Exploring and Enhancing Outdoor and Heritage Tourism in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed | P27AS00032

Opportunity Information: Apply for P27AS00032

The National Park Service (NPS), through its Chesapeake Gateways program, is offering a competitive grant opportunity called Exploring and Enhancing Outdoor and Heritage Tourism in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (Funding Opportunity Number P27AS00032). The overall goal is to encourage outdoor recreation and natural, historical, and cultural tourism that helps more people access, understand, and value the Chesapeake Bay watershed while also supporting local economic development. In practical terms, the program is looking to fund projects that make it easier and more appealing for residents and visitors to experience the Bay watershed through recreation, heritage, and place-based storytelling, and to help communities translate that increased visitation and engagement into economic benefits.

This opportunity is grounded in the idea of the Chesapeake Gateways network, which is a system of places and partners that serve as entry points for exploring the watershed. Chesapeake Gateways sites and partners can include trails, museums, parks, wildlife refuges, interpretive centers, orientation facilities, and related programs that connect people to authentic Chesapeake Bay natural resources and cultural and historical narratives. The grant is intended to strengthen a community's ability to offer new outdoor and heritage tourism experiences or improve existing ones in ways that better connect people to the watershed, consistent with the Chesapeake Bay Initiative Act of 1998. NPS emphasizes three major objectives: enhancing outdoor recreation and natural, historical, and cultural tourism across the watershed; supporting projects that clearly link outdoor and heritage tourism to economic impacts in communities; and celebrating "gateway communities" that actively welcome and invite the public to explore Chesapeake Gateways Places and stories through meaningful experiences.

Geography matters a lot for eligibility. Projects must take place within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and activities outside the watershed are not eligible for consideration. The notice references an appendix list of watershed counties and a map as the basis for determining whether a project location qualifies. In addition, there is a membership requirement tied directly to the Chesapeake Gateways network: an applicant must be a non-federal member of the Chesapeake Gateways Network (as a Place, Experience, Community, or Programmatic Partner). Organizations that are not yet members can become eligible by submitting a self-nomination through the Chesapeake Gateways Network portal and joining the network prior to applying.

The program is open to a broad range of domestic applicants, reflecting its community development focus (Funding Activity Category: Community Development; CFDA Number: 15.930). Eligible applicants include state, county, and municipal governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Tribal governments as well as other Tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses); and small businesses. Despite this broad eligibility, the funding is not available to foreign entities and cannot support projects conducted outside the United States.

Funding details indicate an award ceiling of $50,000 per award, with an expected 26 awards. The application closing date listed is 2026-11-04. As part of standard federal assistance compliance, NPS will review applicants and key project personnel in the SAM.gov Exclusions database prior to making an award. If an entity or key personnel are listed as ineligible, prohibited/restricted, or otherwise excluded in a way that applies to this program, NPS cannot make an award to that applicant.

Overall, the grant is best understood as support for community-connected projects that strengthen outdoor recreation and heritage tourism experiences tied to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, use those experiences to deepen public awareness of the Bay's natural and cultural significance, and demonstrate a credible pathway to local economic benefit. Projects that align closely with the Chesapeake Gateways mission, occur clearly within the watershed, and are led by (or partnered with) eligible non-federal Chesapeake Gateways Network members are the intended fit for this funding.

• The National Park Service in the community development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Exploring and Enhancing Outdoor and Heritage Tourism in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.930.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2026-08-27.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-11-04. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $50,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 26 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

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