Overview: The Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration, Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office, and other partners announce a Request for Proposals (RFP) for its Restoration Research award program. The goal of this research program is to answer several key restoration questions that serve as a barrier to watershed restoration project implementation. Funding partners hope that answering these questions will ultimately lead to increased confidence in proposed restoration project outcomes, clarification of the optimal site conditions in which to apply particular restoration techniques, information useful to regulatory agencies in project permitting, and information that will help guide monitoring programs.

What this funds & who can apply: Research to address one or more of the key restoration questions listed in the RFP. Both not-for-profit entities (academic institutions, non-profit organizations) and for-profit entities are permitted to apply.

Information Session: January 11 from 11 am to 12 pm webinar (link is here)

Potential applicant Q&A with review panel:  April 17 (11:30 am to 12:30 pm)

Review the RFP and apply online: https://cbtrust.org/restoration-research/

Deadline: February 21 at 4:00 pm

Four themes and ten research questions include the following:

Effectiveness of stormwater and stream restoration programs at the watershed/catchment scale

  • Watershed restoration assessment
  • Stormwater management assessment
  • Level of monitoring effort

Effectiveness of stream restoration practices at the project scale

  • Comparisons of water quality impact among stream restoration techniques, approaches (functions sought to be restored), or site conditions
  • Climate impacts to restoration practice
  • Emerging Pollutants: Thermal and salt
  • Invasive species

Impact of construction activities on natural resources

  • Minimizing Short- and Long-term Impacts of Stream Restoration Construction
  • Work in the wet vs work in the dry for stream restoration

Trade-offs in resource improvements incurred by restoration practices and the resulting net ecological change as measured by a common “currency”

  • Resource trade-offs in different types of restoration projects