Grants

HFRP provides landowners with 10-year restoration agreements and 30-year or permanent easements for specific conservation actions. For acreage owned by an American Indian tribe, there is an additional enrollment option of a 30-year contract. Some landowners may avoid regulatory restrictions under the Endangered Species Act by restoring or improving habitat on their land for a specified period of time.

HFRP applicants must provide proof of ownership, or an operator (tenant) must provide written concurrence from the landowner of tenancy for the period of the HFRP restoration agreement in order to be eligible. Land enrolled in HFRP easements must be privately owned or owned by Indian tribes and restore, enhance or measurably increase the recovery of threatened or endangered species, improve biological diversity or increase carbon storage.

Land enrolled in HFRP easements - must be privately owned or owned by Indian tribes and restore, enhance or measurably increase the recovery of threatened or endangered species, improve biological diversity or increase carbon storage.

In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality. Contracts for land enrolled in CRP are 10-15 years in length. The long-term goal of the program is to re-establish valuable land cover to help improve water quality, prevent soil erosion, and reduce loss of wildlife habitat.

This pilot project is an approach to providing funding for urgent, unforeseen situations on designated water trails that impede or impair access, create unsafe conditions/ safety concerns for paddlers or others who want to access the water trail, affect safe ingress/egress from the water trail, etc.

Such situations could include, but are not limited to,

• Storm-induced scouring, flooding, debris impoundments that severely impact navigation.
• Fallen trees or other large obstructions caused by a storm or other event that will prohibit or severely impact an imminent sojourn, paddle fest, race, etc. 
• A situation where there is a major in-water litter/trash issue immediately prior to a planned community event, paddle, race, etc.
• A situation in which an access improvement/ enhancement project was funded and is almost complete, but an unforeseen event or situation threatens to prevent the project from being completed without a small infusion of extra funding.
• The destruction of a safety or wayfinding sign at an access point, if the sign was critical to orienting paddlers or providing critical information about a river hazard, portage, dam, 

In short, the situation must be caused by an “unanticipated” event, or one that could not be reasonably planned for. A known ongoing situation that was simply not addressed in time would not qualify. This funding should be viewed as a “last resort.” 

If the applicant is not the Water Trail Manager, applicant must contact the Water Trail Manager before applying to this funding. Additional, all applicants must contact one of the Water Trail Program Partners at PEC, DCNR or PFBC prior to applying.

Through the Fund, OSI provides three types of grants for partners within the Delaware River Watershed Initiative:

1. Capital Grants (for Forest Land and/or Farm Buffer projects)
2. Transaction Grants (to jump start land conservation efforts)
3. and Catalyst Grants (to integrate water quality science into open space plans)