DEP awarded grants through the 2025 Countywide Action Plan (CAP) Implementation Grants to county teams across Pennsylvania’s share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
“These grants have been used to implement everything from streambank tree plantings to livestock crossing installations. Their work benefits not only their communities, but our Commonwealth and beyond,” said DEP Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley. “It’s projects that counties are putting on the ground that are changing the conversation from ‘talking about fixing the Bay’ to ‘fixing the Bay,’ and I’m excited to see the ingenuity and progress made by this year’s grant recipients.”’
The 2025 CAP Implementation Grant round brought in applications for 205 projects that will be completed in the next 12 to 18 months, resulting in an estimated reduction of nearly 110,000 pounds/year of nitrogen, 42,150 pounds/year of phosphorus, and 11.8 million pounds/year of sediment.
The 2025 CAP Implementation Grants include $9.6 million from the state Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund and $14.4 million in EPA funding, including $7.1 million in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds, to support counties’ implementation of their local priority initiatives in their CAPs.
In addition to the funding awarded for implementing projects, DEP also awarded nearly $1.8 million to county teams to support local Clean Water Coordinators who help to strategically implement the CAPs.
Additional EPA funding includes $1.12 million in Local Government Implementation (LGI) funds to be used to implement projects in the Octoraro Watershed in Chester County that will be reported toward the multi-jurisdictional Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) as a supplement to funding for Chester County’s CAP.
Grants Awarded
The 2025 CAP Implementation Grants were awarded to:
Adams County Conservation District: $ 389,000
Bedford County Conservation District: $ 440,475
Berks County Conservation District: $ 200,000
Blair County Conservation District: $ 386,598
Bradford County Conservation District: $ 256,350
Cambria County Conservation District: $ 200,000
Centre County Conservation District: $ 751,261
Chester County Conservation District: $ 67,295.75
Clearfield County Conservation District: $ 116,747.25
Clinton County Commissioners: $ 136,774
Cumberland County Commissioners: $ 214,965.50
Franklin County Conservation District: $ 1,219,663
Fulton County Conservation District: $ 241,497
Huntingdon County Conservation District: $ 542,142
Lackawanna County Conservation District: $ 294,503
Lancaster County Conservation District: $ 5,921,801
Lebanon County Conservation District: $ 670,062
Luzerne Conservation District: $ 264,346
Lycoming County Commissioners: $ 492,447
Montour County Conservation District: $ 924,704 for Montour, Columbia, and Sullivan counties
Northumberland County Conservation District: $ 211,000
Potter County Conservation District: $ 200,000
Schuylkill Conservation District: $ 447,135
Snyder County Conservation District: $ 863,863 for Snyder and Union counties
Susquehanna County: $ 294,880
Tioga County Conservation District: $ 378,577
Tri-County Regional Planning Commission: $ 2,174,710 for Dauphin, Perry, Juniata, and Mifflin counties
York County Planning Commission: $ 404,218.75
Along with state and sector efforts, County Action Plans are a key component of Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Phase 3 WIP to reduce pollution from local streams and rivers.
All or part of 43 counties are in Pennsylvania’s share of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The area spans half the state and includes over 12,000 miles of polluted streams and rivers.
All 34 counties that were asked to voluntarily develop a CAP continue to actively implement their CAPs.
Countywide action teams have implemented a diverse range of projects and initiatives in the watershed since 2021, including not only stream restorations, streambank tree plantings, rain gardens and livestock crossing installations, but also a rapid stream delisting strategy which aims to delist pollution-impaired steams from Pennsylvania’s list of agriculturally-impaired waterways by the year 2030.
Find exceptional projects funded by previous CAP grants in DEP’s Annual Reports
Visit DEP’s Countywide Action Plans webpage for more information on County Clean Water Action Plans.
Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Progress
Pennsylvania has made historic progress in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Earlier this year, the Shapiro Administration announced that the Chesapeake Bay showed steady overall improvement, earning a C+ grade from the University of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay and Watershed Report Card – the highest overall grade for the Bay since 2002. Read more here.
The Upper Bay, which is fed by the Susquehanna River from Pennsylvania scored one of the highest grades among any area of the Bay – and posted a significant improvement from last year – showing how efforts in agency collaborations, strong partnerships, and sustained investments led to progress throughout the Susquehanna River watershed and beyond.
Click Here for the complete announcement.
Visit DEP’s Chesapeake Bay Watershed webpage to learn more about cleaning up rivers and streams in Pennsylvania's portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Click Here to sign up for regular updates on Pennsylvania’s progress.
How Clean Is Your Stream?
The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.
Click Here to check out your streams. Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.
Related Articles - Watersheds:
-- Coalition For The Delaware River Watershed, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation Announce $17 Million In Grants To Enhance The Health Of The Delaware River Watershed [PaEN]
-- Vote Now For Pennsylvania's 2025 River Of The Year Among 3 Finalists-- Delaware River, Perkiomen Creek, Youghiogheny River [PaEN]
[Posted: December 9, 2024] PA Environment Digest
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