Photo of a lake. Credit: Janice Rowan/USFWS

Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund

Grants for projects involving river restoration; wetland protection, restoration and enhancement; and shoreland protection are available.

Application deadlines are September 30, 2005, for concept papers and November 30, 2005, for full applications. A complete copy of the application packet, as well as a list of previous grant awards from the Fund, can be found at http://www.nhcf.org/uppervalley.

The Fund is administered by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and the Vermont Community Foundation, with grant recommendations provided by a 12-person advisory committee. Over a 15-year period, the Fund is expected to provide approximately $12 million in grants.

More than $2 million in grants have been awarded in the Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund's first three years. The Fund was created as part of a settlement agreement between the parties involved in the federal process of awarding a new operating license for three hydroelectric dams on the Connecticut River at Fifteen Mile Falls near Littleton, N.H., and Ryegate, Vt.

For more information on the Fund or the grantmaking program, contact Kevin Peterson at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Upper Valley Region, at (603) 653-0387 or kp@nhcf.org. Visit the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation at: http://www.nhcf.org. Visit the Vermont Community Foundation at: http://www.vermontcf.org or call (802) 388-3355.