Geographic Programs - Southeast New England Coastal Watershed Restoration Program (66.129)
Geographic Programs - Southeast New England Coastal Watershed Restoration Program (Assistance Listing 66.129) is run by the Environmental Protection Agency. It awarded $33.1 million in 27 grants from fiscal 2021 to 2025, about $1.2 million per award on average. 1 funding opportunity is open or forecast now.
The typical award was $465,000. Half of the 27 awards fell between $300,000 and $749,890, and they ranged from $40,000 to $15.0 million.
- Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$33.1 million
- Grant awards27
- Typical award$465,000
- Awarded in FY 2025$9.5 million
- Size rank1157 of 1824
- Type of assistanceCooperative agreements
Key findings
- Annual funding rose from $3.8 million in fiscal 2021 to $9.5 million in fiscal 2025.
- It is the 1157th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
- The 20 largest recipients received 100% of the money.
- Awards went to recipients in 5 states and territories.
What the program funds
To develop and support the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) for coastal watershed restoration. SNEP is a geographically-based program intended to serve as a collaborative framework for advancing ecosystem resiliency, protecting and restoring water quality, habitat and ecosystem function, promoting the development of sustainable communities, and developing and applying innovative policy, science, and technology to environmental management in southeast coastal New England (eligibility map is available at: https://www.epa.gov/snep/background-information-southeast-new-england-program). A critical aspect of this framework is the integration of physical processes, water quality, and critical habitat at a regional, watershed, and/or landscape scale. SNEP's Strategic Plan under this framework includes goals for achieving, 1. a resilient ecosystem of safe and healthy waters, 2. thriving watersheds and natural lands, and 3. sustainable communities. Additional background information on SNEP can be found at the following website: www.epa.gov/snep. EPA intends to fund projects, either directly or via a pass-through organization, that address SNEP priorities, EPA's "Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative" Pillar 1: Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American and Pillar 3: Permitting Reform, Cooperative Federalism, and Cross-Agency Partnership, and spur investments in regionally significant and landscape scale restoration projects through projects, networks, and/or partnerships among governmental and community resource managers, technology, scientific, and policy organizations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Tribes, and other groups. A major focus is to build regional capacity for environmental management, including developing and establishing robust institutional, monitoring, information, and technology frameworks that can offer more effective, transferable, and sustainable paths to restoring and protecting the southeast New England coastal watersheds. Through competitive funding announcements, EPA will outline specific program priorities and eligible activities in areas such as environmental, ecological, and/or habitat restoration planning and construction; ordinance adoption and implementation; technology and policy development, testing, and adoption; financing; monitoring, including methods, equipment, data analysis and interpretation; public understanding and engagement; technical training in new approaches; information sharing; implementation of nature-based solutions; and targeted/applied research. SNEP funding is provided to support technical assistance, and implementation grants through direct EPA awards, and subawards. Additional SNEP funding under the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will support existing SNEP priorities and will begin to focus on achieving program goals.
Open opportunities
Rules from the program listing
Who can apply
Assistance under SNEP is available to state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments; institutions of higher education; nonprofit institutions and organizations; intertribal consortia; and interstate agencies. Private businesses and individuals are not eligible to be grant recipients, however, they are encouraged to work in partnership with eligible applicants on projects. Federal agencies may be eligible for funding through interagency agreements. Applicants are not limited to the geographic area of southeastern coastal New England, however, those applying from outside the specified region must carry out their projects and have at least one local partner from within the geographic area specified in the competitive funding announcement. Organizations must be capable of undertaking and managing activities that advance SNEP priorities, including managing potentially complex fiscal and administrative requirements. Non-profit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible to apply; the term interstate agency is defined in Clean Water Act Section 502 as an agency of two or more States established by or pursuant to an agreement or compact approved by the Congress, or any other agency of two or more States, having substantial powers or duties pertaining to the control of pollution as determined and approved by the Administrator.
