Ocean County College

Description:a Cooperative Agreement Is Provided to Ocean County College/barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP) to Support Implementation of Its 2021 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) and the Policy Committee-approved FFY22 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Workplan Dated January 18, 2023 (bil FFY22 Workplan). the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (iija or 'bipartisan Infrastructure Law' or Bil) Passed the U.s. Senate in August 2021 and the U.s. House of Representatives in November 2021. President Biden Signed It Into Law on November 15, 2021. This Legislation Provides an Additional $132 Million to the 28 National Estuary Programs (NEP) Over Five Years in Addition to Regular Appropriations. Implementation of the FFY22 Bil Workplan Will Help Meet the Four Goals Laid Out in the CCMP: to Protect and Improve Water Quality Throughout Barnegat Bay and Its Watershed; to Ensure Adequate Water Supplies and Flow for Ecological and Human Communities; to Protect and Restore Habitat and Healthy and Sustainable Natural Communities of Plants and Animals and; to Improve and Sustain Collaborative Approaches to Responsible Land Use Planning and Open Space Preservation. the Projects That Will Be Implemented Include: - County/municipal Stormwater Management Grant Program, Providing a Grant-funding (subaward) Opportunity to Fund Stormwater Management Implementation Projects Within or Benefitting a Disadvantaged Community and in Consideration of Sea Level Rise; - Water Quality Monitoring Infrastructure, Enabling Replacement and Upgrades to the Water Quality Monitoring Equipment to Continue the Monitoring Program; - Mapping and Demographic Assessment Project, Enabling Sea Grass Mapping to Update the 2009 Mapping Currently Available and Providing a Demographic Assessment and Filling the Highest Priority Information Gap for Barnegat Bay; - Watershed Stream Crossing Assessment, Enabling Assessment of Culverts and Bridges for Aquatic Passage and Prioritization for Improvements to Stream Connectivity and Reduction in Local Flooding; - Jersey-friendly Yards (JFY) Project Implementation, to Further Grow and Expand This Highly Successful Program to Improve Stormwater Management and Reduce Nonpoint Source Pollution by Educating the Public About Best Management Practices, Focusing on Delivering Projects in Disadvantaged Communities; - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Workgroup, to Enable the BBP to Work With Partners and Contractors to Further Identify Underserved Stakeholders, Develop a Community Workgroup, and Provide Funding and Technical Support; - Partially Support BBP Staff, Including a Communications Coordinator, Wetlands Coordinator, and Citizen Science/stewardship Coordinator to Help Implement CCMP Priorities. Activities:the Activities in the BILFFY22 Workplan to Be Performed Include: - One or More Stormwater Implementation Projects in Disadvantaged Communities; - Replacement and Upgrades or Refurbishment of Components of the BBP Water Quality Monitoring Network to Allow the Continued Collection of Water Quality Data; - Mapping of Seagrass to Update the 2009 Bay-wide Mapping Currently Available and Assess the Health of Seagrasses Within the Bay; - Assessment of Road-stream Crossings Such as Culverts and Bridges for Aquatic Passage and Climate Readiness and Storing This Information in a Publicly Accessible Database; - Hiring of a Full-time BBP Staff Person to Assist With Jersey-friendly Yards (JFY) Education and Outreach Project to Educate About Best Landscape Practices; Focusing on Projects in Disadvantaged Communities; - Establishment of a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) Workgroup to Work With Contractor to Identify Disadvantaged Communities and Help Build Capacities Within Those Groups and Communities; - Partially Support the Hiring of Additional BBP Program Staff, Including a Communications and Marketing Coordinator, Wetlands Coordinator, and Stewardship/citizen Science Position in Order to