Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants Program

The Chesapeake Bay Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants Program awards grants of $200,000 to $1 million on a competitive basis to support innovative, sustainable and cost-effective approaches for dramatically reducing excess nutrient and sediment loads to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant projects reflect the diverse landscapes and nutrient sources that exist throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Priorities for funding include:

• Demonstrations of stormwater management strategies that approach or achieve no runoff. Projects should assess the cost-effectiveness of the approach for reducing nutrient and sediment loading to the Chesapeake Bay, as well as feasibility of widescale adoption.
• Demonstrations that dramatically reduce or eliminated nutrient and/or sediment runoff through the implementation of strategic combinations of agricultural conservation practices at a whole farm or small watershed scale.
• Demonstrations that use social marketing strategies and incentives to motivate changes in human behaviors to stop actions that generate nutrient and sediment pollution and accelerate adoption of behaviors that reduce nutrient and sediment pollution.
• Demonstrations of market-based tools and approaches that provide economic incentives for farmers, developers, local governments, businesses and homeowners to accelerate reductions of nutrient and sediment runoff.
• Demonstrations of practical, low-cost tools and procedures for on-site verification of water quality offsets/credits and other tradable ecosystem service credits.
• Projects that target implementation in watersheds or regions with the highest nutrient and sediment loadings to the Chesapeake Bay.

The Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grant Program is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in cooperation with the U.S. EPA Chesapeake Bay Program.