Lake Champlain Basin Program Offers $5.5 million in Grants for Clean Water and Healthy Ecosystem Projects
Grand Isle, VT – The Patrick Leahy Lake Champlain Basin Program seeks proposals for projects that improve water quality and ecosystems in the Lake Champlain watershed. The Program anticipates awarding approximately $5,500,000 to local organizations, municipalities, and educational institutions.
Proposals may be submitted to address the following categories:
- Clean Water: Small Implementation Grants (up to $50,000 per award)
- Clean Water: Large Implementation Grants* ($50,001 to $200,000 per award)
- Clean Water: Planning Grants* (up to $100,000 per award)
- Healthy Ecosystems: Habitat and Native Species Conservation Small Grants (up to $50,000 per award)
- Healthy Ecosystems: Habitat and Native Species Conservation Large Grants ($50,001 to $175,000 per award)
- Healthy Ecosystems: Aquatic Invasive Species Spread Prevention and Management Grants (up to $25,000 per award)
- Healthy Ecosystems: Infrastructure for Aquatic Invasive Species Spread Prevention and Management Grants (up to $200,000 per award) (Awards in this category will be supported with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds)
- Healthy Ecosystems: Aquatic Organism Passage Restoration Grants (up to $300,000 per award) (Awards in this category will be supported with Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds)
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 U.S. and Québec portions of the Lake Champlain Basin are eligible for consideration for categories 1-6. Categories 7 and 8 are open to U.S. applicants and projects only.
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 local grants program include:
- The removal of multiple dams along the Saranac River in New York, resulting in 27 miles of reconnected habitat.
- An assessment of the bi-national Rock River to identify opportunities to reduce erosion and phosphorus loading to Missisquoi Bay.
- Identification and elimination of illicit discharge points in Plattsburgh, New York’s stormwater system.
- Identification and prioritization of conservation and restoration projects in Vermont’s Lamoille River basin.
Dr. Eric Howe, NEIWPCC Program Director of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, said, “The projects supported by these 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. Categories 7 & 8 are supported with funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
More information, including deadlines, grant guidelines, and applications, are available on the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s website at lcbp.org/grants.
-end-
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, finances, and contracts. NEIWPCC is a program partner of LCBP. 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 https://www.lcbp.org/.
