Pennsylvania Most Effective Basins

The Pennsylvania Most Effective Basins Program will fund projects that accelerate implementation of cost-effective agricultural best management practices (“practices”) in selected basins of the Chesapeake Bay watershed of Pennsylvania. 

EPA and NFWF have identified a list eligible practices for the PA-MEB program, based on the demonstrated ability of these practices to yield relatively low-cost reductions in agricultural nitrogen loading. Notably, these eligible practices include both annual (i.e., “management”) practices that require ongoing implementation to yield creditable load reduction benefits in future years, as well as structural (i.e., “engineered”) practices that, once implemented, generate multiple years of creditable load reductions based on their continued performance on the landscape. Eligible practices include:

• Tillage Management
• Tree Planting
• Wetland Restoration
• Prescribed Grazing
• Animal Waste Management Systems
• Manure Incorporation
• Manure Injection
• Manure Transport
• Barnyard Runoff Control
• Loafing Lot Management
• Alternative Crops
• Retirement of Highly Erodible Land
• Cover Crops – Traditional
• Cover Crops – Commodity
• Forest and Grass Buffers
• Forest and Grass Buffers with Stream Exclusion Fencing
• Core Nutrient Management – Nitrogen
• Supplemental Nutrient Management – N Rate
• Supplemental Nutrient Management – N Placement
• Supplemental Nutrient Management – N Timing
• Soil and Water Conservation Plan

The Most Effective Basins Program will follow these priorities:

• Cost-Effectiveness for Agricultural Nitrogen Load Reductions
• Readiness to Proceed
• Conservation and Farm Management Co-Benefits