The President’s Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Includes $29 Million for Land Conservation Across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Annapolis, MD – Today, the Chesapeake Conservancy applauded the Obama Administration for including $29 million in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget to fund land conservation across the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The proposed budget would provide funding through the Land and Water Conservation Fund to protect significant wildlife habitat and historical sites in Maryland and Virginia. It will be up to the Congress to ensure that the funds for all of these projects are appropriated.

A significant driver for the Chesapeake’s listing in the President’s budget was the Rivers of the Chesapeake Collaborative Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) proposal. The Chesapeake Conservancy served as a lead nonprofit partner in this proposal, which focuses on the great rivers of the Chesapeake Bay; the Potomac, Rappahannock, James, York, Nanticoke, and Susquehanna Rivers and their watersheds.

Fiscal Year 2017 will be the second year in a row that the President’s budget has included significant funding for land conservation in the Chesapeake region. Following House & Senate votes in December, the federal budget for 2016 included nearly $11 million for land conservation in the Chesapeake and $2 million for supporting a range of public access and conservation efforts along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail through the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Program.

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