Deadline: 22-Nov-23
The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking applications through its Wetland Program Development Grants to develop or refine state, tribal, territory, or local government wetland programs for wetlands protection and management.
Wetland Program Development Grants (WPDGs) assist state, tribal, territory (Insular Areas), local government agencies, and interstate or intertribal entities in developing or refining state, tribal, territory, or local programs which protect, manage, and restore wetlands. The primary focus of these grants is to develop/refine state, tribal, and territory wetland programs. A secondary focus is to develop/refine local (e.g., county or municipal) programs.
Program Objectives
- For developing and/or refining wetland protection and management programs, EPA seeks to build wetlands programs to incorporate climate change and environmental justice considerations.
Core Elements
- Monitoring and assessment.
- Voluntary restoration and protection.
- Regulatory approaches including Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 certification.
- Wetland-specific water quality standards.
Funding Information
- EPA anticipates approximately $2,722,000 in federal funding to be available for assistance agreements under this announcement to fund approximately 10 to 20 awards depending on funding availability and other applicable considerations. Awards for the selected projects will likely range from $50,000 to $250,000 in federal funding.
- EPA will fund a maximum of 75 percent of the total project cost.
- Under this announcement, EPA will have two separate applicant tracks with state, tribal, and territory governments in Track One: WPP or Track Two: Non-WPP, and local governments, interstate agencies, intertribal consortia, and colleges and universities that are agencies of a state government in Track Two: Non-WPP.
- EPA anticipates awarding approximately $2,041,500 in federal funds under Track One: WPP and approximately $680,500 in federal funds under Track Two: Non-WPP. It is anticipated that approximately 6 to 13 awards will be made under Track One: WPP and approximately 4 to 7 awards will be made under Track Two: Non-WPP with the expectation of funding more projects from Track 1 than Track 2.
- It is anticipated that the assistance agreements awarded under this announcement will have two-year project periods but no more than four, with a project period starting no sooner than February 1, 2024. The project period for assistance agreements under this announcement should be no more than four years.
- Awards may be fully or incrementally funded, as appropriate, based on funding availability, satisfactory performance, and other applicable considerations.
- In appropriate circumstances, EPA reserves the right to partially fund applications by funding discrete portions or phases of proposed projects. If EPA decides to partially fund an application, it will do so in a manner that does not prejudice any applicants or affect the basis upon which the application, or portion(s) thereof, was/were evaluated and selected for award and, therefore, maintains the integrity of the competition and selection process.
- EPA reserves the right to increase or decrease (including to zero) the total number of awards and dollar amounts for each track or change the ratio of Track One: WPP to Track Two: Non-WPP assistance agreements it awards. Such changes may be necessary as a response to the quality of applications received by EPA, the amount of funds awarded to the selected applicants, or budget availability.
- EPA reserves the right to make no awards under this announcement or make fewer awards than anticipated. In addition, EPA reserves the right to make additional awards under this announcement, consistent with Agency policy and guidance, if additional funding becomes available after the selections are made. Any additional selections for awards will be made no later than six months after the original selection decisions.
Expected Outcomes
- Increased quantity of wetlands.
- Increased quality of wetlands.
- Improved wetland protection efforts.
- Increased stakeholder and decisionmaker’s understanding of a wetland’s condition for a variety of uses/functions, including traditional and cultural uses.
- Increased stakeholder and decisionmaker’s understanding of wetland ecologic condition and/or function at population scales (i.e., state, territorial, tribal, or regional).
- Increased stakeholder and decisionmaker’s understanding of the impacts of increased flooding/drought and/or climate resilience on wetlands, especially on traditional and cultural uses.
- Improved wetland inventories and baseline condition assessments to address hazard mitigation/flood/drought effects and climate adaptation.
- Improved data to use in modeling potential hydrologic change, ecosystem/biogeographic shifts, wetland losses, or wetland increases on the landscape that can be used to inform stakeholders and decisionmakers.
- Increased stakeholder and decisionmaker’s understanding of how to develop a state, territorial, or tribal regulatory program.
- Increased stakeholder and decisionmaker’s knowledge through training and outreach for state, tribal, or territory wetland staff, the public, at-risk communities, and/or other partners.
- Improved baseline information on wetland extent, condition, and performance to inform state, tribal, and territory regulatory programs.
- Increased stakeholder and decisionmaker’s understanding of the ecological success of compensatory mitigation and use to inform stakeholders and decisionmakers.
Expected Outputs
- Development of a state, tribal, or territory Wetland Program Plan (WPP)
- Development of training materials and tools to help state, tribal, territory, or local government decisionmakers integrate wetland protection and restoration into integrated watershed planning, especially regarding environmental justice /hazard mitigation/flood/drought planning and climate change and resiliency. The project can incorporate Traditional Ecological Knowledge (Voluntary Restoration/Protection and/or Regulatory Core Elements).
- Development of wetland maps directly or by supporting wetland mapping coalitions that may also incorporate traditionally important and sacred species identification in the wetland types (All Core Elements).
- Development of strategies that take into account hazard mitigation/flood/drought planning, climate change and resiliency, and environmental justice into wetland restoration and protection (Voluntary Restoration and Protection Core Element, Regulatory Core Element).
- Development of a report on the ambient condition of wetland resources at a state, tribal, territory, or population scale and may include traditionally important and sacred species, sites, etc. (Monitoring and Assessment Core Element).
- Development of a permit program to discharge dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, state, or tribe, including the assumption of the CWA Section 404 permitting program (Regulatory Core Element).
- Development of strategies to integrate goals of wetland protection and restoration programs or activities into water reuse planning (Voluntary Restoration/Protection and/or Regulatory Core Elements).
- Development of methods or strategies to incorporate wetland water quality standards into EPA approved state, tribal, or territory water quality standards and may include traditional and culture uses (Wetland-specific Water Quality Standard Core Element).
- Development of methods and studies to address at-risk or vulnerable wetland ecosystems, aquatic resources, and wetland-dependent priority species due to hazard mitigation/flooding/drought impacts and climate resilience into wetland protection and watershed planning (Monitoring and Assessment Core Element).
- Development of education and outreach materials for wetland staff, the public, and other sectors (All of the Core Elements).
- Development of tools or procedures, or studies and programs, to evaluate the ecological performance of compensatory mitigation projects (e.g., mitigation banks, in-lieu fee projects, and permittee-responsible mitigation) and incorporate the results/findings/lessons learned into future compensatory mitigation project decision-making to help determine mitigation program success (Regulatory Core Element).
Eligibility Criteria
- States, territories (Insular Areas), tribes, local government agencies, colleges and universities that are agencies of a state, interstate agencies, and intertribal consortia are eligible to apply for WPDGs under this announcement. Tribes must be federally-recognized, although “Treatment as a State” status is not required. There will be two separate applicant tracks with states, territories, and tribes in Track One: WPP or Track Two: Non-WPP, and local governments, interstate agencies, intertribal consortia, and colleges and universities that are agencies of a state government in Track Two: Non-WPP
For more information, visit Grants.gov.