The Peru Gazette

Grand Isle, VT – The Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) seeks proposals for a program that will implement innovative enhancements to best management practices (BMPs) on farms in the New York portion of the Lake Champlain Basin in 2022. These enhanced BMPs will help reduce phosphorus runoff, a prominent threat to clean water in Lake Champlain. Up to $50,000 is available to support the program.

Innovative enhancements to BMPs are practices that go beyond the required benchmarks and fulfill advanced conservation components of a farm’s environmental management plan. The grant is intended to fund practices in nutrient management, cropland conservation and pasture management that are often under-supported.

The program will focus on practices that are tailored to the specific conditions of individual farms. The enhanced BMPs will help meet the goals of the farms’ New York Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) Tier 3 plan by reducing phosphorus pollution and improving farm viability.

The successful applicant will provide outreach to and identification of farmers near or adjacent to water bodies in the New York portion of the Lake Champlain, provide technical assistance and implement BMP enhancements, and document projects.

This work will help achieve the Clean Water and Healthy Ecosystem goals of LCBP’s long-term management plan Opportunities for Action (plan.lcbp.org). It is supported by funds awarded to NEIWPCC on behalf of the LCBP by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Proposals are due January 28, 2022 at 12pm EST. The full request for proposals is available on the LCBP website at lcbp.org/grants. For more information, contact Myra Lawyer at (518) 897-1241 ormyra.lawyer@dec.ny.gov.