This grant will support EPA's goal of ensuring clean and safe water for all communities through the development of a written report that identifies approaches for integrating land conservation…

This grant will support EPA's goal of ensuring clean and safe water for all communities through the development of a written report that identifies approaches for integrating land conservation within clean water programs. The grantee, open space institute land trust, INC. (OSI), will develop a written report that will serve as a technical and programmatic resource for state nonpoint source programs and other clean water partners interested in approaches for integrating land conservation within clean water programs. The report will include the following: (1) an assessment of the current state-of-practice, including existing models and barriers, for integrating land conservation in clean water initiatives, (2) an assessment of approaches for targeting land conservation for water quality, (3) a summary of approaches for evaluating water quality benefits of land conservation, and (4) recommendations for increasing collaboration between land conservation organizations and clean water programs. This report will primarily focus on the great lakes and eastern regions of the U.S. (EPA regions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) to align with OSI's geographic areas of expertise.activities:the activities to be performed include four primary tasks: (1) an assessment of the current state of practice, including identifying existing models and barriers, for integrating land conservation in clean water initiatives, (2) an assessment of best practices and example strategies for targeting land conservation for water quality, (3) an overview of approaches, including field-based and modeling-based methods, for evaluating water quality benefits of land conservation, and (4) recommendations for EPA, state clean water programs, and land conservation organizations to strengthen coordination between clean water programs and land conservation organizations.subrecipient:the grantee will provide a subaward to the stroud research center to support staff time contributing to the project activities. Specifically, stroud research center staff will provide technical support in implementing task 3 of the project: task 3 - summarizing approaches for evaluating water quality benefits of land conservation: an overview of approaches, including field-based and modeling-based methods, for evaluating water quality benefits of land conservation, based on the delaware river watershed initiative land protection impact assessment and other existing programs. In addition, task 3 aims to provide 'water quality metric' reference sheets that each provide an overview and methods for quantifying the water quality benefits of land protection projects.outcomes:the anticipated environmental output (deliverable) is a written report that identifies existing approaches and recommendations for integrating land conservation in clean water programs, based on a review of existing literature and program materials, stakeholder discussions, and OSI's experience implementing the delaware river watershed initiative, which may serve as a model program for integrating land protection in a basin-scale initiative to protect and retore water quality. The expected environmental outcome is an increase in water bodies achieving water quality standards resulting from more effective targeting of land conservation activities to protect and restore waters. The intended beneficiaries are state nonpoint source programs, as well as other clean water partners interested in approaches for integrating land conservation within clean water programs.