Baltimore County?s program encouraging homeowners to plant trees got a $50,000 boost through the small watershed grant program from the Chesapeake Bay Program.
More than $2.1 million will be given this year to 34 projects across the watershed to help local organizations improve the environment. The Chesapeake Bay Program is a regional partnership coordinating Bay restoration efforts.
Other programs receiving grants include:
» $100,000 to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to work with upper Potomac-areahomeowners to install 28 acres of forest buffers on agricultural land and stabilize 9.5 miles of stream banks.
» $75,000 for the Chesapeake Ecology Center to conduct a marketing campaign to promote storm water management.
» $80,000 for the Herring Run Watershed Association to set up storm water retrofits to intercept 646,000 gallons of untreated storm water each year.
» $50,000 to the Scenic Rivers Land Trust to conserve 1,800 acres of land and restore 2,500 feet of streams in Anne Arundel County.
The grant program is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and funded mainly through the Environmental Protection Agency?s Chesapeake Bay program office. Since 2000, nearly $21 million has supported 555 projects and leveraged an additional $65 million in funding.
