Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program
If you are interested in being a part of the Pontchartrain Restoration Program’s Management Conference and working to restore the ecological health of the Basin by voting on which restoration and preservation activities and projects should be funded to provide the most benefits to the Basin’s environmental health and its residents, please click on the link to submit your application for consideration.
The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program (PRP) was authorized by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act of 2000; Clean Water Act, Section 121 which amended the Federal Water Pollution Control Act; the first grant was awarded in 2002.
The purpose of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program (PRP) is to restore the ecological health of the Basin by developing and funding restoration projects and related scientific and public education projects to reduce the risk of pollution. Program activities vary, but typically include ecosystem and habitat restoration, water quality improvements, nutrient reduction, increased resiliency to environmental changes, environmental education & outreach, and local capacity building to address environmental concerns. For more information, please see the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program website.
Project activities may include:
• Developing and funding restoration project and related scientific and public education projects.
• Continuing to implement the plans and studies identified in the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Program Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP).
• Continuing activities to preserve, enhance or restore waters for recreational use.
• Supporting the Comprehensive Habitat Management Plan (CHMP) which prioritizes significant habitat restoration and flood protection.
• Performing educational activities for the public
Purpose of the Program
Lake Pontchartrain Basin is a 10,000 square mile watershed that encompasses 16 Louisiana parishes and 4 Mississippi counties. The Basin is the center of southeastern LA’s unique cultural heritage. With almost 2.1 million residents, including rural farming communities, metropolitan New Orleans, and the fishing, shrimping, crabbing, and oyster industries, the area is brimming with a diversity of people bound by a common interest: the desire for clean and healthy waters in the Pontchartrain Basin.
Projects funded under the PRP are guided by the plans and studies identified by the Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) and are also supported by the Comprehensive Habitat Management Plan (CHMP). Projects are created with the goal to restore the ecological health of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin.
Geographic Focus Area
Applicant Eligibility
Federal, state, interstate, local governments, Tribal governments (must be federally recognized), regional water pollution control agencies, and other public or nonprofit private agencies, institutions, and organizations, public and private institutions of higher education. Eligible applicants may be located outside of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin, but projects must be located inside the Lake Pontchartrain geographic focus areas (Section II).
Private profit-making entities, and individuals are not eligible. Non-profit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code that engage in lobbying activities as defined in Section 3 of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 are not eligible.
For more information regarding the Pontchartrain Restoration Program, contact
Blair Bourgeois
(504) 280-1044
PRPgrant@thebeachuno.org
