DEP Announces Coastal Zone Management Grants to Protect, Preserve Pennsylvania’s Shorelines

HARRISBURG -- Organizations that work to protect and preserve Pennsylvania’s coastal zones along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary will benefit from $1.4 million in Coastal Zone Management Grants that were announced by Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger.

The annual grants, largely funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were awarded to 30 non-profit organizations and governmental agencies in counties that border Pennsylvania’s coastal zones or have a direct impact on water quality in those areas.

The Lake Erie coastal zone is located within Erie County and includes the shorelines of major tributaries. The zone extends to the middle of the lake, to the boundary with Canada and inland 900 feet within the city of Erie.
Since 2003, the Pennsylvania Coastal Resource Management Program has provided more than $8.7 million in funding for coastal zone projects.

Applications for the next round of Coastal Zone Management Grants will be accepted until October 15, 2010. Nonprofit groups, educational institutions, local governments and authorities, and state agencies are eligible to apply.

For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Coastal Zone.

Erie County
• Asbury Woods Nature Center and Millcreek Township School District - $49,347 to conduct the Leadership in Watershed Education program that develops curriculum and projects for middle school children regarding the importance of coastal watershed conservation.
• Audubon Pennsylvania - $46,000 for the third phase of a study that will research coastal habitat significance of migratory song birds in the Lake Erie Coastal Zone, conduct bird banding during migration periods and report findings to key state agencies on critical habitat and bird populations.
• Earth Action - $45,000 to continue and extend the Earth Action program with a focus on preventing pollution from nonpoint sources, urban runoff and pharmaceutical disposal.
• Erie County Conservation District - $25,000 to implement and track the Coastal Non-Point Pollution Program management measures.
• Erie County Department of Planning - $65,000 for Lake Erie Coastal Zone projects coordination and technical assistance.
• Erie County Department of Planning - $9,000 to assist Lake Erie coastal communities in administering the Bluff Recession and Setback Act of 1980. Nine municipalities have been designated as having bluff recession hazard areas and are required to administer bluff setback ordinances.
• Erie County Department of Public Safety - $4,127 to purchase a dedicated equipment trailer to be employed in emergency situations that threaten vital coastal resources.
• Erie Downtown Partnership - $13,500 to continue building and implementing a program intended to help reduce litter and its impacts on the coastal resources of Lake Erie.
• Erie Times-News In Education, Inc. - $34,680 for a recurring Newspaper In Education weekly page focusing on coastal zone environmental issues.
• Erie-Western PA Port Authority - $75,000 to construct a public fishing pier in Presque Isle Bay located in Liberty Park.
• Northwest Tri-County Unit - $13,543 to operate the Regional Summer School of Excellence program titled “Investigating and Researching Environmental Health Problems.”
• Regional Science Consortium - $43,896 to evaluate historical shoal spawning locations along the Lake Erie coastline, as part of an effort to determine if the habitat can sustain lake sturgeon spawning.
• Regional Science Consortium - $49,946 to evaluate research partitioning habitats between non-game native benthic Lake Erie stream fishes to determine whether Round Gobies are causing detrimental effects on native fish habitat.