Landowner Funding

2018-2019 Funding Opportunity – Forestry Practices

The Ohio River Basin (ORB) Water Quality Trading (WQT) Pilot Project is announcing the 2018-2019 round of funding, releasing $400,000 of private funding. The project seeks to include forestry (i.e. tree planting) as a best management practice to reduce nutrient runoff and enhance ecosystem function on farmland in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The project will also consider funding non-forestry practices that work synergistically with the forestry practice to further reduce nutrient runoff. At least 60% of requested funding must be applied towards forestry BMPs, with no more than 40% applied towards complimentary BMPs. Cost share is provided for up to 80% of project costs, with at least 20% covered by the landowner/producer.

Projects must be fully installed, including verification by the state agency, no later than November 15, 2019. There is a preference for projects installed by Spring 2019. Eligible landowners are invited to submit funding requests per the instructions set forth in this application package.

Resources:

• 2018-2019 Funding Notice
• Rapid Project Pre-Screen Fillable Form
• Application Fillable Form

Indiana Only. Agricultural Conservation Practice Funding Notice

• Total Funding Released: $100,000
• Maximum Funding request per project: $15,000
• Maximum cost-share percent: 75%
• Application Deadline: August 15, 2018
• Project Installation Deadline: October 1, 2019
• Project Contract Length: 5 years for seasonal practices (i.e. cover crops); 10 years for structural projects (i.e. HUAPs).

IN Resources

• 2018-2019 Funding Notice - Indiana
• Application Fillable Form - Indiana

Fund the Project

EPRI is accepting credit buyer contracts to test the program. If you are interested in acting as a buyer of stewardship credits, please contact us.

Industry Funders:

Industry stakeholders for the Ohio River Basin Trading Project include power companies, wastewater treatment facilities, agriculture, and other industry organizations. There are thousands of entities within the Ohio River Basin that could potentially participate in a water quality trading program. As the project works to develop and demonstrate a pilot trading program, participants will gain valuable early experience with a potentially cost-effective and ecologically sound option for water quality improvements that could play an important role in future watershed management, corporate compliance strategies and business planning.

Foundation Funders:

Within the scope of the Ohio River Basin Trading Project, there are a variety of specific funding opportunities that could align very well with foundation goals. A few examples include but are not limited to regional and local air and water quality improvements, farming and agricultural community engagement, watershed protection, and interstate regulatory coordination. The project has been flagged for the rest of the nation to watch in terms of scoping and siting large scale market-based programs for protecting ecosystem services. The project has collaborations with federal and state regulatory agencies, farming organizations, power companies, industry groups, academia and many others. By funding the project, there will be immediate collaboration with these groups. There are also ongoing opportunities to bring cost-match to the effort, thereby adding to funding dollars and multiplying project support.

Government Funders:

The Ohio River Basin Trading Project is a collaborative effort supported in part through federal grants. It is a working example of a public-private collaboration attempting to collectively improve water quality. To date, the project has brought in grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture along with matching contributions from power companies, other industries, academia, farming organizations, and others. The project continues to seek further federal, state and/or local agency funding to bring in additional stakeholders with an interest in optimizing market mechanisms for protecting ecosystem services, with a focus on water quality improvements.