CHNEP partners asked to submit project information for annual EPA report

Dear CHNEP Resource Managers, Technical Partners and Stewardship Coordinators,

As we do each summer, we're asking you to share your land acquisition and habitat restoration projects from this past year from throughout our watershed - so we can report your accomplishments to EPA and also help secure future federal funding support for the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program.

To help capture as many of your accomplishments as we can, would you please provide basic information about of your "favorite" (top 4-8) land acquisition and habitat restoration projects that you began (or plan to begin) during this past year (Oct. 1, 2015 - Sept. 30, 2016)? Yes, I know we are asking for a time period that hasn't happened yet, but that is the time frame EPA requires.

We need your project information by Fri. Aug. 19, 2016 to include it in our EPA NEPORT report which is due in early September. Hopefully, this will "only" take you about 1 hour to complete. To make it easier to describe your projects, there is a blank Excel table available; you can simply enter the information into the file and email it back to me. To request a copy of the Excel file, email me at jott@chnep.org.

Types of information we need about your projects include:

• Project Name
• Habitat Description
• Project Description
• Lead Implementer & Other Project Partners
• Acres
• Lat/Long or Address
• Estimated Project Cost & Funding Source
• Site ownership
• Project Start Date

Types of restoration projects include:

• native upland, wetland & submerged habitat restoration,
• hydrologic restoration,
• exotic plant & animal removal,
• prescribed fire,
• others

While this is another task in your very busy schedules (for which I apologize), it is an excellent opportunity to show-case your amazing accomplishments on a national level.

I'll contact key staff from our partner organizations directly in the next couple of weeks, but any contacts and/or projects you can provide by Aug. 19 would be greatly appreciated!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at jott@chnep.org or (941) 575-3385.

Thank you again for all you do!

Sincerely,
Judy Ott
Program Scientist, M.S., Licensed Captain
Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program
326 W. Marion Ave., Punta Gorda, FL 33950
(941) 575-3385 jott@chnep.org

Learn more about the CHNEP, including the program's plan and guiding documents, at www.CHNEP.org.