Watershed Restoration Grant Program
About the program: The Anne Arundel County Watershed Restoration Grant Program is a partnership between the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Anne Arundel County Bureau of Watershed Protection and Restoration, and the City of Annapolis. The Trust is acting as the administrator for this award program which is funded entirely through the Anne Arundel County Watershed Protection and Restoration Fund and the Watershed Restoration Fund from the City of Annapolis.
The Anne Arundel County Watershed Restoration Grant Program will fund projects to reduce pollutants through the implementation of watershed restoration practices. This award program aims to improve water quality in the County’s local streams and waterways, as called for in the County’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit and County and City of Annapolis’ Stormwater Management Inventory and Watershed Improvement Plan, which require reductions in storm flow volume and pollutants entering the County’s waterways.
Projects must accomplish on-the-ground restoration that treats rainwater runoff from impervious surfaces at a cost-effective price or demonstrates the accomplishment of another metric that will help the County and City meet local water quality and runoff reduction improvement goals. Applications under this award program that demonstrate sound design and cost efficiency in meeting this goal will be most competitive. To demonstrate this, applicants will be required to provide sound technical designs and project budgets as outlined in this application package.
What this funds: In this grant program, we have traditionally included two categories of project types:
Category 1 projects are small-scale restoration projects that have a disturbance footprint less than 5,000 square feet or disturb less than 100 cubic yards of earth.
Category 2 projects are large-scale restoration projects that have a disturbance footprint greater than 5,000 square feet or disturb more than 100 cubic yards of earth.
Eligible Applicants:
Applications must include at least one partner that represents a stakeholder group based in Anne Arundel County (includes City of Annapolis). Eligible applicants must be a certified 501(c) non-profit organizations, such as:
- Local watershed groups
- Community associations and homeowners’ associations
- Service, Youth, and Civic groups
- Faith-based organizations
Non-profit organizations are eligible to propose projects on non-profit property, private property, City of Annapolis-owned property, or public school properties, with assurance that the landowner is in support of the project (assurance to be included in the application).
How much can be awarded: The funding partners anticipate a total of $1,000,000 available for awards in Anne Arundel County and $300,000 available for awards in the City of Annapolis. Funding requests will generally not exceed $300,000. For requests larger than $300,000, contact the Trust’s Senior Program Officer, Sarah T. Koser at (410) 974-2941 ext. 106 or [email protected] for prior approval.
Restoration implementation project location: Project must be located in Anne Arundel County (includes the City of Annapolis for Category 1 or Category 2 projects.) Click here for guidelines for selecting an appropriate project site.
Is a match required? Matching/leveraged resources are not required but are viewed favorably. Indicate whether each match entry is applied for, pledged, or in-hand. Any resources that have been put into the project already during the design and permitting phases, including awards previously received, can be counted as match.
Deadline: March 17, 2022 at 4pm EST
*All applicants must contact the Trust to arrange a site visit between Trust and funding partner staff before applying for funding. The deadline for pre-application site visit scheduling is Tuesday, December 31, 2021; site visits must be held by February 28, 2021.
What is NEW this year? There is a new Best Management Practices (BMP) Calculator available for applicants! Nutrient and sediment loads reduced by your project can be estimated using the new BMP Credit Calculator!
For more information and this year's Request For Proposals (RFP), visit the application page on the Chesapeake Bay Trust website.
Crediting Protocols and Data Requirements for Restoration Projects
