Grants

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a part of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) the country's largest private-land conservation program. Administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA), CREP targets specific State or nationally significant conservation concerns, and federal funds are supplemented with non-federal funds to address those concerns. In exchange for removing environmentally sensitive land from production and establishing permanent resource conserving plant species, farmers and ranchers are paid an annual rental rate along with other federal and non-federal incentives as applicable per each CREP agreement. Participation is voluntary, and the contract period is typically 10-15 years.

For more information on the CREP program within Pennsylvania's portion of the Delaware River basin click here.

The purpose of Conservation Outreach Grants or Agreements is to leverage NRCS and partner resources to assist historically underserved farmers and ranchers and assist farmers and ranchers to improve, restore or maintain natural resources that:

1. Improve soil health.
2. Improve water quality.
3. Provide habitat for local wildlife species of concern.
4. Improve the environmental and economic performance of working agricultural lands.
5. Assist communities and groups to build and strengthen local food projects that provide healthy food and economic opportunities.

The PENNVEST Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program provides funding to projects throughout Pennsylvania for the construction and maintenance of wastewater treatment facilities, stormwater management projects, nonpoint source pollution controls, and watershed and estuary management. (Rolling: 4 cutoff dates per year)

This program offers low interest loans with flexible terms to assist a variety of borrowers that include local governments, municipalities, and privately owned entities and to establish partnerships to leverage other funding sources. 

Wells Fargo and NFWF have partnered to create the Resilient Communities program. Through improvements to natural features and enhanced community capacity, the program will help communities prepare for future impacts associated with sea level rise, sustain appropriate water quantity and quality and enhance forest conservation. By taking advantage of natural features like wetlands, resilient shorelines, urban tree canopies, natural forests and healthy upstream watersheds, communities can accrue quality of life benefits today, enhance fish and wildlife resources and help prepare for foreseeable resilience challenges.