Chesapeake Bay Coldwater Land Conservancy Fund

Trout Unlimited is pleased to announce the availability of a second round of grant funding through its Chesapeake Bay Coldwater Land Conservancy Fund. The Fund provides matching grants to land trusts and conservation agencies to permanently protect habitat for Eastern brook trout through land and conservation easement acquisition. Grants must be used for the transaction costs (e.g. boundary surveys, appraisals, baseline documentation, other due diligence, monitoring, etc.) of land protection projects and will generally not exceed $8,000. Projects must be located within the Chesapeake Bay watershed and be on track to close by December 31, 2012.

Support for the Fund comes from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Trout Unlimited. A competitive process will be used to evaluate proposals. Proposals for this second round of funding will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until July 31, 2012. TU reserves the right to disburse funding prior to this deadline for projects it deems of high conservation value. Matching funds may consist of grants, cash gifts, in-kind donations, and/or landowner donation of easement or land value.

For more information, review the Request for Proposals available here or contact Kevin Anderson, Chesapeake Bay Land Protection Coordinator, at kanderson@tu.org or (703) 284-9420. Applicants are encouraged to draw from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Business Plan for Eastern Brook Trout, the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture's Priority Scores for Project Selection and Trout Unlimited's Conservation Success Index to demonstrate the conservation value of their proposed projects. Applicants are also asked to seek the endorsement of their local TU chapter or state council.