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EPA GIVES VIRGINIA $387,204 TO PROTECT WETLANDS

Release Date: 10/19/1998
Contact Information: Bonnie Lomax (215) 814-5542

PHILADELPHIA  - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it has awarded four grants amounting to $387,204 to Virginia for wetland protection.  These funds are part of a package of 13 wetland protection grants totaling $1,274,000 awarded to tate and local governments in the mid-Atlantic region.

Wetlands is the collective term for marshes, swamps, bogs and similar areas that develop between open water and dry land.  These areas, found in every state in the nation, help improve water quality; reduce flood and storm damage; and provide important fish and wildlife habitat.

A critical goal in Vice President Gore’s Clean Water Action Plan is to continue to slow the rate of wetlands lost nationwide and, by the year 2005, restore at least 100,000 acres of wetlands each year.  The Wetland Grant Program will help reach this goal in the region by giving states and local governments money to develop or improve their wetlands protection programs.  

Wetlands grants are awarded through a competitive process.  Nationally, $15,000,000 was appropriated in 1998.  Applications for 1999 are due by December 15, 1998.  For more information contact Alva Brunner, the regional grants coordinator at 215-814-2715.    


REGIONAL WETLANDS GRANT RECIPIENTS

Virginia
 
Virginia Institute of Marine Science - $71,542:  Develop guidelines to generate shoreline erosion reports.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science - $78,952:   Provide internet access to Virginia wetland resource management.    

Virginia Institute of Marine Science - $36,417: Guiding local wetlands boards in investigating wetlands violations.  

Virginia Institute of Marine Science - $200,293:  Develop hydrogeomorphic models for wetlands management in Virginia.  The concept, developed by Dr. Mark Grinston of East Carolina University, entails a new approach for classifying and assessing wetlands by focusing on hydrology  - the central driving force in wetland dynamics.  The approach aims to understand how water acts as it passes through a watershed and what ecological functions are served in watershed wetlands as the water enters, interacts with and exits the wetland.

Pennsylvania
   
Durham Township and Reigelsville Borough - $40,170:  Durham Township and Reigelsville Borough joint wetland conservation plan.  

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources - $152,084:   Classification, assessment and protection of forested floodplain wetlands of the Susquehanna
drainage basin.  


Delaware    

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control - $90,000:   Delaware wetland restoration/enhancement, demonstration and public outreach project.  

New Castle Conservation District - $152,288:  Develop corporation participation and outreach programs for protection of wetlands and wildlife habitat.


Maryland

Maryland Department of Transportation - $151,000:   Develop data showing hydraulic stream characteristics for the Maryland mountain and western coastal plain provinces.  

Baltimore County Dept. of  Environmental Protection & Resource Management - $37,767:  
Develop and demonstrate a comprehensive geographic information system, analytical, and field methods to prioritize areas in wetland mitigation.  

Maryland Department of Natural Resources - $135,417:  Identify, assess and monitor herbaceous tidal wetland communities on Maryland’s eastern shore.

Maryland Department of the Environment -  $30,000:   Tidal wetlands aerial photography.

Maryland Department of the Environment -  $98,070:  Use fungi to measure presence and/or duration of water in soil.

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