Nearly $400,000 in federal funding awarded to Chesapeake Bay conservation efforts in Maryland

BALTIMORE -- $398,000 in federal grant funding will be awarded to five Maryland-based projects focused on environmental, cultural, and historical conservation efforts within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen, Ben Cardin, and other state leaders announced Tuesday. 

$150,000 will be awarded to the Anacostia Watershed Society to expand its volunteer program. The purpose of the program is to work to restore 20 acres of native forest and wetland habitat across the Anacostia Watershed and train community members to become citizen scientists.

$25,000 will be awarded to Baltimore Heritage for the development of a public boat tour of Baltimore Inner Harbor. The tour will link history to ecology, and include a companion virtual map. Baltimore Heritage will also hold public service stream clean-ups and guided history walks. 

The Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation received $124,000 to develop plans for an education center at the new Elktonia Heritage Park. The grant will support the creation and implementation of the center's development plan.

Maryland Humanities Council was awarded $49,000 to create a workshop series and online resources. The funding will also support a conference designed to strengthen connections between Maryland-based organizations, communities, and humanities experts.

Nature Forward received $50,000 to document stories from underrepresented communities along eight tributary streams in the Washington, D.C. region. The project will combine these narratives with stream health data to demonstrate the relationship between human activity and environmental conservation.

The federal funding is provided through the National Park Service's Chesapeake Bay Gateways Grants Assistance Program.