The Chautauqua County is requesting applications for its 2026 In-Lake Grant Program.
Donor Name: Chautauqua County
State: New York
County: Chautauqua County (NY)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/01/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
In-Lake Grant Program will deliver funding for “in-lake” maintenance needs on Bear, Cassadaga, Findley, Chautauqua, and Lake Erie. The funding can be used for shoreline maintenance, mechanical or biological submerged aquatic vegetation management, chemical submerged aquatic vegetation management, invasive species management, harmful algal bloom mitigation, dredging and flood mitigation, and “unique project” to encourage the implementation of new in-lake projects that are likely to have a positive impact on tourism and creation but may not fit into the above project categories.
Project Categories
Since each of Chautauqua County’s lakes have different needs, it is unrealistic to establish a single scoring rubric that can be applied equitably across all lakes and all project categories without bias. The following examples illustrate this challenge:
- Excessive submerged aquatic vegetation (SAVs) impairs the use of some of the lakes for tourism and recreation, and the ability to manage SAVs is often limited to available funding. Competitive funding from the In-Lake Program might be used to expand and improve existing SAV management programs or simply offset annual costs. Project metrics could include tons of SAVs removed or acreage treated.
- Excessive sedimentation impairs the functionality of boat launches, marinas and promotes flooding at tributary inlets, which impairs tourism and recreation. Dredging to remove the sediments is expensive and requires engineering services, environmental permits, and implementation expenses, often over several years. Competitive funding from the In-Lake Program might be used to reimburse these costs, but there are no annual costs to offset. Project metrics could include minimum depth, tons of sediment dredged, aerial extent or reductions in flood damages.
- Invasive Species sometimes displace native species creating nuisance conditions that render the lakes unnavigable and un-swimmable, which has a negative impact on tourism and recreation. Prevention is a wise investment because it is proactive, rather than reactive and is less costly than eradication. Eradication is rarely 100% successful and typically requires continuous monitoring, subsequent treatment activities and may require several years of funding. Prevention and monitoring may have annual costs, but costs for eradication and follow up treatments would likely be periodic and based on the size of the infestation. Metrics could include number of boats inspected or decontaminated, tons of invasives removed, aerial extent of treatment or percent reductions of the target species.
- Additionally, new or unique in-lake projects may serve a need not previously realized and have positive impacts on tourism and recreation, but they may also have project outcomes for which no metrics have been defined.
Funding Information
The minimum grant amount available is $5,000 and the maximum grant amount is $50,000.
Grant Period
- Funding for projects will not be available any earlier than January 1, 2026.
- All projects will be finished by December 31, 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
- Not-for-profit organizations.
- Governmental agencies.
- Businesses and corporations.
- All landowners of Chautauqua County.
For more information, visit Chautauqua County.
