Heather Barrar (left) and Jen Sidleck, executive director of Friends of Chesterfield’s Riverfront, are pictured with their check.

Local riverfront conservation efforts recently got a boost, thanks to a grant awarded through the Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants program. The $20,100 grant, given to partners Chesterfield County and the Friends of Chesterfield’s Riverfront, will help the fledgling Riparian Stewardship Fund.

The fund is a joint effort between the county and non-profit organizations, explains Heather Barrar, Environmental Outreach Coordinator of the Office of Water Quality, and will give money to local businesses and industries to restore riparian buffers. The buffers, which are vegetated areas next to water sources, can reduce stream damage and vastly improve water quality.

“Right now, everyone is really interested in the environment, and this fund will be a great way to connect corporations back to the community,” says Barrar. “We were very excited to receive it, because the Riparian Stewardship Fund is something we’ve been wanting to work on.”

The Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grant is not the first that Chesterfield and the Friends have received. “Actually, we’ve gotten grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for about six years,” Barrar says. “We’d started the work on this with other NFWF grants, and this latest grant will allow us to continue with our efforts.”

The Chesapeake Bay Small Watersheds Grant program is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and funded primarily by the U.S. Environmental Chesapeake Bay Program Office, and is given out to organizations working to improve the condition of their local watershed. This year, Chesterfield County and the Friends of Chesterfield’s Riverfront were among 34 grant recipients across the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

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