The Anne Arundel County Watershed Restoration Grant Program is a partnership between the Trust, the Anne Arundel County Bureau of Watershed Protection and Restoration, and the City of Annapolis.

This award program aims to improve water quality in the County’s local streams and waterways, as called for in the County’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) Permit and County and City of Annapolis’ Storm water Management Inventory and Watershed Improvement Plan, which require reductions in storm flow volume and pollutants entering the County’s waterways.

This grant program now accepts applications for restoration projects located in the City of Annapolis and includes a new Category for the County’s potential acquisition of non-tidal flood prone and/or natural resource rich properties!

The Anne Arundel County Watershed Restoration Grant Program will fund projects to reduce pollutants through the implementation of watershed restoration practices. Projects must accomplish on-the-ground restoration that treats rainwater runoff from impervious surfaces at a cost-effective price or demonstrates the accomplishment of another metric that will help the County and City meet local water quality and runoff reduction improvement goals. 

The Trust is committed to the advancement of diversity and inclusion in its award-making and environmental work. As a result, the Trust strongly encourages applications directly from underrepresented groups, and for projects that increase awareness and participation of communities that are traditionally underrepresented, such as communities of color.

Categories

In this grant program, they have traditionally included two categories of project types: 

• Category 1 projects are small-scale restoration projects and
• Category 2 projects are large-scale restoration projects.

In FY21, they are adding an evaluation track for the County’s potential acquisition of non-tidal flood prone and/or natural resource rich properties whose preservation can assist the County in meeting its environmental regulatory goals and help mitigate flood risk (Category 3 projects).

Funding Information

$15,000 to $300,000. Larger awards are possible with prior approval from the Trust.

Eligible Applicants (Category 1 and 2)

Applications must include at least one partner that represents a stakeholder group based in Anne Arundel County (includes City of Annapolis). Eligible applicants must be certified 501(c) non-profit organizations, such as:

• Local watershed groups
• Community associations and homeowners’ associations
• Service, Youth, and Civic groups
• Faith-based organizations Non-profit organizations are eligible to propose projects on non-profit property, private property, City of Annapolis-owned property, or public school properties, with assurance that the landowner is in support of the project (assurance to be included in the application).

Eligible Applicants (Category 3)

Applications for Category 3 projects can be submitted by private property owners within Anne Arundel County, or by partners, working on behalf of a private property owner, with their written consent. City of Annapolis properties are not eligible for Category 3 projects.

For more information, visit Chesapeake Bay Trust.