This support will cover costs associated with plans to expand the Pennsylvania project's focus beyond Lake Erie to the Delaware River watershed, and add an applied research component to its program goals.
Plans call for extension staff to be placed in the Philadelphia area.
Staff will receive start-up support including computer equipment and other supplies, and funds to cover travel and communications. In the first phase of the expansion, staff will work with eastern Pennsylvania's environmental and economic experts to identify key watershed issues for which Sea Grant can provide leadership or resources. The programmatic expansion of Pennsylvania Sea Grant to include an applied research component will be done in stages. The grants will provide matching funds for applied research projects that directly impact the work of extension agents or support important environmental or economic issues in each region of the state. If adequate federal and state funding is available and project performance measures are realized, it is the Pennsylvania project's long-term goal to attain Sea Grant College status.