Patrick Leahy Lake Champlain Basin Program Seeks Proposals for Community and Watershed Scale Lake Champlain Economic Valuation Studies
Grand Isle, VT – The Patrick Leahy Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) seeks proposals for studies that assess the economic value of Lake Champlain at both the community and watershed scales. The LCBP anticipates awarding approximately $400,000 through two grant opportunities:
- Request for proposals for Lake Champlain Community-level Economic Valuation studies (up to $50,000 per award; the LCBP anticipates awarding up to $200,000 total).
- Request for proposals for Lake Champlain Watershed Economic Assessment: the Value of our Clean Water and Healthy Ecosystems (up to $200,000 available to support one awarded project).
The Lake Champlain Community-level Economic Valuation Studies will provide an economic analysis and public-facing outreach materials for communities connected to the analysis. These projects will demonstrate the economic value of investing in watershed practices at the community level.
The Lake Champlain Watershed Economic Assessment will measure and communicate the economic value that Lake Champlain and the clean water and healthy ecosystems of its watershed provides to the regional economy. The results of this project will provide a credible economic analysis and public facing outreach materials. The results of this valuation will be used in reports and publications by the Lake Champlain Basin Program and partners, including the US EPA. This comprehensive, multisectoral study will update and expand previous economic studies in the region. This study may lead to additional work in this sector.
Dr. Eric Howe, NEIWPCC Program Director of the Lake Champlain Basin Program, said, “Economic valuation studies can describe the benefits of clean water and healthy ecosystems as dollar values, allowing resource managers and decision makers to better understand and act on the economic rationale for protecting our waterways and ecosystems. We anticipate that these studies will be of immense value to our shared efforts to protect and restore the Lake Champlain Basin.”
The awarded grants will support projects that advance the goals of the long-term Lake Champlain management plan Opportunities for Action. These projects are supported by funds awarded to NEIWPCC on behalf of the LCBP by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Proposals are due at noon on January 10, 2025. Awarded projects will begin work in August 2025. More information, including grant guidelines and applications, is available on the Lake Champlain Basin Program’s website at lcbp.org/grants.
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The Patrick Leahy 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, quality management 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/.
