The Chesapeake Bay Trust's $1.4 Million Design Fund Pays for the Step Most Restoration Projects Skip
November 7, 2026 · 6 min read
Granted Research Team · Editorial policy
Watershed restoration rarely stalls because nobody will pay to build it. Projects stall earlier, when no one will pay to design them. Maryland's construction-scale restoration money, including the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, generally goes to projects with engineered plans, permit paths, and pollutant-reduction estimates already in hand. A town, church, or homeowners association with a badly eroding stream bank usually has none of those, and can't afford the engineering fees, which often run to six figures, to produce them.
The Chesapeake Bay Trust's Watershed Assistance Grant Program (WAGP) is built to cover that gap. Its FY27 request for proposals, released September 9, 2026, offers design and planning grants of up to $150,000. Applications are due Wednesday, December 9, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. EST. The RFP says the portal "will close automatically and promptly" at that time and that "late applications will NOT BE ACCEPTED." Awards will be announced in March 2027.
How Much Money, and Where
The program is a partnership of the Trust, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Maryland Department of the Environment, and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The partners expect about $1.4 million for projects in Maryland and the eligible part of Pennsylvania, and about $60,000 for West Virginia. Additional funding may be available for projects in the City of Rockville, where city money can also support work focused on flooding and drainage. The RFP warns that final amounts depend "upon federal award amounts, executed partner agreements, and the availability of funds."
There are three eligible geographies:
- All of Maryland.
- The Chesapeake Bay watershed portion of West Virginia.
- The Octoraro Creek and Conowingo Creek watersheds in Chester and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania. MDE funds these projects, and they must align with the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan, the multistate effort to offset nutrient and sediment loads that the filled-in Conowingo Reservoir no longer traps.
West Virginia applicants should notice how small their share is. At $60,000, it could fund one large planning project or a single stream design, so a West Virginia proposal is competing for what may be one award.
Eligible applicants include municipal, county, and regional agencies; nonprofits; faith-based organizations; community and homeowners associations; soil conservation districts and RC&D councils; forestry boards; and public and independent colleges and universities. One line in the RFP says "all applicants must be a 501(c)(3) to be eligible for funding," which seems to conflict with listing government agencies as eligible. Local governments should ask program staff to clarify before filing. Applicants also need a SAM UEI number, because the money is federal and awards carry 2 CFR Part 200, 2 CFR Part 1500, and EPA general terms and conditions. If your organization doesn't have a UEI, register now. SAM registration can take weeks.
Two Tracks, Three Price Points
Track 1, Project Design, pays for "construction-ready designs" and permits:
- Up to $100,000 to design stormwater best management practices: bioretention, large rain gardens, low-impact development and environmental site design, submerged gravel wetlands, and agricultural BMPs.
- Up to $150,000 to design stream restoration, wetland and marsh creation or restoration, and living shorelines.
Track 2, Watershed Planning and Program Development, generally pays up to $75,000 for watershed assessments, action plans, surveys, studies, and financing strategies such as stormwater utility or fee analyses. Community-scale action plans for a school campus, park, or congregation's property are generally capped at $30,000. The RFP says the strongest Track 2 proposals will also request concept-level designs, up to 30 percent, for the plan's top-priority projects. That builds a pipeline straight into a future Track 1 request.
The RFP is clear about which track to choose. Track 1 applicants "should be ready to begin design of specific projects upon award." If you haven't identified a specific site, apply under Track 2. Proposals focused only on water quantity "will not be competitive," and projects aimed mainly at beach nourishment or public access "are unlikely to be competitive." The program is about nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment.
How the 100 Points Break Down
Reviewers score proposals on six criteria:
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Justification / project need | 20 |
| Likelihood of success and stakeholder involvement | 20 |
| Budget | 20 |
| Technical soundness and context | 15 |
| Long-term sustainability | 15 |
| Audience priority | 10 |
Budget is worth as much as project need, which is unusual for an environmental program. This year's RFP gives applicants benchmarks to measure themselves against. Appendix A lists historical design-phase cost-effectiveness ranges drawn from funded proposals in the last two rounds. For stream restoration, that is up to $740 per pound of nitrogen and up to $86 per pound of phosphorus reduced. Stormwater BMPs range from $550 to $30,000 per pound of nitrogen. Living shorelines run up to $1,100 per pound of nitrogen. For planning, the RFP notes costs "often range from $250 to $1,000 per acre." The ranges are explicitly "not automatic eligibility thresholds," but applicants must compare their own figures to them and explain any that fall outside. The Trust supplies a spreadsheet, the Green SIMPLE pollutant-load estimator, to produce those numbers. If you skip it, you are giving away points.
Match is "encouraged but not required." The RFP adds that it "may improve a proposal's overall competitiveness." Even in-kind staff time or a county's commitment to fund construction counts.
Five Moves That Separate Funded Proposals
1. Hold the pre-application meetings now. Under "likelihood of success," Track 1 reviewers ask whether the applicant "met with appropriate regulatory agencies and had a pre-application meeting." For Maryland projects that means MDE permitting staff. In West Virginia, it means WV DEP's stream-disturbance program. Separately, the Trust "strongly encourages" applicants to talk with its staff at least two weeks before the deadline, which means by November 25. Drop-in office hours are Thursdays at 1:00 p.m. on November 12 and 19.
2. Show that the project is already in an existing plan. The strongest design proposals target "priority project(s) identified in jurisdiction-wide or watershed-wide planning documents." If your site isn't in a county watershed action plan or doesn't rank near the top of one, the RFP requires additional justification. Appendix B points applicants to Maryland's and West Virginia's Phase III Watershed Implementation Plans and their 2026–2027 two-year milestones. Projects that advance those milestones "will be reviewed more favorably."
3. Get the landowner's agreement in writing. If you don't own the site, you need written confirmation that you can access it for design work and that the owner acknowledges construction access will follow. This step most often stalls HOA and faith-based projects, where boards meet monthly.
4. Describe the community, with sources. The 10-point "audience priority" criterion asks applicants to describe income levels, housing characteristics, and population density, and specifically to back them up with "Census data, local planning documents, publicly available indices." A paragraph built on cited data earns points that a general statement about an underserved area won't.
5. Plan for implementation funding before you design. The partners say they hope finished designs will be used to seek construction money from the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and other Bay Trust programs. If you expect to apply there or to claim TMDL credit, the RFP asks you to budget now for any sampling or modeling required by the Chesapeake Bay Program's BMP Expert Panel reports. Building those requirements into the design budget avoids redoing work later.
A Practical Warning About the Portal
The Trust has moved its applications from Blackbaud to a new SmartSimple portal. Past applicants' profiles were migrated, but they have to use "Forgot Password" with their old email to get in. The applicant profile requires an Executive Officer and a Project Leader. Both must be staff, board members, or other approved positions, not contractors. Consultants writing proposals for small organizations should plan for this. The RFP also warns that technical support may not be available on deadline day.
With $1.4 million spread across Maryland and a small Pennsylvania watershed, most awards will likely be in the five- and low-six-figure range. Grants this size often lead to the much larger construction awards that follow, and Granted can help you assemble the narrative, cost-effectiveness math, and letters of commitment before December 9.