EPA Region 2 & Region 3September 2014 Webinar Presentation
DELAWARE RIVER WATERSHED INITATIVEAccelerating Conservation, Assessing Impact
featuringNJ HIGHLANDS CLUSTER
New Jersey Highlands Coalition
North Jersey RC&D
The Land Conservancy of New Jersey
The Nature Conservancy
Trout Unlimited
Trust for Public Lands
Wallkill River Watershed Management Group
Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions
Hunterdon Land Trust
Musconetcong Watershed Association
New Jersey Audubon Society
New Jersey Conservation Foundation
Delaware River Watershed… an extraordinary resource
• Spans 13,500 sq. miles
• Provides drinking water for ~ 15M people
• Enables $25B/yr business
• Supports globally rare species & habitats
• Offers abundant recreation
Targeting specific watershed stressors:
– Headwaters Forest loss/fragmentation– Stormwater run-off (volume & NPSP)– Agricultural run-off (NPSP & volume)– Sustainable aquifer (pollution & depletion)
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(source: DRN)
(source: PEC)
(source: BCC)
(source: PPA)
Criteria for Watershed Investments
• Potential for Significant Impact• Urgency to Act• Organization Capacity• Cost Efficiency• Ability to Measure Impact
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
• Target and Prioritize places and issues, driven by science and data• Identify baseline and changing conditions • Fund strong and effective organizations • Monitor change and impact of interventions• Leverage other work by public and private funders• Share learning to strengthen impact, encouraging replication
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Delaware River Watershed Initiative - Clusters
GOAL:Ensure a
sufficient supply of clean water through ecosystem services
provided by adequately protected and restored
watersheds
INITATIVE’S FOUNDATIONAL CORNERSTONES• Targeting – can work be focused to ensure cumulative benefits ?
• Scale - can work make a difference given the scale & stressors of the place or issue ?
• Metrics – how will we know if the work is successful (or not) ?
• Replication – strategy to expand successful work ?
• Capacity – can someone delivering work at a scale to have impact ?
• Alignment/Leverage – can work align to magnify impact/improve efficiency/effectiveness ?
2014 – Wm PENN FOUNDATION granted :• OVER $35M in OP & CAPITAL FUNDS (3-yr investment)
• OF WHICH $9M is via OSI for COMPETETIVE LAND PROTECTION CAPITAL
• $7M is via NFWF for COMPETETIVE RESTORATION CAPITAL
• & OVER $14M is for 3-YR OPERATIONAL FUNDS to 43 CONSERVATION NONPROFITS
Number of Cluster
nonprofits
TOTAL PLAN $
Geographic Area of
Watershed
WPF OPERATIONAL
GRANTS APPROVED
OSI COMPETETIVE GRANTS (Round 1)
NFWF COMPETETIVE
GRANTS (Round 1)
43 $230M +/- ALL $14.5M $5.8M rqstd $2.4M approved
11 $32M +/-NJ
HIGHLANDS$1.8M TBD $282K
14% 12% ? 12%
Delaware River Watershed Initative & NJ Highlands Cluster FUNDING METRICS TO DATE
4Number of Projects
Amount Requested
Geographic Area of
Watershed
Total Subject
Property Acreage
Sub. in Fee-Acres
Sub. in CE-Acres
Total Match
Property Acreage
Match in Fee-Acres
Match in CE-Acres
Total Project Acreage
Total Eligible Project Costs
Total FMV of Properties
Likely Approvals
16 Projects $5.8M +/- ALL CLUSTERS 10,278 4,242 5,488 462 404 58 10740 $30,963,609 $29,282,429 $2M +/-5 Projects $1.7M +/- NJ Highlands 2,893 $364 $2,529 75 50 25 2968 $9,696,143 $9,490,443 ?
30% 28% 9% 46% 16% 12% 43% 28% 31% 32% ?
Delaware River Watershed Protection Fund - Round I