Federal grant programs / Environmental Protection Agency

National Wetland Program Development Grants and Five-Star Restoration Training Grant (66.462)

Also known as National WPDGs or the 5-Star and Urban Waters Grants

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$3.2 million
• Grant awards13
• Typical award$100,000
• Awarded in FY 2025$0
• Size rank1,700 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceCooperative agreements

Key findings

• It is the 1700th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 6 largest recipients received 100% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 4 states and territories.

What the program funds

To assist state, Tribal, territory and/or local government agencies in building programs which protect, manage, and restore wetlands. The primary focus of the grants is to build state, Tribal, and territory wetland programs. A secondary focus is to build local (e.g. county or municipal) programs. For the National WPDGs: EPA has identified the following national priorities - National Priority Area 1: Core Elements Framework. National Priority Area 1 is based on the four core elements of a Comprehensive state/Tribal/territory Wetland Program: 1) Monitoring and Assessment; 2) Voluntary Wetland Restoration and Protection; 3) Regulatory Approaches Including CWA 401 Certification; and 4) Wetland-Specific Water Quality Standards. Further explanation of all of the elements can be found at the following website address: https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/wetland-program-development-grants. The Wetland Program Development Grants (WPDG) program strives to develop or refine state/Tribal/territory/local government programs that will incorporate each of these elements. For the Five-Star Restoration Training Grants, EPA funds an intermediary organization to provide subawards to eligible subawardees to bring together citizen groups, corporations, youth conservation corps, students, landowners, and government agencies to undertake projects that achieve environmental training through voluntary, community/watershed-based wetland restoration projects.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Non-profit, non-governmental organizations, Interstate agencies, and Intertribal consortia which are capable of undertaking activities that advance wetland programs on a national basis are eligible to compete in this program. The term "interstate agency" is defined in CWA 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." Intertribal consortia must meet the requirements of 40 CFR Part 35.504. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency's Assistance Agreement Competition Policy.

What the money can and cannot pay for

The National WPDGs are intended to encourage comprehensive, national wetland program development by promoting 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. Projects build the capacity of states, Tribes, territory and local governments programs to effectively protect wetland and riparian resources. Activities must help states, Tribes, territories and local governments develop and refine wetland programs. Projects funded under this program support the initial development of a national wetland protection, restoration or management program, or support enhancement/refinement of an existing national program. Projects must be broad in scope and include more than one EPA Region or be national in scope and cannot be limited to activities that affect such entities in only one EPA Region. For example, projects and tasks can involve advancing science or collecting and making available through publications and other appropriate means, such as training on information about how various wetland programs across the nation protect, manage, and restore their wetland resources and about initiatives to improve state, Tribal, territory and local government wetland programs.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. The applicant must provide a minimum of 25 percent of the total cost of the project to the extent allowed by 2 CFR 200 and 1500 as applicable, 40 CFR 35.385, and 35.615. To determine if the minimum match is met, EPA will use the following formula: amount (in dollars) of federal funds requested from EPA divided by 3 = minimum match (in dollars) or Total project amount (in dollars) divided by 4 = minimum match (in dollars). For example, if the applicant requests $75,000 of federal funds or has a total project cost of $100,000 for a three-year project period, it must be able to provide $25,000 in matching funds or services. Applicants can provide a larger share of the project's cost whenever possible (i.e., in excess of the required 25 percent of total project costs). Award recipients can meet the match requirements with in-kind or monetary contributions from entities other than themselves. However, other Federal money cannot be used as the match for this grant program unless authorized by the statute governing the award of the other Federal funds. Matching funds are considered grant funds. They must be used for the reasonable and necessary expenses of carrying out the assistance agreement workplan. Any restrictions on the use of grant funds (i.e., prohibition of land acquisition with grant funds) also apply to the matching funds.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

For competitive awards, deadlines will be specified in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).

Award range and average, in the agency's words

National Wetland Program Development Grants: $75,000 to $200,000/every two years; $160,500/every two years; Five-Star Restoration Training Grant: $1,000,000 every four years

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: The WPDG database provides project information for grants funded through this program since 2005 (http://iaspub.epa.gov/apex/wdg/f?p=101). Funding continued to support four awards made in FY 2024. Examples of funded projects include: updating and expanding the 2013 Wetland Program Plans (WPP) Handbook and a 50 state Wetland Program Summaries; developing the capacity of state and Tribal wetland programs to effectively address climate change in wetland mitigation and restoration projects; better integrating environmental justice in restoration and protection programs; and developing a programmatic approach for the rapid assessment of wetland ecosystem services (ES) tools to meet federal, state, and tribal regulatory needs, resulting in the product of a Rapid Wetland Benefits Assessment (RWBA) tool.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Nonprofits received 87% of the money, colleges and universities 13%.

By state

2 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards. They are District of Columbia and Maine.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.