Lake Champlain Basin Program Offers $1,900,000 in Grants for Clean Water and Healthy Ecosystem projects 

Grand Isle, VT – The Lake Champlain Basin Program seeks 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. 

Dr. Eric Howe, Director of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, said, “These ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ grants are critical to clean water and healthy ecosystems in the Lake Champlain Basin. They rely on local knowledge and expertise to achieve the greatest impacts, and they provide benefits to lake users for years to come.” 

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

More information, including deadlines, grant guidelines, and applications, are available on the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s website at lcbp.org/grants. 

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The Lake Champlain Basin Program coordinates and funds efforts that benefit the Lake Champlain Basin’s water quality, fisheries, wetlands, wildlife, recreation, and cultural resources. The program works in partnership with federal agencies, state and provincial agencies from New York, Vermont, and Québec, local communities, businesses, and citizen groups. NEIWPCC—a regional commission that helps the states of the Northeast preserve and advance water quality—serves as the primary program administrator of LCBP at the request of the Lake Champlain Steering Committee and administers the program’s personnel and finances. LCBP is a program partner of NEIWPCC. For further information, contact the Lake Champlain Basin Program, 54 West Shore Road, Grand Isle, VT at (802) 372-3213 / (800) 468-5227 or visit www.lcbp.org.