EPA Protects Wetlands in Calif. and Ariz. with $1.5 Million in Grants

EPA Press Release:

For Immediate Release:  February 18, 2014 

Press Contact:  David Yogi, 415-972-3350, yogi.david@epa.gov 

           

EPA Protects Wetlands in Calif. and Ariz. with $1.5 Million in Grants

Agency now accepting applications for 2014 grant cycle

SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the award of $1,565,140 in 2013 Wetland Program Development Grants to six tribes in California and Arizona and four California organizations to conduct research designed to prevent and eliminate water pollution.  EPA also announces it will begin today accepting applications for the 2014 Wetland Program grant cycle.

Work under these grants, awarded annually, will range from enhancing computer programs that rapidly assess wetland conditions, to helping tribes develop programs to better monitor and protect their wetlands. 

 “Wetlands are key to the vitality of local communities and wildlife -- in an era of climate change, healthy wetlands act as natural buffers to floods and sea level rise,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Continued support for research and projects to improve water resources is critical in the arid West.”

This is a list of the 2013 grantees:

• Bishop Paiute Tribe (Bishop, Calif.)
• Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (Rohnert Park, Calif.)
• Pala Tribe (Pala, Calif.)
• Pinoleville Pomo Nation (Mendocino County, Calif.)
• Yurok Tribe (Klamath, Calif.)
• White Mountain Apache Tribe (Whiteriver, Ariz.)
• East Merced Resource Conservation District (Merced, Calif.)
• Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy (West Sacramento, Calif.)
• San Jose University (San Jose, Calif.)
• Aquatic Science Center (Richmond, Calif.)

First awarded in 1990, EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grants provide eligible applicants an opportunity to conduct projects that promote the coordination and acceleration of research, investigations, experiments, training, demonstrations, surveys, and studies relating to the causes, effects, extent, prevention, reduction, and elimination of water pollution.

EPA will accept applications for the 2014 grant cycle until April 1, 2014. Approximately $1.5 million infederal funding will be available for projects in the Pacific Southwest Region.

For more information about this year’s grant recipients, visit:  http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/wetlands/grants/grants-13.html

To learn more about submitting an application for the 2014 grant cycle, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region09/water/wetlands/grants/index.html

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