Delaware River Basin Restoration is sponsored by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. This funding provides competitive matching grants for habitat conservation to eligible entities in the Delaware River Basin. The fund supports projects that conserve and restore habitats.

Delaware River Basin Restoration | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Delaware River Basin Restoration Restoring the Delaware River Basin Authorized by Congress with the passage of the 2016 Delaware River Basin Conservation Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Delaware River Basin Restoration Program takes a non-regulatory approach to landscape-scale conservation: it is voluntary, incentive driven, and builds upon existing collaboration by partners throughout the four-state watershed.

The Program reflects a shared vision for conserving and restoring a network of lands and waters to support wildlife, and is guided by a strategic framework developed with partners to focus on conservation in four key areas: reducing flooding and runoff, restoring fish and wildlife habitats, improving water quality, and enhancing safe recreational access for the public.

Read the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program Framework to learn more about the program's vision, strategic goals, and focal areas. The Delaware River Basin Restoration Program builds on momentum for collaborative conservation in the watershed to address shared goals.

Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund In 2018, the Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation launched the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund as the first step toward advancing the goals of the Act. The Fund supports projects that address conservation needs today, and tomorrow. Watch this video to hear from partners about how the fund is helping to advance their work in the watershed.

Delaware River Watershed Conservation Collaborative In 2021, the Service facilitated the establishment of the Delaware River Watershed Conservation Collaborative (DRWCC), a voluntary partnership that will set funding priorities to ensure investments reflect shared goals and contribute to landscape-scale conservation gains.

Our Projects and Initiatives The Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund supports a diversity of projects that contribute to the social health and economic vitality of the communities in the Delaware River watershed. These grants will result in significant, measurable benefits for people and wildlife in the watershed. To date, the fund has awarded $85.

5 million to 270 projects that support recreation, water quality, water management, and habitat. The grantees have generated $120 million in match, for a total conservation impact of $205. 6 million.

Collectively, these projects have already resulted in tangible conservation outcomes, including: 30 miles of riparian riparian Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.

Learn more about riparian habitat and 79 miles of streams restored 983 acres of wetlands and 129 acres of floodplain conserved and enhanced 9,879 acres with new or improved public access 36,053 acres of forest under improved management Funding from the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund supported the removal of the Columbia Dam and subsequent habitat restoration in the Paulins Kill River, a tributary to the Delaware.

You can explore all of the funded projects in our interactive map , or view summaries below of the grant projects that have been funded each year: 2018 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant slate 2019 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant slate 2020 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant slate 2021 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant slate 2022 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant slate 2023 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant slate 2024 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant slate 2025 Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund grant slate Projects supported by the Fund complement and leverage investments by states and non-profit partners, including through the Highlands Conservation Act Grant Program to support land conservation, and the William Penn Foundation's Delaware River Restoration Fund grants to support restoration.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation administers the complementary Delaware River Restoration Fund and the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund through its Delaware River Program .

Signed into law in December 2016, the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act responded to the need for federal, state, and local governments, and regional organizations, to come together to identify, prioritize, and implement restoration activities within the basin. Improving recreational access is one of the priorities of the Service's Delaware River Basin Restoration program.

The Act established the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program, designed to support efforts to implement conservation, stewardship, and enhancement projects in four areas: Conserving and restoring fish and wildlife habitat Improving and sustaining water quality Upgrading water management, and reducing flood damage Enhancing recreational opportunities and public access The program is supported by a diverse array of partners that are committed to a mission to improve ecological integrity throughout the basin, and in so doing, improve the economic health and quality of life for all citizens in the watershed.

Here are some key features of the Program: The program is non-regulatory and intended to implement the requirements of the Act through coordinating conservation and restoration activities among partners to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of existing and future work.

The program supports shared strategic priorities through a grant-funding mechanism for projects that will complement existing efforts, as funds are appropriated. Program partners established a shared set of priorities to deliver science-based restoration and conservation activities in the Delaware River Basin with willing landowners.

The program is not intended to replace existing work and associated funding sources in the basin, but rather, to increase coordination between partner agencies, and identify unfunded conservation and restoration priorities in the basin that would be eligible to compete for program funds, as funds are appropriated. Latest Stories and Topics $12.

5 million awarded to partners for Delaware River watershed conservation The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, announced $12. 5 million in funding from the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund to support 30 partner-led conservation projects in the Delaware River watershed.

Building capacity to take down derelict dams With support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy is introducing more professionals to the fast-growing field of dam removal.

Scaling up brook trout conservation in the Delaware River watershed Partners received funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund and the Department of the Interior’s America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative to support interstate brook trout conservation in the Delaware River watershed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Mark Major Milestones for the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation today joined elected officials, funding partners and grantees to mark 7 years of vital conservation projects made possible through the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund.

Grant grows green schoolyards in Philadelphia Funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will transform asphalt schoolyards in Philadelphia into learning environments that help manage stormwater. Bringing nature back to east Philadelphia's waterfront Service funds community led project to revitalize waterfront in East Philadelphia.