Exploring and Enhancing Outdoor and Heritage Tourism in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed 2026 Grant

DOI-NPS

About this grant

The National Park Service Chesapeake Gateways program is offering a competitive grant opportunity to strengthen a community's ability to offer or enhance outdoor recreation and natural, historical, and cultural tourism that connects visitors and residents to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, as authorized by the Chesapeake Bay Initiative Act of 1998. The program aims to encourage outdoor recreation and natural, historical, and cultural tourism that expands access to and awareness of the watershed and fosters economic development of communities. The grant has three stated objectives: enhancing outdoor recreation and natural, historical, and cultural tourism in the Chesapeake Bay watershed; supporting projects that link outdoor and heritage tourism to economic impact; and celebrating gateway communities that invite locals and visitors to explore authentic Chesapeake Gateways Places and stories. The Chesapeake Gateways Network is a network of places offering outdoor recreation and authentic natural, historical, and cultural experiences, including diverse recreational, natural, cultural, and historical sites, trails, museums, parks, wildlife refuges, and interpretive facilities. These places serve as entry points for experiencing the watershed. Funded activities must take place within the watershed; projects outside it are ineligible. The opportunity anticipates 26 awards from an estimated total program funding of $1,000,000, with individual awards between $10,000 and $50,000. No cost sharing or matching is required.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include state governments, city or township governments, special district governments, county governments, independent school districts, public and private institutions of higher education, public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal governments (federally recognized) and tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments), nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status, for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. The applicant must be a non-federal Chesapeake Gateways Network member (Place, Experience, Community, or Programmatic Partner), obtained through self-nomination via the Chesapeake Gateways Network portal. Projects must take place within the Chesapeake Bay watershed (counties listed in Appendix A). Foreign entities and projects conducted outside the United States are not eligible. Entities and key project personnel are screened against the SAM.gov Exclusions database.

Key requirements

• ✓Project activities must take place within the Chesapeake Bay watershed; projects outside it are ineligible
• ✓Must advance outdoor recreation and natural, historical, or cultural tourism linked to the watershed and to local economic development
• ✓Awards range from $10,000 to $50,000 with no cost sharing or matching required; deadline 2026-11-04

Funder contact

The notice names a programme contact you can speak to before applying.

Frequently asked questions

How much funding does DOI-NPS offer?

Exploring and Enhancing Outdoor and Heritage Tourism in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed offers $10K – $50K.

When is the Exploring and Enhancing Outdoor and Heritage Tourism in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed deadline?

Applications close 5 Nov 2026 04:59.

Who can apply for Exploring and Enhancing Outdoor and Heritage Tourism in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed?

Eligibility covers organisations in US; nonprofit, local-authority, community-group, university. See the eligibility criteria above for the full conditions.

Relevant sectors

About this sector

Biodiversity funding backs habitat restoration, species protection, protected areas and nature-positive business. It comes from environment agencies, multilateral nature funds and conservation philanthropy, often through competitive calls with defined regions. Applicants are usually asked for baseline surveys, local partners and indicators that show ecological change.