The Water's Role in Ecosystem Health protects, restores, and improves the Commonwealth's water resources as a strategic conduit for overall ecosystem health. The Commonwealth faces immediate environmental concerns such as sprawl, degraded habitats, and comprised water systems. We also face pressing global challenges, such as climate change, that require international and regional solutions. Our grantees have the opportunity to address issues at the local level while simultaneously contributing to the solution of larger scale problems.

The Trust seeks to fund "lessons" and models that, accumulated, may inform broad policies. We encourage grantees to cooperate with a range of both private and public entities and participate in multi-party relationships. We encourage innovative and sound approaches to managing our water and proposals of interest may involve a variety of strategies including (but not limited to) applied scientific research and management; conservation and restoration; technical assistance and training; collaborations with municipalities; monitoring programs; and educating the public to promote an informed and proactive citizenry. We also acknowledge that environmental education for "tomorrow's stewards" is extremely important, but choose to focus our environmental education efforts on The Environment as an Integrating Concept (EIC) implementation in schools and the formation of Regional Environmental Education Alliances (REEAs).

What the Trust is Looking for?

	Innovative projects that address multiple concerns such as: strategies that simultaneously control sprawl, reduce carbon emissons, and discourage further encroachment on important watershed issues;
	Building understanding in communites and among community leaders about the cost of allowing water resource basins to fall into stressed condition; encouraging proactive and regional solutions to the problem;
	Building understanding in communites and among community leaders about the effect of climate change and sprawl impacts on water resources; encourageing proactive local and regional solutions to the problem;
	Promoting and practicing water conservation;
	Monitoring marine, estuarine, and freshwater systems for pollutants and/or flow issues;
	Focusing on smart growth and/or low impact development (in particular, the reduction of impervious surfaces) through outreach, demonstration projects, applied reserach studies, and vegetative buffers;
	Promoting best mangement practices for potentially harmful activities taking place in sensitive ecological areas (i.e. road salt).

Addressing point and non-point source pollution by identifying the pollutants, finding the source of pollution, and working with the necessary parties to resolve the problem.

• State Laws require that no funds can be used in support of political or religious organizations. Funds may only be used for public purposes outlined to meet MET goals. Aplicants should consult 815 CMR 2.00 (state regualtions governing grant funding to non-public entities at http://www.mass.gov/osc/Regs/Regs.html.)