable pavement lot, a rainwater harvesting system for stormwater reuse, and a riparian buffer. Project will manage upland urban runoff and will become part of the maintenance program for the park/recreational area. The project also provides opportunity for education and examples for additional community green infrastructure redevelopment.

-- Increasing Rotational Grazing & Crop Cover Practices Through Farmer & Community Engagement, Capital Resource Conservation and Development Area Council, Inc. ($194,431): Support the adoption of cover crop grazing and other rotational grazing practices both on four study farms and an additional 6 to 10 farms, transitioning land to rotational grazing. Project will result in 200 acres of best management practices and innovation in rotational grazing.

-- Fish Passage Improvement & Culvert Replacement In The Upper Sinnemahoning Creek Watershed, Western PA Conservancy ($136,466): Replace four culverts at priority locations for native brook trout populations in the upper Sinnemahoning Creek watershed. Project will result in 4 miles of stream opened to fish passage and restored.

-- Unassessed Waters Initiative, Western PA Conservancy ($50,000): Conduct 1,000 fish surveys on previously unassessed streams, coordinating priorities, data collection, and data management. Project will provide data on previously unassessed streams in order to ensure proper stream classification, which is vital to successfully protecting Pennsylvania's water resources.

-- Train The Trainer: Increasing Efficiency Of Agricultural Outreach, National Wildlife Federation ($49,750): Host a webinar series and six messaging and communications training events for agricultural outreach professionals within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in Pennsylvania. Project will increase the efficiency of agricultural outreach professionals by providing the tools and cultural frameworks needed to influence farmers to use water quality best management practices.

-- Continuing Momentum To Reduce Stormwater Pollution In The Oxford Region, University Of Maryland Environmental Finance Center ($49,950): Support the Oxford Regional Planning Committee in their efforts to address stormwater pollution in both the regulated and unregulated parts of municipalities. Project will develop a partner structure for program delivery and will translate pollution reduction goals to the local level while providing a sustainable financing strategy to support initiation and continued implementation of programming throughout the watershed.

-- Identifying & Designing Restoration In Tier II Eastern Brook Trout Patches, Tioga County Conservation District ($37,640): Identify, prioritize, design and permit habitat restoration projects within two Tier II eastern brook trout patches, the Tioga River and Babb Creek. Project will enhance the ability of the Tioga County Conservation District to implement effective priority habitat restoration and sediment reduction projects, motivate individuals and local governments to implement projects, and increase benefits to water quality and eastern brook trout habitat.

Regional Grants Also Benefiting Pennsylvania

-- One Water Partnership, Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake ($1 million): to scale up the engagement of the faith community in watershed restoration efforts in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Project will engage nonprofits, local governments, citizen stewardship groups, and faith-based institutions to enable 36 congregations to install green infrastructure with measurable impacts on local water quality.

-- Mountains To Bay Grazing Alliance: A Collaborative To Increase Rotational Grazing, Chesapeake Bay Foundation ($850,350): Expand and strengthen a network of private and public partners to promote the adoption of rotational grazing systems that enhance soil health, protect and improve water quality, and contribute to farm economic viability. Project will include on-farm demonstrations, peer-to-peer dialog, establishment of local grazing groups, and development of outreach materials that highlight the economic and soil health benefits of grazing.

-- Soil Health Conservation, Engagement And Technical Assistance, Stroud Water Research Center ($199,976): Partner with Cover Crop Coaching to increase access to technical expertise on soil health and increase adoption rates. Project will enable Cover Crop Coaching to direct farmer meetings, host train-the-trainer events, and increase outreach to landowners renting cropland to tenant farmers. Project will help address the shortfall of technical expertise on soil health, and will increase adoption rates of cover crops and no-till.

The complete list of grants is available online.

The grants were awarded through the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, a partnership between NFWF and the EPA’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants Program and Small Watershed Grants Program.

Additional support is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Altria Group Restoring America’s Resources partnership and CSX.

Grant recipients were announced at the Cork Factory Hotel in downtown Lancaster in conjunction with the NFWF–hosted, biennial Chesapeake Ag Forum, a conference that brings together the best practitioners and partners advancing agricultural conservation practices across the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania plays a significant role in the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed,” said U.S. Senator Bob Casey. “But more importantly, actions taken in Pennsylvania to improve the Bay begin with efforts to restore clean water to the Conestoga, the Susquehanna, and the thousands of miles of rivers and streams right here in the Commonwealth. Financial resources, beginning with our Federal agency partners like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are critical to these ongoing collaborative local efforts.”

The projects supported by the 49 grants announced will support methods to improve waterways, restore habitat and strengthen iconic species in Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

The funds will engage farmers and agricultural producers, homeowners, churches, businesses and municipalities in on-the-ground restoration that supports quality of life in their communities, improving local waterways and, ultimately, the health of the Bay.

“EPA is pleased to support innovative and sustainable approaches to improving the health of our rivers and streams,” said EPA Regional Administrator Cosmo Servidio. “These investments in partnerships with states and local organizations encourage community stewardship of resources that will help preserve and enhance healthy waterways throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.”

The INSR Program awarded more than $7.3 million to eight projects, with recipients providing more than $10.4 million in match. The program provides grants to accelerate the implementation of water quality improvements specifically through the collaborative and coordinated efforts of sustainable, regional-scale partnerships with a shared focus on water quality restoration and protection in local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay.

“The grants announced today will empower communities and businesses throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed to become better stewards of natural resources,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “In many cases, these grants fund voluntary efforts to decrease sedimentation and runoff from farms and businesses, which boosts water quality throughout the 64,000-square-mile watershed and advances long-running efforts to improve the overall health of the Chesapeake Bay.”

The SWG Program awarded more than $5.7 million to 41 projects, with recipients providing nearly $11.4 million in match.

The program provides grants to organizations and municipal governments that are working to improve the condition of their local watershed through on-the-ground restoration, habitat conservation and community involvement.

Grant recipients expect to reduce pollution through infrastructures including greener landscapes and community outreach initiatives that promote native landscaping and improved practices for managing runoff.

Since 2006, the INSR Program has provided more than $84.7 million to 176 projects that reduce the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Since 1999, the SWG Program has provided more than $57 million to support 845 projects in the region to protect and restore the natural resources of the Bay watershed.

For more information about the program, visit the NFWF Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund webpage.

To learn more about how Pennsylvania plans to meet Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction requirements, visit DEP’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan webpage.

NewsClips:

CBF-PA: Farm Conservation Plans Are Important, But Farmers Struggle To Implement Those Plans

Lancaster Farming: Can PA Meet Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Goals?

Bay Journal: Multifunction Stream Buffers Offer Food For Thought For PA Farms

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Receives NFWF Grant To Expand Rotational Grazing

Crable: New Round Of Inspections Show Two-Thirds Of Chesapeake Bay Watershed Farmers Have Runoff Plans

Thompson: Project To Limit Harmful Run-Off From Turkey Hill Supplier Farms Gets Boost

Crable: Farmers, Groups, Turkey Hill To Get $6.5M In Water Quality Funding

Stream Buffer Project Completed In Blair County By Trout Unlimited, Conservation District Volunteers

Lancaster Farming: Stream Buffers Make Financial Sense

Alliance For The Chesapeake Bay, Partners Plant 14.81 Acres Of Forest Buffer In PA

DEP Blog: Healthy Waters, Healthy Communities: Lancaster County’s Watershed Planning