Buzzards Bay NEP receives $250,000 SNEP grant

On November 1, at the New Bedford Buttonwood Park Zoo, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the award of $3.4 million in grant funding in Massachusetts for projects working toward clean water and healthy coastal ecosystems. Of this total, $1.5 million was funded through EPA’s Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Watershed Implementation Grants program. The Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program will receive $250,000 in SNEP funds to facilitate projects that implement the goals and objectives of the Buzzards Bay Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. Specifically, the NEP’s award will fund these three activities:

a subaward of $25,900 to the New Bedford Public School Sea Lab Marine Science Program to pay summer school tuition of students in need of financial assistance, as well as field trips and supplies,
a $49,000 subaward to UMass Dartmouth to continue a study using aerial drones to monitor salt marsh loss and vegetation changes in Buzzards Bay due to climate stressors, and
a soon-to-be-announced fall municipal grant program for Buzzards Bay municipalities.

Additional details about the awards are available in this EPA press release.

Buzzards Bay NEP receives $250,000 US EPA SNEP grant. — Buzzards Bay NEP Director Dr. Joe Costa (left) receives congratulations from (left to right) Congressman Bill Keating, U.S. EPA Regional Administrator David Cash, and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell.

Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program

Established in 1985 as the Buzzards Bay Project, our mission is to protect and restore water quality and living resources in Buzzards Bay and its surrounding watershed through the implementation of the Buzzards Bay Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan.

About Joe Costa