News Release
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
New England Regional Office
January 9, 2009
Contact: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017
Maine Awarded Nearly $490K to Boost Wetlands Protection
(Boston, Mass. – Jan. 9, 2009) – Nearly a half-million dollars of EPA grant
money will help Maine advance projects to protect wetlands.
The Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Maine Natural Areas
Program (NAP) will share over $487,000 in grants designed to assist the state
with four projects: developing and improving its wetland monitoring and
assessment program; collecting information on rare wetland types in the
state’s central and western mountains; and inventorying wetland restoration
and protection opportunities statewide.
“Wetlands are incredibly important to the health and well-being of our
environment, and provide tangible benefits to our communities,” said Robert
Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “Wetlands help
store floodwaters, purify and increase our drinking water supplies, provide
habitat for wildlife and recreation for citizens. We’re proud to work to
improve wetland protection here in New England.”
For nearly two decades EPA has awarded Wetland Program Development Grants to
state agencies, federally-recognized Native American tribes, local governments,
and interstate associations seeking to improve wetland protection though
research, training, mapping, and other mechanisms. In recent years, EPA
identified three priority areas for grant applicants to address in their
proposed projects: developing a comprehensive wetland monitoring and assessment
program; improving the effectiveness of wetland compensatory mitigation; and
refining the protection of particularly vulnerable wetland types, such as vernal
pools.
The Maine DEP is developing standardized approaches to assess the health of
wetland systems based upon an evaluation of aquatic insects and algal
communities. The grant award will enhance DEP’s ability to evaluate ecological
condition and consistently interpret and present wetland monitoring results so
that the data may be more easily used by other programs.
The Maine NAP received three grants. Under the first award, the Landowner
Collaboration Program will work with private and public landowners to gather,
assess, and synthesize information on rare or significant wetlands in the
central and western mountains of Maine. By analyzing certain landscape features
and performing associated field work, the Maine NAP will locate and evaluate
state- or globally-rare wetland community types; outstanding examples of common
wetland types; and, wetland animal and plant species considered rare or
imperiled.
Under its second award, the Maine NAP will develop a systematic inventory of
wetland restoration and preservation opportunities within eastern coastal and
interior Maine for use in the State’s newly implemented In-Lieu Fee
Compensatory Mitigation Program.
With its third award, the Maine NAP will update and improve ecological
documentation for 74 wetland systems in southern and mid-coast Maine that are
considered most at risk from existing and future development pressures. Using
improved evaluation methods and mapping procedures, the NAP will produce
detailed information suitable for use in regulatory and planning review.
The Maine grants are part of a region-wide funding pool for wetland grants in
New England totaling more than $1.7 million. Other wetlands projects are being
funded by EPA in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
More information: Wetlands issues in New England (epa.gov/ne/topics/ecosystems/wetlands.html)