Thirty-two environmental restoration and protection projects from across the Chesapeake Bay watershed have been awarded more than $2.8 million in grants from the Chesapeake Bay Program and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help clean up local streams, creeks and rivers that flow to the Bay. $600,000 was awarded to five projects in Pennsylvania.

The funding was awarded through the Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program, which provides grants to nonprofit organizations and local governments working to improve the condition of their local watershed.

The 2009 Small Watershed Grant recipients will develop conservation plans, preserve valuable natural lands and implement on-the-ground restoration practices throughout the Bay's six-state watershed.

The Pennsylvania projects include:

The ClearWater Conservancy of Central Pennsylvania, Inc. will restore impaired and degraded stream reaches and riparian habitats within the Spring, Spruce, and Little Fishing Creek watersheds in Centre, Huntingdon and Clinton counties as recommended by multiple planning efforts. Proposed program activities include development of Forest Stewardship Plans on riparian properties, further development of the ¨DGrowing Native¡¬ initiative to increase our capacity to grow native plant material, further the development of an invasive species removal program. $125,000

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc. and its partners will facilitate landowner enrollment in existing state and Federal conservation cost-share programs focusing our efforts on the most cost-effective practices in the predominantly agricultural watersheds of the Upper Potomac Basin. $100,000

The Pocono Northeast RC&D Council will work with landowners in Columbia and Montour counties to implement the following: installing riparian buffers, enhancing or restoring wetlands, livestock fencing, establishing stabilized livestock laneways, installing watering systems, and improving pasture systems. $150,000

The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay will guide the constuction of three highly visible stormwater retrofit projects on two schools and a church in the Cedar Run Watershed. The design of these retrofits will incorporate the theory of Artful Rainwater Design which treats stormwater as an amenity to enhance the landscape and engage the public instead of treating as a nuisance. $150,000

GreenTreks Network received a $75,000 grant to implement the "Reign in the Rain" social marketing campaign in the Cedar Run and Paxton Creek watersheds in Cumberland County. The campaign will use videos to promote practices that reduce polluted runoff to these local waterways and the Susquehanna River.

A complete list of projects is available on the Small Watershed Grant webpage.