Hoyer Announces Major Grant Funding for Chesapeake Gateway Projects
Calvert County, MD – Congressman Steny Hoyer (MD-05) announced at the Calvert Marine Museum today more than $264,000 of grant funding for Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network projects in Southern Maryland. Congressman Hoyer worked with other members of the regional Congressional delegation to establish the program.
"Southern Maryland is blessed with breathtaking natural beauty, and this funding will help make the Chesapeake Bay more enjoyable and more accessible to local citizens. I am confident that the institutions receiving these grants will make excellent use of the funds to enhance the Bay area for generations to come," Hoyer said.
The Chesapeake Bay Gateways Networks was authorized by the Chesapeake Bay Initiative Act of 1998, and is operated as a partnership between the National Park Service and the Chesapeake Bay Program. The Network includes over 140 parks, wildlife refuges, museums, historic communities and trails in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Gateways are places through which people can experience and learn about the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. The National Park Service provides matching grants to Chesapeake Bay Gateways for high-quality interpretation, access, or conservation and restoration projects. These grants help enhance the public's ability to learn and enjoy the Chesapeake's stories and significance, explore its natural and cultural resources, and become involved in helping conserve and restore the Bay and its watershed.
In 2005, the National Park Service will award almost $1.6 million in grant funding, with 28 grants to Gateways throughout the Bay watershed, including 17 in Maryland. The five grants being awarded to the 5th District total more than $264,000, including $9,500 to the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, $23,110 to the Captain Salem Avery House in Shady Side (award goes to Shady Side Rural Heritage Society), $111,987 to Historic St. Mary's City, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (award goes to Pennsylvania State University in partnership with HSMC, the Museum, and Smithsonian Institution), $100,000 to the Piney Point Lighthouse Museum and Park in Piney Point (award goes to St. Mary's County) and $20,000 to St. Clement's Island Potomac River Museum in Colton's Point (award goes to St. Mary's County). In Fiscal Year 2006, Congress appropriated $1.5 million for the Gateways Network in the Interior Appropriations Bill.
Hoyer was joined by Jonathan Doherty, the Network's Director, and representatives of the Chesapeake Bay Gateways in Maryland's 5th District to receive the grant funding.
###