Maryland Opens Grants Gateway to Fund Community Projects for Climate Resilience, Boating Access, and Education

Maryland DNR Accepting Grant Applications for Fiscal Year 2026

A crop of saltmarsh hay fills the shoreline at Franklin Point State Park. Photo by Joe Zimmermann.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced the Grants Gateway application is open for local governments and organizations for Fiscal Year 2026, which begins July 1, 2025. 

Through this process, funding is available for projects that restore local waterways, increase communities’ resilience to climate change and storm impacts, strengthen local economies, develop the next generation of environmental stewards, and foster sustainable development and use of Maryland waterways with projects that benefit the general boating public.

The department’s Grants Gateway provides a streamlined, single point of entry to several state and federal programs, and one loan program — maximizing the resources available to restore the Chesapeake Bay and help coastal communities. The system, now in its fifth year, enables communities better access to financial resources and a more intuitive reporting and management process.

Recently completed projects funded through Grants Gateway include:

The restoration of over 1,000 feet of living shoreline in Franklin Point State Park with over 35,000 native grasses and plants. This newly completed living shoreline reduces erosion along the coastline, provides habitat, and protects the area against flooding and sea level rise.

Construction of 1,200 linear feet of shoreline along Hurst Creek on the Choptank River in Dorchester County. This project had estimated cost savings of over $500,000 by beneficially reusing dredged material.

In Havre de Grace, grant funding enabled the creation of over 1,300 feet of new shoreline and innovative stormwater filtration systems.

Grants are made possible with funding through the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, the Waterway Improvement Fund, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program, and the Shore Erosion Loan Program 

More information on all of our grant programs can be found online.