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CBEP Resilience & Monitoring Grants
Casco Bay Estuary Partnership Awards Grants to Build Resilience
Casco Bay Estuary Partnership (CBEP) has awarded more than $321,000 to twelve communities and nonprofit organizations in the Casco Bay Watershed. CBEP is providing these funds through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
“These projects empower local communities to tackle climate challenges while contributing valuable data to guide future action,ˮ said Curtis Bohlen, CBEP Executive Director.
Grantees and projects:
- Bowdoin College: Establishing a long-term water quality monitoring station in Harpswell Sound at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center.
- Brunswick Topsham Land Trust: Upper Middle Bay Marsh (Brunswick) resiliency project
- City of Portland, Office of Economic Opportunity: Bridging cultures for climate resilience: A community needs assessment
- Downeast Institute: Extending the soft-shell clam recruitment monitoring network throughout Casco Bay
- Freeport Conservation Trust: Cousins River marsh restoration project
- Gateway Community Services Maine: Building youth capacity for environmental monitoring and climate leadership
- Island Institute: The Casco Bay Islands Resilience Collective: Strengthening Casco Bay Island collaboration for shoreline resilience and nature-based solutions
- Kennebec Estuary Land Trust: Evaluating and planning for remediation of agricultural impacts in the Casco Bay marshes of Phippsburg and West Bath
- Maine Audubon: Harraseeket River CoastWise Planning – Frost Gully Brook and Mill Stream Tidal Crossings
- Maine Coast Heritage Trust: Monitoring Support for Casco Bay Estuary Salt Marsh Restoration
- Maine Rivers: Restoring Connectivity in the Royal River Watershed: Development of an Action Plan
- Peaks Island Action Team (PEAT): Peaks Island Working Group Formation
- University of Southern Maine: Increasing capacity to monitor nutrients and road salts in the Casco Bay Watershed.
Community Grants Program
CBEP Awards Spring 2025 Community Grants
CBEP has awarded a total of nearly $40,000 in grants for nine projects that engage people and communities with Casco Bay and its watershed.
“These projects bring students and community members together in ways that foster a deeper connection to the vital resources of Casco Bay,” said Victoria Boundy, CBEP’s Community Engagement Coordinator. “When people experience the Bay firsthand, they’re far more likely to become passionate, informed environmental stewards for life.”
CBEP is awarding funds to the following communities and organizations:
- Atlantic Black Box, $4,000, Walk for Historical & Ecological Recovery (WHERE) – Freeport.
- Baxter Academy of Portland, Maine, $4,661, Baxter Academy Environmental Leadership Program
- Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District, $5,000, Wastewater Education Series
- Friends of the Presumpscot River, $4,000, Introducing: The Presumpscot River!
- Freeport High School $5,000, FHS Educational Lease Site
- Intercultural Community Center, $5,000, The Wonders of Water: Exploring Casco Bay
- Lisbon High School, $3,100, Casco Bay
- City of South Portland, $2,715, Resilient Yards Program
- Town of Phippsburg Marine Working Group, $5,000, Coastal Pathways: RSU1 Marine Learning Program
