$25M Available for Chesapeake Bay Restoration

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is calling local governments and nonprofit organizations to apply for funding to help restore the Chesapeake Bay.

According to the release, the department is seeking to fund community projects aimed at mitigating and reducing nonpoint source pollution caused by excess nutrients and sediment through the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund.

The department plans to allocate and award about $25 million in 2018.

Interested applicants need to submit letters of intent by January 20, 2017, and full proposals by March 31, 2017.

The fund helps the state accelerate bay restoration goals by focusing its limited resources on specifically-designed and -implemented projects, and has directed over $350 million to over 2,000 projects.

To date, it has removed 27,000 tons of nutrient and sediment from entering the Chesapeake Bay, and helped restore over 550 acres of wetlands and 222,000 linear feet of stream while supporting 2,000 jobs.