The Lake Champlain Basin Program has announced they are seeking proposals for projects that improve water quality and ecosystems in the Lake Champlain watershed. The Program anticipates awarding more than $1,900,000 to local organizations, municipalities, and educational institutions.
Current grants will be awarded in the following categories:
1. Clean Water Small Implementation Grants (up to $50,000 per award)
2. Clean Water Large Implementation Grants* ($50,001 to $175,000 per award)
3. Clean Water Planning Grants* (up to $75,000 per award)
4. Healthy Ecosystems: Habitat and Native Species Conservation Small Grants (up to $50,000 per award)
5. Healthy Ecosystems: Habitat and Native Species Conservation Large Grants (up to $50,001 to $175,000 per award)
6. Healthy Ecosystems: Aquatic Invasive Species Spread Prevention and Management Grants (up to $20,000 per award)
7. Healthy Ecosystems: Aquatic Organism Passage Restoration Grants (up to $150,000 per award)
Eligible organizations include colleges, universities, nonprofit organizations, and non-federal/non-state government agencies. For-profit companies may apply to categories 2 and 3 (marked with an asterisk * above). Projects located in the New York, Québec, and Vermont portions of the Lake Champlain Basin are eligible for consideration.
Local organizations play a critical role in implementing projects on the ground to achieve water quality and habitat protection goals. LCBP has awarded more than $17 million to more than 1,500 projects in the Lake Champlain Basin since 1992. Recent projects supported by the local grants program include:
· An ecological inventory and assessment of sensitive wetlands and riparian forests on private land along the Pike River in Québec.
· The establishment of a new boat launch steward program on Monkton Pond in Vermont to reduce movement of aquatic invasive species between water bodies.
· The detection and mapping of brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout in the Ausable River and Atlantic salmon in other New York rivers using environmental DNA sampling.
· The removal of more than 6.5 tons of invasive Eurasian watermilfoil from Follensby Clear Pond in the Upper Saranac Lake watershed in New York.
· The installation of green stormwater infrastructure to reduce runoff at three schools in Franklin County, Vermont.
The grants will support projects that advance the goals of the long-term Lake Champlain management plan Opportunities for Action.
More information, including deadlines, grant guidelines, and applications, are available on the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s website.
Photo of Lake Champlain bridge provided by Erica Remington.
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