Funding to Protect Delaware Bay Announced

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For Immediate Release

Funding to Protect Delaware Bay Announced

Over $500,000 to be provided to local organizations to help protect and

restore Delaware Bay and its watershed

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, May. 1 -/E-Wire/-- On Earth Day, 2003, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, in cooperation with the Delaware Estuary Program, announced a new grant program that will provide over $500,000 to local communities in their efforts to restore critical wildlife habitat and improve water quality within the Delaware Bay and its watershed.

Under the new Delaware Estuary Grants Program, grants of up to $25,000 will be awarded to community organizations and local governments within the estuary's watershed, which stretches from Trenton, New Jersey, south through metropolitan Philadelphia to Cape May, New Jersey and Cape Henlopen, Delaware.

"The Delaware Estuary is truly a national treasure for wildlife and for people," said National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Executive Director John Berry. "The estuary contains critical habitat for migratory shorebirds, commercial and recreational fish species, extensive oyster reefs, vast tidal marshes, and the largest horseshoe crab population in the world. It is also home to over 6 million people who depend on its clean water for drinking, industrial, and recreational purposes."

Activities supported by the new grants program will include wetland and stream restoration, riparian plantings, land conservation, as well as the development of community watershed management plans and other water quality improvement strategies. Funding for the first year of grant awards is provided by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the William Penn Foundation.

"This new grant program will promote protection and conservation of fish and wildlife habitats on private lands to link existing habitat protected by the National Wildlife Refuge System and State Natural Resource Areas," according to Dr. Richard O. Bennett, acting regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Northeast.

"NOAA is proud to support the Delaware Estuary Grants Program with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation," said NOAA Deputy Assistant Secretary Tim Keeney. "This Program is a model for building on-the-ground, community- based partnerships for conservation of the nation's valuable coastal resources."

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will administer the new program, in partnership with the Delaware Estuary Program and the Delaware River Basin Commission. A team of federal and state partners will provide technical assistance to prospective applicants and assist in evaluating submissions to the program. State agency partners include the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization established by Congress in 1984 and dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife, plants and the habitat on which they depend. Since 1984, the Foundation has awarded over 5,000 grants and leveraged over $226 million in federal funds for more than $700 million in on-the-ground conservation.

The Delaware Estuary Program is a partnership of governmental agencies, non- profit organizations, the private sector, and citizens, working together to restore and protect the Delaware Estuary. It was established in 1988 to develop a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan to protect and enhance the natural resources of the Delaware Estuary.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Michele Soho, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, [REDACTED-PHONE] or [REDACTED-EMAIL]

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