{"id":47943,"date":"2026-07-15T08:44:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=47943"},"modified":"2026-07-15T08:44:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:44:32","slug":"maryland-accepting-requests-to-fund-watershed-restoration-community-flood-planning-beneficial-use-and-environmental-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2026\/07\/15\/maryland-accepting-requests-to-fund-watershed-restoration-community-flood-planning-beneficial-use-and-environmental-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Accepting Requests to Fund Watershed Restoration, Community Flood Planning, Beneficial Use, and Environmental Education"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland DNR Grants Gateway open for Fiscal Year 2028 funding<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 370px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55393499040_13f0071259.jpg\" alt=\"Shoreline protected with natural stone barriers as seen from an aerial drone\" width=\"360\" height=\"202\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A newly constructed living shoreline on Tilghman Island protects a tidal wetland and adjacent community from coastal flood impacts. Maryland DNR photo by Maggie Cavey.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Maryland Department of Natural Resources\u2019 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/ccs\/Pages\/funding\/grantsgateway.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grants Gateway<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> opens July 15, 2026 for applications from local governments and organizations for Fiscal Year 2028.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through this process, DNR connects Maryland communities with funding opportunities for projects and programs that improve water quality in local waterways, increase communities\u2019 resilience to storms and changing conditions, strengthen local economies, develop environmental stewards, and increase beneficial use of dredged material.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The department\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/ccs\/Pages\/funding\/grantsgateway.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grants Gateway<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> solicitation provides a streamlined hub for multiple funding sources\u2013enabling prospective applicants to find the program that meets their needs.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently completed projects funded through Grants Gateway include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A newly constructed 665 linear-foot living shoreline on Tilghman Island in Talbot County, including 60 concrete oyster structures plus plantings on dunes and marsh. Behind the shoreline is a nontidal wetland and meadow that provide wildlife habitat and additional water quality benefits. This project, funded through DNR\u2019s Resilience through Restoration program,\u00a0 restores and protects the tidal wetland and adjacent community while serving as a pilot project for Talbot County\u2019s Green Infrastructure Plan.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Middle Branch Resiliency Initiative Demonstration Project stabilized about 2,000 linear feet of eroding shoreline while restoring approximately 8.5 acres of tidal marsh and aquatic habitat, generating significant water quality improvements. This transformational project expanded the quantity, quality, and diversity of urban aquatic habitat in the Middle Branch while providing protection from coastal storm damage and flooding. It was funded through the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and leveraged significant additional financial support from Baltimore City and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To address projected daily flooding increases in the San Domingo Creek in St. Michaels, a Community Flood Planning grant funded a feasibility assessment to evaluate the potential use of a tide gate to reduce upstream sea level rise and storm surge impacts and protect residential and infrastructure properties in the area. A concept design along with potential funding sources for implementation was also presented for consideration as part of this project.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grants are made possible with funding through the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Resilience through Restoration Initiative, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s Chesapeake Bay Program, and the Shore Erosion Loan Program.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The applications are listed by individual funding program as described on the Grants Gateway page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A virtual webinar overviewing each funding program will be held on <\/span><b>August 20, 2026 at 2 p.m.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Applicants are encouraged to attend, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coastaltraining-md.org\/Upcoming-Opportunities\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">registration and more details are online<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. More information on all grant programs can be found on DNR\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/ccs\/Pages\/funding\/grantsgateway.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grants Gateway page<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maryland DNR Grants Gateway open for Fiscal Year 2028 funding The Maryland Department of Natural Resources\u2019 Grants Gateway opens July 15, 2026 for applications from local governments and organizations for Fiscal Year 2028. Through this process, DNR connects Maryland communities with funding opportunities for projects and programs that improve water quality in local waterways, increase<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2026\/07\/15\/maryland-accepting-requests-to-fund-watershed-restoration-community-flood-planning-beneficial-use-and-environmental-education\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,33],"tags":[3565,5127,5217,5580,5584],"class_list":["post-47943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-the-bay","tag-grants","tag-grants-gateway","tag-resilience","tag-restoration","tag-watershed"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47943"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47947,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47943\/revisions\/47947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}