EPA has awarded $209,800 in wetlands grant funding to North Dakota State University to assess ecosystem health of the Prairie Pothole Region, supporting North Dakota’s Water Quality Monitoring Strategy for Surface Waters.
“ This grant will support restoration of North Dakota’s unique wetlands, which are an important source of groundwater recharge ,” said Darcy O’Connor, Assistant Regional Administrator of the Office of Water Protection.
The aim of the project is to assess success of prior wetlands restorations in North Dakota and to provide guidelines for restoration monitoring. This effort helps address the state’s goal of refining and applying wetland assessment methods to evaluate the effectiveness of wetland mitigation and restoration programs and projects.
EPA has awarded over $2.5 million in wetlands grant funding for 11 projects across EPA’s mountains and plains region of the West (Region 8).
Wetlands Program Development Grants assist state, tribal, local government agencies, and interstate/intertribal entities in building programs that protect, manage, and restore wetlands and aquatic resources.