New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos today announced that $350,000 in competitive grant funding is available to help communities in the Hudson River Estuary watershed increase resiliency to flooding, protect water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and enhance natural resources. The grants are provided through New York’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) and are administered by DEC’s Hudson River Estuary program. 

Commissioner Seggos said, “Governor Cuomo has made significant investments to improve community resiliency and protect our valuable natural resources across the state and the grants announced today provide another boost to the Hudson River and watershed communities. Working with local communities, environmental groups, and civic organizations, New York has significantly improved the environmental health of the Hudson River Estuary.”

To date, the Hudson River Estuary Program has awarded 525 grants totaling more than $21 million. The Local Stewardship Planning Request for Applications grants support planning for local stewardship of the river environment to help achieve the goals of the 2015-2020 Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda.

The deadline for applications is July 10, 2019, at 3 p.m. The Requests for Applications (RFA) for “Local Stewardship Planning” is available online through the NYS Grants Gateway.  The Grants Gateway is a web-based grants-management system that streamlines the way grants are administered by the State of New York. All grant applicants, including government agencies and not-for-profit corporations, must be registered in the NYS Grants Gateway to be eligible to apply for any state grant opportunity. Not-For-Profit applicants are required to “prequalify” in the Grants Gateway system. For more information about Grants Gateway, please visit the Grants Management website or contact the Grants Gateway Team at: grantsgateway@its.ny.gov.

General questions about the Hudson River Estuary grants application process may be directed to Susan Pepe, DEC’s Estuary Grants Manager, NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-3506; HREPgrants@dec.ny.gov. A description of the grant and application process is available on the DEC website.

Eligible project types for Local Stewardship Planning Grants, $350,000

The minimum grant award is $10,500 and the maximum award is $50,000. Additional points are given to projects in environmental justice areas and projects that support regional economic development strategies. The four categories of local projects and programs support planning for:

• Hudson River shoreline communities to adapt land uses and decision–making to factor in climate change, flooding, heat, drought, and sea-level rise projections;
• Making water infrastructure more resilient to flooding and/or sea-level rise;
• Conservation of natural resources by creating a natural resources inventory, open space inventory/index, open space plan, conservation overlay zone, open space funding feasibility study, or connectivity plan; and
• Watershed and source water management planning.

The Hudson River Estuary Program helps people enjoy, protect, and revitalize the Hudson River and its valley. Created in 1987, the program focuses on the tidal Hudson and its adjacent watershed from the dam at Troy to the Verrazano Narrows in New York City.