The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) has announced 45 grants totaling $15.8 million to improve wildlife habitat, enhance resilience to changing climatic conditions, and engage communities across the Delaware River watershed in conservation activities. 

Grants will support projects in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania through the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund (DWCF)—which is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with additional support this year from the Bezos Earth Fund and AstraZeneca—and the Delaware River Restoration Fund (DRRF), which is supported by the William Penn Foundation. DWCF awarded 36 grants totaling $14 million in support of efforts to reduce flooding and runoff, restore fish and wildlife habitats, improve water quality, and enhance safe public recreational access. In addition, grantees have committed more than $16 million in matching funds, for a total conservation impact of about $31.8 million.

The grants will support efforts to improve more than 10,000 acres through enhanced voluntary management and treatment of polluted runoff using agricultural conservation practices on about 2,200 acres, restore 439 acres of wetlands, plant approximately 50,000 trees, and open more than 65 miles for fish passage. 

“Along its entire path, the Delaware River provides drinking water to more than 15 million people and habitats for a host of wildlife species, from red knots and other shorebirds to iconic and economically valuable fish such as alewives, American shad, and eastern brook trout,” said NFWF executive director and CEO Jeff Trandahl. “This year’s significant investment will allow our grantees and their partners to implement projects that benefit people and wildlife and make real conservation gains.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Thomas Kloc)