Maryland DNR now accepting grant applications for Fiscal Year 2027
Funds provided through DNR’s Grants Gateway portal helped restore Lake Marion in Anne Arundel County, which now drains more than 113 acres of impervious surface in the Severn River watershed among other benefits. Maryland DNR photo.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Grants Gateway application is open for local governments and organizations for Fiscal Year 2027, which begins July 1, 2026.
Through this process, DNR connects Maryland communities with funding for projects and programs that improve water quality in local waterways, increase communities’ resilience to storms and climate change, strengthen local economies, develop environmental stewards, and benefit the general boating public.
The department’s Grants Gateway provides a streamlined, single point of entry to several state and federal programs, and one loan program to make it easier for applicants to apply for funding to support their environmentally-beneficial projects.
Recently completed projects funded through Grants Gateway include:
- Restoring 2,300 linear feet of Piney Run in Baltimore County, which included the planting of 5.6 acres of riparian buffer. This project, managed by the Land Preservation Trust, corrected significant alterations to the stream since the 1960s that had disrupted its natural flow. Located in a Maryland trout watershed, has revitalized habitat for fish and amphibians and stabilized the stream banks against erosion.
- Restoring Lake Marion in the Severn River watershed, which provides a 341.6-acre drainage area creating new habitat, safely carrying storm flows into the lake and stream system and treating the storm water runoff. The project, led by Arundel Rivers Federation, retrofits the existing stormwater management pond and helps Anne Arundel County meet its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) pollutant removal requirements.
Grants are made possible with funding through the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, the Waterway Improvement Fund, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program, and the Shore Erosion Loan Program.
The applications are listed by outcomes as described on the Grants Gateway page. Applicants should be aware that state and federal funding limitations have impacted some outcomes.
A virtual webinar overviewing each outcome and their program details will be held on August 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Applicants are encouraged to attend, registration and more details are online. More information on all grant programs can be found on DNR’s Grants Gateway page.
