Pennsylvania DEP announces funding to protect Delaware Estuary Coastal Zone

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced on November 13, 2024, that 10 projects, totaling $402,021, aimed at protecting and restoring the Delaware Estuary Coastal Zone would be funded through grants.

The 112-mile Delaware Estuary coastal zone is in Bucks, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties and encompasses islands, marshes, and other areas in the Delaware Estuary watershed. It is the largest freshwater port in the world.

“The Delaware Estuary Coastal Zone is particularly challenged by increasing pressure from development, erosion, biodiversity loss and pollution,” said Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley in a press release. "I know the recipients of these grants will do amazing work to improve public access, preserve habitats, measure pollution impacts, and educate the public about the benefits of these coastal zones." 

Coastal zones are areas where land meets the coast and include both coastal waters and adjacent shorelands. Coastal Zone Grants are awarded to projects related to fisheries, wetlands, stormwater management improvements, recreation, public education, coastal hazards such as bluff recession, and other areas. Grants may also be awarded to other projects in the watershed that have an impact on coastal waters.

Approved projects include: 

Philadelphia County

• Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission: $50,000 to implement the Coastal Management Program in the Delaware Estuary Coastal Zone that includes Delaware, Philadelphia, and Bucks counties.
• Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission: $50,000 to continue outreach to municipalities in the Delaware Estuary Coastal Zone focused on climate resiliency and related hazard mitigation.
• John Bartram Association: $60,000 for the planning and design of the Riverfront Field Station and Welcome Center at Bartram’s Garden. This will complement the forthcoming recreational trail connecting the garden to the Schuylkill River Trail and downtown Philadelphia.
• Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Inc.: $74,912 to develop a freshwater mussel grow out pond network that will increase PDE’s ability to raise juvenal freshwater mussels for use in restoration activities in the Delaware Estuary.
• Delaware River City Corporation / Riverfront North Partnership: $50,000 to conduct a pond rehabilitation feasibility study at Pleasant Hill Park which will evaluate the health of the ponds and provide recommendations for rehabilitation and operations.
• Philadelphia City Treasurer City Planning Commission: $3,000 to purchase outreach materials and supplies for Eastwick Community Day, a day to engage residents around issues of flooding and resilience through a family-friendly resource fair.
• Friends of the Wissahickon: $55,200 to complete a streambank resiliency and flood study that will offer restoration recommendations and provide cost estimates for locations identified along Forbidden Drive and adjacent access trails in Wissahickon Valley Park that are most vulnerable to flooding, high levels of sediment discharge, or susceptible to streambank collapse.
• Schuylkill River Development Corporation: $23,400 to hire up to three Philadelphia area youth to conserve and maintain four miles of trail and 29 acres of greenway along Schuylkill Banks, which is the southernmost eight miles of the Schuylkill River Trail.
• Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Inc.: $62,000 to conduct Delaware Riverfest 2025 events to educate the public about coastal recreation, historic sites, and public access.

Delaware County

• Delaware County Planning Department: $23,500 to develop a vision plan for Delaware County’s waterfront which will include commerce, recreation, preserving natural resources and enabling municipalities with industrial zoning to pivot and utilize area for new opportunities.

Pennsylvania’s Coastal Resources Management Program (CRMP) receives an annual grant award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A portion of this award is used to fund eligible projects that address CRMP priorities.

The funds are distributed through sub-grant awards to local and state government agencies as well as nonprofit groups with projects located in the Delaware Estuary or Lake Erie Coastal Zones. Applications are accepted late August through mid-October with project funding awarded on or around October 1st of the following year.