Ten watershed-based partnerships were awarded grants ranging from of $500,000 to $1 million to help improve the quality of local waters and the Chesapeake Bay this week, with four grants going to help restoration efforts in Pennsylvania.

To help support local organizations restoring the Bay, the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Chesapeake Bay Trust provided $7.7 million to help reduce pollution reaching the Bay from agricultural and suburban lands.

Projects include managing nutrient runoff from manure through precision feeding and identifying markets for manure as fertilizer; integrating farm stewardship with ecosystem restoration activities; and implementing various “low-impact development” and “social marketing” approaches to address urban/suburban stormwater in cost-effective ways.

The ten projects will reduce more than nine million pounds of nitrogen and nearly seven million pounds of phosphorous annually to the Bay. The projects reduce pollution from a range of sources and explore market-based incentives to encourage more widespread implementation of pollution-fighting programs.

Here are the grants that benefit Pennsylvania:

Crop Management

· Environmental Defense - Regional Nutrient Use Efficiency in the Lower Susquehanna River Basin. Environmental Defense will work directly with 350 farmers in the Lower Susquehanna River Basin to improve on-farm nutrient use efficiency, including Plain Sect farmers who may be reluctant to participate in government-sponsored programs.

· DEP - Park the Plow for Profit: A Continuous No-Till Transition Program. The Department of Environmental Protection -- in partnership with Penn State Cooperative Extension, USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Capital Area RC&D Council, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council -- will facilitate the conversion of 12,750 acres of cropland to continuous no-till agriculture.

Manure and Poultry Litter Management

· Upper Susquehanna Coalition - Cost Effective Nutrient Reduction in the Upper Susquehanna River Watershed. The Upper Susquehanna Coalition will integrate innovative prescribed grazing with riparian preservation and restoration approaches on agricultural land in the Upper Susquehanna River Watershed.

Urban/Suburban Stormwater Management

· Susquehanna River Basin Commission - Paxton Creek Watershed: Stormwater Management for Pennsylvania Communities. Using the Paxton Creek Watershed as a model, this project will develop a multi-jurisdictional stormwater management structure spanning several municipalities in the greater Harrisburg area. To test the management structure and address water quality impacts, the initiative also will implement five stormwater demonstration projects that are supported by and funded through public-private partnerships.

A copy of the entire announcement is available online.

5/5/2006