LCBP Offers $240,000 in Grants for Organizational Support and Education and Outreach Projects

The Lake Champlain Basin Program seeks proposals for projects that support local watershed groups and provide opportunities for informing and involving the public in Lake Champlain outreach initiatives in the Lake Champlain watershed. The Program anticipates awarding up to $240,000 to local organizations, municipalities, and educational institutions.

Current grants will be awarded in the following categories:

  • Organizational Support – small grants (up to $4,000 per award)
  • Education and Outreach Implementation grants (up to $15,000 per award)

Eligible organizations include colleges, universities, schools, nonprofit organizations including watershed groups, and non-federal/non-state government agencies. 

Eric Howe, LCBP Director, said, “Our Congressional delegation has been very responsive to the actions needed to improve the Lake Champlain watershed and specifically in assisting the LCBP with providing support to the boots on the ground organizations. These groups find new partners every day to implement projects in neighborhoods, municipalities, on farms, along rivers, and even in higher elevation forested areas.” 

Since 1992, LCBP has awarded more than $17 million dollars to more than 1,500 projects in New York, Vermont, and Québec. Local organizations play a critical role in implementing projects on the ground to achieve water quality and habitat protection goals. Recent projects supported by the Education and Outreach and Organizational Support local grant program include:

  • Zoological Society of Granby, A “Spiny” Project: An Outreach and Stewardship Program using the Spiny Softshell Turtle as an Ambassador of Lake Champlain
  • BluSeed Studio, Multi-Cultural Interpretations on how Pollution Impacts the Lake Champlain Watershed
  • Northern Forest Canoe Trail, Hands-on Stewardship Projects for Students and Volunteers Along the Winooski, Mad, and Saranac Rivers
  • Franklin County SWCD, Forestry Best Management Practice Education and Implementation
  • Lake George Association, Science From Your Sofa

Education and outreach grants and organizational support grants help the LCBP achieve our goals of Opportunities for Action. This year LCBP anticipates awarding nearly $500,000 by May 2022 in these categories, with an additional outreach RFP to be issued in the next few weeks. LCBP looks forward to working with community partners to implement targeted outreach campaigns about many watershed concerns and provide small grants to build organizational capacity.

Projects located in the New York, Québec, and Vermont portions of the Lake Champlain basin will be eligible for consideration in this grant opportunity. Grant guidelines, applications, and electronic application submission links for each category can be found on the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s website at lcbp.org/grants.

The grants will support projects that advance the goals of the long-term Lake Champlain management plan Opportunities for Action (plan.lcbp.org). These projects are supported by funds awarded to NEIWPCC on behalf of the LCBP by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

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