What the money can and cannot pay for
Cooperative agreements are available to support recipients' allowable direct costs in approved scopes of work plus allowable indirect costs, in accordance with established EPA policies and regulations. The funds will support projects that prevent, reduce, and eliminate water pollution through partnership and innovation; that promote watershed solutions; and that encourage resilience to the impacts of flooding and extreme weather conditions. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Geospatial information is information that identifies the geographic location and characteristics of natural or constructed features or boundaries on the earth, or applications, tools, and hardware associated with the generation, maintenance, or distribution of such information. This information may be derived from, among other things, GPS, remote sensing, mapping, charting, and surveying technologies, or statistical data. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing the following website: https://www.epa.gov/geospatial. Specific uses and restrictions on funds will be described in detail in the competitive announcements.;
Matching requirements
This program has no statutory formula. While there is no statutory or regulatory cost sharing requirement for this program, as a matter of policy, the Agency may impose a cost sharing requirement in specific competitions. If the Agency decides to do this, the cost sharing terms will be stated in Section 2 of the NOFO.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.
Deadlines
Deadline information is provided in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
Award range and average, in the agency's words
Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) are released as needed and typically include a 3-7-year timeline with total funding ranging from $50,000 to $15,000,000 over the project period. Annual incremental awards typically range from $150,000 to $3,250,000.
Examples of funded projects
Fiscal Year2017: Pass through entity was funded at $3,945,172 to solicit and fund projects under this program.Fiscal Year2018: Through a subaward program, this program awarded >$4M in 14 subawards throughout SNEP region that address municipal capacity, habitat restoration, monitoring capability, and development of data management systems.Fiscal Year2021: EPA’s SNEP program supported eight awards that together improve municipal capacity, water quality and habitat restoration, and monitoring capability. SNEP continues to support a technical assistance network that is coordinating and managing a program to build the capacity of local communities, tribes, and organizations to increase use of available financial and technical resources to support best management practices and financing for coastal watershed restoration efforts. SNEP also continues to support a Watershed Grant program to support local implementation projects, and is also providing funds to the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program and the Narragansett Estuary Program to implement their management plans including support of subawards within their study areas to support coastal watershed restoration efforts. New in 2021, SNEP funded four awards under a Pilot Watershed Initiative to demonstrate coordinated replicable solutions to common environmental problems.Fiscal Year2025: 1.
Funding history and past recipients
From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Geographic Programs - Southeast New England Coastal Watershed Restoration Program (66.129) awarded$33.1 million across 27 grant awards, an average of $1.2 million per award.
| Recipient | State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restore America's Estuaries | District of Columbia | 1 | $15.0 million |
| University of Maine System | Maine | 3 | $7.2 million |
| Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council | Rhode Island | 3 | $1.6 million |
| Barnstable, County of | Massachusetts | 2 | $1.4 million |
| Massachusetts Audubon Society, Inc. | Massachusetts | 2 | $765,422 |
| Three Bays Preservation Inc | Massachusetts | 1 | $750,000 |
| Town of Charleston | Rhode Island | 1 | $749,999 |
| Buzzards Bay Coalition, Inc | Massachusetts | 1 | $749,780 |
| University System of New Hampshire | New Hampshire | 1 | $749,225 |
| Bristol County Water Authority | Rhode Island | 1 | $600,000 |
| Nantucket Islands Land Bank | Massachusetts | 1 | $600,000 |
| Town of Glocester Police Department | Rhode Island | 1 | $465,000 |
| Town of North Kingstown Court | Rhode Island | 1 | $450,000 |
| Groundwork Rhode Island | Rhode Island | 1 | $300,000 |
| Southern Rhode Island Conservation District | Rhode Island | 1 | $300,000 |
| City of Providence | Rhode Island | 1 | $300,000 |
| Groundwork Southcoast Inc | Massachusetts | 1 | $300,000 |
| State of Rhode Island Department of Health | Rhode Island | 1 | $300,000 |
| Rhode Island. Department of Environmental Management | Rhode Island | 1 | $299,293 |
| The Newport Tree Society | Rhode Island | 1 | $152,460 |
Who usually wins
Nonprofits received 59% of the money, colleges and universities 24% and state and local governments 15%.
| Recipient type | Awards | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonprofits | 12 | $19.6 million | 59% |
| Colleges and universities | 4 | $7.9 million | 24% |
| State and local governments | 10 | $4.9 million | 15% |
| Other | 1 | $600,000 | 1.8% |
By state
4 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards. They are District of Columbia, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
| State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 1 | $15.0 million |
| Maine | 3 | $7.2 million |
| Rhode Island | 14 | $5.5 million |
| Massachusetts | 8 | $4.6 million |
| New Hampshire | 1 | $749,225 |