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)

3

(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