Written by: Chase Douglas and Ben Alexandro, CCP

We are currently in a unique moment for land conservation in the United States, with the federal government targeting and authorizing more money for land conservation than it has in generations. These significant increases in funding come with ambitious timelines for spending and present potential new opportunities for land conservation across the U.S., including in the Chesapeake Bay.

While this is exciting, it brings a new level of complexity for users who may have difficulty navigating the exhaustive list of funding sources, application requirements, and implementation needs. In a survey, Chesapeake Conservation Partnership (CCP) asked partners, “Do you currently have or use a system that provides regular updates on grant deadlines?” and 84% of respondents responded no. At state convenings hosted by CCP partners asked for a way to easily navigate new and existing federal programs with an influx of funding for conservation. CCP compiled the feedback to help create a “Federal Funding Navigator.”

CCP Funding and Technical Assistance Survey

In 2023, CCP began working with the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) to develop a comprehensive assessment of new and major federal funding opportunities that can be used for land conservation, both directly and indirectly, within the Chesapeake watershed. A Workgroup helped provide feedback and trial testing. The early release version was shared with CCP Partners in June 2024. Now CCP has released the early access web application for this navigator tool.

What Sets It Apart from Other Tools and Resources?

There are several resources available to help locate federal funding opportunities for conservation such as the Defenders of Wildlife WALT Tool, the Campbell Foundation Federal Funding Resource, and Conservation.gov. Based on the needs of the partnership, The Federal Funding Navigator was designed with four key focuses:

• Programs that fund projects within or are specific to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed region (MD, VA, WV, PA, DW, and NY).
• New or existing programs with an influx of new federal funding.
• Programs with a significant nexus to permanent land conservation, either directly or as part of species habitat protection, environmental restoration, and/or climate resiliency projects.
• Providing early alerts to partners about upcoming Request for Proposals (RFPs) and relevant funding opportunities to CCP partners before they are officially released.

By narrowing the focus of resources to conservation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed our partners can navigate through programs that are most applicable for them. Thanks to the hard work of EPIC and workgroup partners, the Federal Funding Navigator synthesizes information about complex programs into a detailed yet easily navigable tool.

CCP Federal Funding Navigator

Components of the Early Access Federal Funding Navigator

The web application of the Federal Funding Navigator is designed to synthesize the detailed information and analysis provided in the navigator to provide users with a “snapshot” of the various federal funding programs. These snapshots have icons showing nexus for funding, the overall pot of funding available, the application schedule, program contact information, a link to the program’s website, and more. These snapshots also highlight the analysis categories included in the assessment. These categories include:

• Potential for Land Conservation: The overall potential to use the grant money for permanent land conservation.
• Application Difficulty: The overall capacity needed and time involved with applying for the grant.
• Grant Administration Requirements: The overall capacity needed, time required, and restraints faced with grant implementation after being awarded the grant.
• Relative Competitiveness: How competitive the program is based on an application pool.
• Funding in the Chesapeake Bay to Date: The overall amount of funding that stays in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Key Disclaimers before using or sharing this tool

• Federal Funding programs can be complex and some grants require more internal capacity to apply for, manage, and administer.
• This tool and its resources are not intended to rank any federal funding program. Ratings included in the tool are based on surveyed feedback and cross-comparison with other programs. We encourage users of the tool to fully read each program’s description to determine their eligibility to apply and meet each program’s requirements. This tool is not intended to say any funding source is inherently better than any other.
• This list of funding sources is not comprehensive. The tool currently includes 16 programs, but there are many more out there. As we continue to expand the tool, we aim to continuously update and maintain relevant and useful information for our partners.
• The tool is currently in early access for partners and password-protected at this time to ensure it is not taken out of context.

Accessing and Learning More

The Federal Funding Navigator Application can be found by visiting the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership’s homepage -> go to Resources -> Tools -> Federal Funding Navigator. The Early Access Edition is password-protected to ensure that the tool is helpful to our partners but not taken out of context by external outlets and users as we work to improve it. If you would be interested in learning more about joining the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership to take advantage of this exciting tool, its resources, and other support we provide through CCP, please reach out to CCP Program Director Ben Alexandro ([email protected]) and CCP Program Coordinator Chase Douglas ([email protected]). Organizations can apply online to become partners.

CCP is showcasing this resource and training folks at various events, the next two are:

• September 28th, as part of the Land Trust Alliance Rally conference, we will be part of a workshop called “Tools for Identifying Federal Funding Opportunities for the Chesapeake Region and Nation”. This session will help land trusts identify federal funding sources for their conservation work. Participants will receive demos of the Defenders of Wildlife’s Wildlife and Land Trusts Tool and CCP’s Federal Funding Navigator Tool. Representatives from the Shenandoah Valley Conservancy and NDPonics/Indigenous East will also describe the process they used to secure a WILD grant to illustrate the success of these funding tools.
• October 10th (10am-11am), WeConservePa will be hosting a virtual webinar called “Federal Funding for Land Trusts and Tools to Find It”. This session will help land trusts identify federal funding sources for their conservation work. Participants will receive demos of the Defenders of Wildlife’s Wildlife and Land Trusts Tool and CCP’s Federal Funding Navigator Tool. Representatives from Clearwater Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will talk about the Chesapeake WILD Program and Clearwater’s process to secure it, to illustrate the success of these funding tools.
  • To register, you can use this link.

We are so excited to share this new innovative resource to help further the critical land conservation work taking place across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. We hope the user-friendly interface and detailed information will help with navigating the wealth of new opportunities for federal funding for permanent land conservation.

Image credit:

1. Chase Douglas, Chesapeake Conservancy
2. Myron Fields, United States Forest Service

Lightning Update is a regular communication of the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions of the Partnership or member organizations.
To share a success story, news, or important event, send your information to:

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Support for the Chesapeake Conservation Partnership is provided by:
National Park Service Chesapeake
EPA Chesapeake Bay Program
USDA Forest Service
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Virginia Outdoors Foundation
US Fish & Wildlife Service
Chesapeake Conservancy

The Chesapeake Conservation Partnership is co-convened by: