The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program partnership, will give more than $33 million to over 100 community-based projects that work to protect and restore the Bay and its nearby rivers and streams.
Maryland leaders, including the Mayor of Annapolis Gavin Buckley and Sen. Van Hollen, were in attendance during the announcement Friday morning.
Funding from the program came from additional grants provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation said in a news release. The grants are awarded through the 2022 Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction and Small Watershed Grants program --- part of NFWF’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.
"The Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund is dedicated to protecting and restoring the Bay by helping local communities clean up and restore their polluted rivers and streams. The fund also advances cost-effective and creative solutions with financial and technical assistance to local communities, farmers, and private landowners. NFWF manages the Stewardship Fund in partnership with government agencies and private corporations, and in close coordination with the federal-state Chesapeake Bay Program partnership. Major funding for the program comes from the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office, with other important contributions by the Altria Group, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," a news release from NFWF stated.
In July, Gov. Larry Hogan and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced the award of $18.8 million to 22 ecological restoration projects, that will build local resilience for climate impacts in the Chesapeake Bay today.
The awards were geared towards 77 unique sites for restoration by riparian buffer and reforestation plantings, stream restoration, stormwater management, and wetland creation, the governor's office stated.
Hogan and his administration said in July that they will make record investments in Chesapeake Bay restoration and fully funding the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund.