Deadline: 21-Apr-22
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation(NFWF) has announced proposals under the Small Watershed Grants (SWG) program for 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.
Priorities
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Managing Agricultural and Urban Runoff
- Includes efforts to reduce water quality impacts while simultaneously maintaining or increasing profits and farm management benefits of the region’s farms by implementing best management practices that reduce nutrient and sediment pollution at the farm scale.
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Improving Water Quality and Stream Health through Riparian Restoration and Conservation
- Includes efforts to mitigate local stream impairments, improve stream health, and maintain or enhance benthic macro invertebrate populations through establishment of riparian forested buffers (at a minimum standard of 35 feet wide), livestock exclusion fencing (including stream crossings and off-stream watering systems where appropriate), and stream restoration and floodplain reconnection.
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Enhancing Freshwater Habitat
- Includes improving connectivity within and between stronghold eastern brook trout population patches through dam removal, repair and replacement of culverts, and other fish passage improvements. In-stream habitat enhancements not otherwise creditable under the Chesapeake Bay TMDL may also be appropriate where in stream habitat quality, cover, and structure can be identified as limiting factors to viable local populations.
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Protecting and Enhancing Terrestrial Habitat
- Includes efforts to support land conservation, effective land use planning, and forest and grassland protection and management to sustain and enhance the resiliency of state-identified healthy watersheds and protect priority habitat corridors for at-risk pollinator and forest and grassland bird species listed under the Endangered Species Act or prioritized through state natural heritage programs.
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Protecting and Enhancing Tidal and Estuarine Habitat
- Includes restoration of degraded tidal and non-tidal wetland habitats and strategic conservation of existing high-quality wintering and nesting habitats for American black duck, salt marsh sparrow, black rail, and other at-risk species listed under the Endangered Species Act and/or prioritized through state natural heritage programs. To address threats to habitat from sea level rise, The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation(NFWF) will further support strategies that seek to create corridors for future marsh migration through strategic land protection, restoration, and management.
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Enhancing Nature-Based Resilience for Human Communities and Critical Habitats
- Includes efforts to protect and enhance natural and nature-based solutions to help protect coastal and inland communities from the impacts of storms, floods, and other natural hazards and enable them to recover more quickly. Examples in coastal communities include restoration and protection of coastal marshes and wetlands, coastal forests, living shorelines, and oyster reefs.
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Building Capacity for Landscape-Scale Watershed and Habitat Planning, Design, and Implementation
- Includes activities that scale up restoration outcomes through enhanced partnership and coordination across organizations at broader regional and landscape scales. Interested applicants should consider appropriate models and frameworks for their own partnership efforts.
Funding Information
Grants of $75,000-$500,000
Geographic Focus
- Map of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, color-coded to indicate which areas are within Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, or West Virginia.
- All projects must occur wholly within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Priority consideration will be provided to projects located within priority sub watersheds or habitat units based on the unique opportunities to maximize multiple goals and outcomes for water quality, species and habitats, and communities. Specific priority areas have been identified for each of NFWF’s major focus areas for the Small Watershed Grants (SWG) program. Applicants should consult outcome-specific geographic priorities referenced in this Request for Proposals and NFWF’s online Chesapeake Bay Business Plan mapping portal to determine appropriate geographic focus areas for their proposed project activities.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, community-based organizations, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal governments and organizations, and K-12 educational institutions.
- Ineligible applicants include U.S. federal government agencies, state government agencies, and institutions of higher education, businesses, unincorporated individuals, and international organizations.
For more information, visit NFWF.
For more information, visit https://www.nfwf.org/programs/chesapeake-bay-stewardship-fund/small-watershed-grants-2022-request-proposals