Restoring the Delaware River Basin

What We Do

Our Services

Authorized by Congress with the passage of the 2016 Delaware River Basin Conservation Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Delaware River Basin Restoration Program takes a non-regulatory approach to landscape-scale conservation: it is voluntary, incentive driven, and builds upon existing collaboration by partners throughout the four-state watershed.

The Program reflects a shared vision for conserving and restoring a network of lands and waters to support wildlife, and is guided by a strategic framework developed with partners to focus on conservation in four key areas: reducing flooding and runoff, restoring fish and wildlife habitats, improving water quality, and enhancing safe recreational access for the public.

Read the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program Framework to learn more about the program's vision, strategic goals, and focal areas. 

A wetland amidst green hills
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The Delaware River Basin Restoration Program builds on momentum for collaborative conservation in the watershed to address shared goals. 

Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund

In 2018, the Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation launched the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund as the first step toward advancing the goals of the Act. The Fund supports projects that address conservation needs today, and tomorrow. Watch this video to hear from partners about how the fund is helping to advance their work in the watershed. 

Delaware River Watershed Conservation Collaborative

In 2021, the Service facilitated the establishment of the Delaware River Watershed Conservation Collaborative (DRWCC), a voluntary partnership that will set funding priorities to ensure investments reflect shared goals and contribute to landscape-scale conservation gains.

You can read the Collaborative’s Mission and Vision document and read the Collaborative's By-Laws to learn more about this partnership. 

Our Projects and Initiatives

The Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund supports a diversity of projects that contribute to the social health and economic vitality of the communities in the Delaware River watershed. These grants will result in significant, measurable benefits for people and wildlife in the watershed. 

To date, the fund has awarded $55.1 million to 195 projects that support recreation, water quality, water management, and habitat. The grantees have generated $79.2 million in match, for a total conservation impact of $134.3 million. The projects have already resulted in tangible conservation outcomes, including:

  • 76 miles of streams restored
  • 1,339 acres of wetlands conserved and enhanced
  • 6,052 acres with public access
  • 29,321 acres of forest under improved management
Two orange backhoes beside a river
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Funding from the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund supported the removal of the Columbia Dam and subsequent habitat restoration in the Paulins Kill River, a tributary to the Delaware.

You can explore all of the funded projects in our interactive map, or view summaries below of the grant projects that have been funded each year:

Projects supported by the Fund complement and leverage investments by states and non-profit partners, including through the Highlands Conservation Act Grant Program to support land conservation, and the William Penn Foundation's Delaware River Restoration Fund grants to support restoration.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation administers the complementary Delaware River Restoration Fund and the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund through its Delaware River Program.

Our Laws and Regulations

Signed into law in December 2016, the Delaware River Basin Conservation Act responded to the need for federal, state, and local governments, and regional organizations, to come together to identify, prioritize, and implement restoration activities within the basin.

A group of people prepare to launch kayaks on a cobble river beach
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Improving recreational access is one of the priorities of the Service's Delaware River Basin Restoration program.

The Act established the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program, designed to support efforts to implement conservation, stewardship, and enhancement projects in four areas:

  1. Conserving and restoring fish and wildlife habitat
  2. Improving and sustaining water quality
  3. Upgrading water management, and reducing flood damage
  4. Enhancing recreational opportunities and public access

The program is supported by a diverse array of partners that are committed to a mission to improve ecological integrity throughout the basin, and in so doing, improve the economic health and quality of life for all citizens in the watershed.

Here are some key features of the Program:

  • The program is non-regulatory and intended to implement the requirements of the Act through coordinating conservation and restoration activities among partners to improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of existing and future work.
  • The program supports shared strategic priorities through a grant-funding mechanism for projects that will complement existing efforts, as funds are appropriated.
  • Program partners established a shared set of priorities to deliver science-based restoration and conservation activities in the Delaware River Basin with willing landowners.
  • The program is not intended to replace existing work and associated funding sources in the basin, but rather, to increase coordination between partner agencies, and identify unfunded conservation and restoration priorities in the basin that would be eligible to compete for program funds, as funds are appropriated.

Latest Stories and Topics

Stories
A view of a rolling hills and a river
Our Partners
America the Beautiful: Delaware River Watershed
Over the past two years, a critical funding source, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, has created tremendous opportunities to find, fund and further conservation work with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partners — states, federal agencies, Tribes, nonprofits and even private citizens.
Green-yellow marshes in the foreground lead to a tree-covered island, with a small pier.
Land Management
Landscape conservation, fish passage, and ecosystem restoration — Oh, my! 
There are three tricky terms that form the foundation of so much of the work we do: landscape conservation, fish passage and ecosystem restoration. Don’t hit the snooze button; let’s break these down, or “unpack” them — that’s popular jargon these days, right? 
Four tan-black-and-white birds with long gray bills probing sand for food at the beach
Habitat Restoration
Nearly $15 Million for Delaware River Basin Restoration
President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda Supports Watershed Conservation and Resilience in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York Through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
A landscape with a wetland and rolling green hills
Land Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Nearly $15 Million for Delaware River Basin Restoration
Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced more than $14.9 million in funding through the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, for 36 conservation projects in the Delaware River Watershed.
Six different mussels held by two hands
Wildlife Wonders
Helping hand for hard-working mussel  
We often covet mollusks simply for their shells. Some are swirled or spiraled, some are striped and banded, and others may seem rather plain and unassuming — tossed back to the water’s edge without thought — but have you ever thought about the living creatures that created them?
Small turtle stands among short grass and clovers.
Our Partners
The Service's Delaware program is growing habitat for bog turtles on New Jersey farms
With support from the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund, farmers in the Garden State are changing the way they manage their land to help threatened turtles feel more at home.
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