The Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Grant Program seeks projects to mitigate environmental impacts caused by new or modified public transportation facilities.
Donor Name: California Natural Resources Agency
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/16/2025
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
This program was created by California Streets and Highways Code Section 164.56, which authorizes the legislature to allocate up to $6.7 million each fiscal year from the Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program Fund for environmental enhancement and mitigation projects that are directly or indirectly related to the environmental impact of modifying existing transportation facilities or for the design, construction, or expansion of new transportation facilities.
EEM projects must mitigate, either directly or indirectly, the environmental impacts caused by construction of a new transportation facility or the modification of an existing transportation facility. Examples of transportation facilities include, but are not limited to, city streets, highways, trains, ports, airports, light rail lines, mass transit stations, park and ride facilities, and high occupancy vehicle lanes.
Funding Information
Grants for individual projects are generally limited to $750,000 each.
Eligible Projects
- Urban Forestry
- Planting of trees and other plants along urban streets and medians
- Greening existing public lands and structures, including school campuses and urban parks
- Greening vacant lots and abandoned sites
- Restoration of urban creeks
- Resource Lands
- Removal of invasive vegetation and restoration of natural plant species
- Enhancement or restoration of natural areas such as inland wetlands, forests, oak woodlands, mountain meadows, creeks, and streams with riparian or riverine fish or wildlife habitat, wildlife corridors and fish passages, coastal estuaries, grazing land and grasslands
- Acquisitions in fee title or through conservation easements to safeguard regional water supplies, protect riparian and wildlife habitats, conserve agricultural lands for secure wildlife migration corridors and other purposes, and provide public access for compatible wildlife/nature-oriented recreation by the wider community
- Acquisitions to preserve in perpetuity Resource Lands for agricultural uses, open space, wetlands, biodiversity, etc.
- Mitigation Projects Beyond the Scope of the Lead Agency: Any of the project examples listed under Urban Forestry and Resource Lands categories may be eligible under the Mitigation Projects Beyond the Scope of the Lead Agency category, if the mitigation or enhancement measures for the RTF were either not feasible or beyond the jurisdiction and/or authority of the Lead Agency for the RTF.
Eligibility Criteria
- Local, state, and federal agencies and 501(c)(3) nonprofit entities may apply for and receive grants. Federally recognized Native American tribes are eligible as local agencies. The applicant entity is not required to be a transportation- or highway-related organization but must be able to demonstrate adequate charter or enabling authority to carry out the type of project proposed and be eligible for funding under Article XIX of the State Constitution. Partnerships are encouraged; however, a project proposal can only be submitted by one entity
- Nonprofit organizations are defined as any nonprofit public benefit corporation that is formed pursuant to the Nonprofit Corporation Law (commencing with Section 5000 of the Corporations Code), qualified to do business in California, and qualified under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. In addition, all nonprofit organizations must be registered and current with the California Secretary of State and the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General Registry of Charities and Fundraisers. If a nonprofit organization is not qualified under Section 501(c)(3) and operates under the fiscal sponsorship of a qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the fiscal sponsor must be the grant applicant.
For more information, visit CNRA.
