Maryland Sea Grant Publishes New Directory of Watershed Restoration Assistance

Photograph by Jack Greer.

Are you a citizen or an organization looking for grants or technical assistance for projects to restore Maryland’s watersheds? Sea Grant Extension has created a new reference guide to help.

The Maryland Watershed Restoration Assistance Directory offers one-stop shopping for anyone interested in finding funds or technical assistance to implement projects that restore Maryland's streams, shorelines, habitats, and watersheds. Entries are in alphabetical order by topic and include information on the purpose of the grant, funding type and range, eligibility requirements, and a link to the program website.

The directory was created by Maryland Sea Grant Extension’s Watershed Restoration Specialists with help from intern Virginia Vassalotti and in cooperation with many of the organizations displayed in the directory.

“When we began the Watershed Protection and Restoration Program we noticed that there was no central location for all of the grant opportunities out there,” said Jen Dindinger, watershed specialist for the lower Eastern Shore. “Many of our clients were looking for help on similar projects, so we thought this would be a useful tool to create.”

Besides helping to develop this tool, Sea Grant’s five regional watershed specialists act as liaisons among local governments, watershed groups, community organizations, funding sources, and technical service providers. Together they work to carry out restoration projects that produce measurable improvements in water quality. The projects help communities reach their Two-Year Milestone and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) goals for reducing nutrients and sediments flowing into the Chesapeake Bay in coming years, as required by the multi-year, government-mandated clean-up effort. Learn more about the TMDL process in "Cleaning up the Bay: Big Science, Big Plan," an article in a recent issue of our magazine, Chesapeake Quarterly.

Find the agent in your region of Maryland.