National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C.            Vol. 31, No. 17 * September 13, 1999

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Grant Funding Available for
Local Government Wetlands Work

EPA Regional Offices and State Breakdown
Region 1	Conn., Maine, Mass., N.H., R.I., Vt.
Region 2	N.J., N.Y., Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
Region 3	Del., D.C., Md., Pa., Va., W.Va.
Region 4	Ala., Fla., Ga., Ky., Miss., N.C., S.C., Tenn.
Region 5	Ill., Ind., Mich., Minn., Ohio, Wis.
Region 6	Ark., La., N.M., Okla., Texas
Region 7	Iowa, Kan., Mo., Neb.
Region 8	Colo., Mont., N.D., S.D., Utah, Wyo.
Region 9	Ariz., Calif., Hawaii, Nev., American Samoa, Guam
Region 10	Alaska, Idaho, Ore., Wash.

For FY2000, an estimated $15 million in grant funds are available to eligible state, tribal and local governments to develop new wetlands protection programs or refine existing programs. Grant funds have been allocated to each of EPA’s 10 regional offices. A 25 percent funding match is required for all projects.

Local governmental entities eligible to receive funds include county, city and regional government agencies; flood control districts; water management districts; and regional planning commissions.

The grant program will support projects in four areas: Developing plans and management tools for wetland resources; advancing the science and technical tools for evaluating, protecting and restoring wetland health; facilitating the development of watershed stakeholder partnerships; and improving public access to and education about wetland information.

EPA will give priority to local government projects that involve cooperative restoration, voluntary efforts, incentive programs, joint public/private partnerships and consensus-based watershed planning.

Funding priority will also be given to projects that develop partnerships among federal, state and local governments and other entities involved in wetlands protection, restoration, monitoring and/or management.

Grant information may be downloaded from EPA’s internet homepage http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/wetlands/2000grant/, or mailed upon request by calling the EPA Wetlands Information Hotline at 800/832-7828 or e-mail at wetlands-hotline@epamail.gov. For more information, contact the relevant EPA regional coordinator listed below or Shanna Draheim of the Wetlands Division at EPA headquarters at 202/260-6218 or e-mail at shanna.draheim@epamail.epa.gov.

Each of the 10 regional offices will have grant application packages available for local governments in designated states. Grant application due dates and contact information for EPA regional offices are listed in the box below.

Many counties have formed community partnerships to work on wetlands protection and restoration.

For more information on county wetlands efforts and NACo’s Watershed Management and Wetlands Protection Project, please contact Abigail Friedman at 202/942-4225 or afriedma@naco.org, and visit NACo’s web page at http://www.naco.org/programs/environ/wetlands.cfm.

EPA Region	Due Date	Contact	Phone/E-mail Address
1	Dec. 1	Bob Goetsel	617/565-3602/robert.goetsel@epa.gov
2	Dec. 3	John Cantilli	212/637-3810/john.cantilli@epa.gov
3	Oct. 4	Alva Brunner	215/814-2715/alva.brunner@epa.gov
4	Oct. 30	Rhonda Evans	404/562-9369/rhonda.evans@epa.gov
5	Dec. 15	Cathy Garra	312/886-0241/cathy.garra@epa.gov
6	Oct. 1	Carmen Assunto	214/665-8185/carmen.assunto@epa.gov
7	*	Raju Kakarlapudi	913/551-7320/raju.kakarlapudi@epa.gov
8	Dec. 3	Ed Stearns	303/312-6946/edward.stearns@epa.gov
9	Sept. 1	Suzanne Marr	415/744-1974/suzanne.marr@epa.gov
10	Oct. 15	Steve Roy	206/553-6221/steve.roy@epa.gov
* contact regional office.

(County Services News was written by Abigail Friedman, project manager.)