The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation is pleased to announce the State Fiscal Year 2017 Request for Proposals (RFP) for Ecosystem Restoration grants. The goals in awarding these grants are to restore and protect rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands from phosphorus and nitrogen pollution caused by runoff and erosion.
Ecosystem Restoration project categories include scoping; planning, feasibility, or design; implementation; and river corridor easements (involving scoping, planning, and implementation). Also, new for this RFP are collaborative partnership grants.
Ecosystem Restoration grants are supported by the capital construction fund and the Clean Water Fund for the 2017 state fiscal year. For capital funds, all projects must be eligible construction projects that target nonpoint sources of pollution. Capital-eligible projects can have only a minor, if any, emphasis on outreach and education, monitoring, and long-term maintenance. The Clean Water Fund provides additional state dollars to prioritize, enhance, and leverage existing resources and maximize opportunities to protect and restore Vermont’s waterways. Clean Water Funds support projects that are not capital eligible, including those with a more significant outreach and education component.
The deadline for submitting proposals is October 25, 2016.
The Request for Proposals is posted at http://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/cwi/grants.