The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced the availability of over $5 million in grant funding through the Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program for projects that reduce nutrient runoff to the Bay and its tributaries.

Pre-proposal applications are due November 17. It is anticipated that awards will be announced in late April of 2007.

Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to participate in a free half-day workshop on October 16, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C. Interested parties are invited to participate in person or via webcast.

In this second year of the program, the foundation will award over $5 million to support projects that expand the collective knowledge on the most innovative, sustainable and cost-effective strategies - including market-based approaches - for reducing excess nutrient loads within specific tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay.

The program is funded through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Targeted Watersheds Grants Program, and is administered by the Foundation in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Program.

The program will award grants ranging from $400,000 to $1 million on a competitive basis to projects that target and reflect the diverse conditions (e.g., urban, rural, suburban) and sources of nutrients (e.g., agricultural, stormwater, other non-point sources) existing throughout the Chesapeake watershed.

Priorities for funding include:

· Field-scale demonstrations of innovative technologies, conservation practices and Best Management Practices with potential to significantly reduce excess nutrient loads;

· Demonstrations, within targeted small watersheds, of the most effective and efficient strategies for implementing nutrient load reductions contained in state Tributary Strategies;

· Water quality trading demonstrations (including point source to non-point source) and other market-based strategies to reduce nutrient loads to the Bay and its tributaries; and

· Demonstrations of strategies that overcome barriers to adoption of the most effective and efficient BMPs and conservation practices for reducing excess nutrient loads.

Nonprofit organizations, universities, local or state governments are eligible for the program.

For more information, visit the Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program webpage.

9/29/2006