Grants Aid Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Efforts throughout Bay Watershed - The Chesapeake Bay Program

<body> <div align="center"> <p><strong> <strong>Grants Aid Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Efforts throughout Bay Watershed</strong> <br> </strong><em>Recipient projects include urban stream restoration; continuous no-till farming; and manure and pasture management on small horse farms</em><strong> </strong></p> </div> <p>Eight watershed-based partnerships have received a total of $5 million in restoration funding from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the 2007 Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program. </p> <p>The Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grants will help the eight regional organizations implement innovative programs designed to reduce the amount of <a href="http://www.chesapeakebay.net/nutr1.htm" target="_top">nitrogen, phosphorous</a> and <a href="http://www.chesapeakebay.net/sediment.htm" target="_top">sediment</a> flowing into the Bay. Combined, the eight projects have the potential to reduce more than 1.5 million pounds of nutrients and over 1.1 million pounds of sediment annually to the Bay. </p> <p>This year’s Targeted Watersheds Grant recipients are:</p> <ul> <li> <i>Conestoga Watershed Manure Composting</i> (Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc., $800,000), which will coordinate the removal of 40,000 pounds of nitrogen and 35,000 pounds of phosphorus from entering the Conestoga River by implementing a diversified manure composting system in the watershed. </li> <li> <i>Market-based Approach to Nutrient Reduction</i> (Protected Harvest, $800,000), which will establish a third-party dairy certification program that provides premium pricing to dairy farmers in Lancaster County, Pa., and Shenandoah Valley, Va., who adopt conservation practices that minimize nutrient runoff to the Bay and its tributaries. </li> <li> <i>Stream Fencing Pilot for Reducing Nutrient Loads</i> (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, $800,000), which will reduce nutrient loads in the Shenandoah River basin, including 540,000 pounds of sediment and 120,000 pounds of nitrogen, through an adaptive stream fencing pilot project. </li> <li> <i>Reducing Nutrient Loads from Equine Operations</i> (Maryland Department of Agriculture, $700,000), which will reduce nutrient runoff from small horse farms to the Bay by an estimated 105,701 pounds of nitrogen and 13,978 pounds of phosphorous. </li> <li> <i>Extreme BMP Makeover</i> (Center for Watershed Protection, $605,000), which implement 150 proven, most effective stormwater management practices to reduce nutrient runoff to the James River by an estimated 1,890 pounds of nitrogen and 575 pounds of phosphorus. </li> <li> <i>Watts Branch Watershed Restoration Project </i> (District of Columbia Department of the Environment, $500,000), which will restore 1.75 miles of urban stream and 28 acres of riparian buffer through stream corridor restoration, and three Low Impact Development stormwater control retrofits, to reduce nutrient and sediment loads to the Anacostia River. </li> <li> <i>Innovative Cropping Practices in the Shenandoah River Watershed</i> (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, $400,000), which will demonstrate the potential for continuous no-till practices to be integrated with other innovative cropping practices to maximize reductions in nutrient runoff to the Shenandoah River. </li> <li> <i>Meeting Regional Goals through Local Benefits</i> (The Conservation Fund, $400,000), which will reduce an estimated 300 tons of sediment, 15,000 pounds of nitrogen and 1,900 pounds of phosphorous entering Rockymarsh Run—a tributary of the Potomac River—by working with private land owners to restore and protect riparian buffers, implement Low Impact Development practices on newly developed land, and pump out and maintain failing septic systems. </li> </ul> <p>Applications for the Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program are reviewed by a steering committee convened by NFWF, and awardees are selected based on criteria established jointly by the Foundation and steering committee which include innovation, sustainability and cost-effectiveness. </p> <p>Primary funding for the grant program is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through its national Targeted Watersheds Grants Program, and the Chesapeake Bay Program.</p> </body>