The Natural Climate Solutions Grant program is designed to fund on-the-ground implementation of projects that create, restore, and enhance New Jersey’s natural carbon sinks, such as salt marshes, seagrass beds, forests, urban parks and woodlands, and street trees.
Donor Name: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
State: New Jersey
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 08/15/2022
Grant Size: $5,000,000
Grant Duration: 3 years
Details:
This funding is made available due to New Jersey’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which provides the State with auction proceeds to invest in programs and projects designed to help meet its climate, clean energy, and equity goals.
Project Categories
- Living Shorelines
- Living shorelines are a shoreline management practice that addresses the loss of vegetated shorelines, beaches, and habitat in the littoral zone by providing for the protection, restoration, or enhancement of these habitats. Eligible projects will focus on protecting the erosion of carbon rich soils in tidal wetlands.
- Restoring Tidal Flows in Tidal Wetlands
- Projects restoring tidal flow to wetlands have many benefits. Eligible projects will focus on increasing salinity to decrease methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) production. In some cases, restoring tidal flow may also target increased sedimentation and vegetation cover.
- Tidal Salt Marsh Vegetation Restoration
- Eligible projects will increase the cover of native salt marsh vegetation in brackish and salt water tidal wetlands to increase the carbon sequestration.
- Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Restoration
- Eligible projects will increase the cover of native submerged aquatic vegetation in waters with salinity over 18 parts per thousand to increase carbon sequestration.
- Forest and Woodland Restoration
- Eligible projects will establish or reestablish forest communities and reset carbon sequestration trajectories with resilient native vegetation. Such projects may occur in existing degraded forests or former agricultural fields or other deforested areas. Generally, a degraded forest is a forest that has lost its capacity to provide important functions and values to people and nature.
- Urban Forest Canopy and Water Quality Enhancement
- Eligible projects will establish and maintain trees and reduce impervious cover and stormwater runoff, while promoting ground water recharge, in urban areas. Urban land includes land with houses, buildings and pavement, and other areas that are essentially impervious to infiltration of rainfall.
Funding Information
- Total Funding Available $15,000,000
- Funding Min Per Project $250,000
- Funding Cap Per Project $5,000,000
- Project Scope Duration 3 Years
Eligibility Criteria
- State, county, and local government units within New Jersey, including State government agencies or school boards;
- New Jersey universities and colleges;
- Interstate agencies of which New Jersey is a member;
- Private landowners owning property in New Jersey (note: private property project must provide matching funds);
- Nonprofit organizations recognized by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code authorized to operation in the State of New Jersey.
For more information, visit New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
