Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund
Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund supports local governments, organizations and institutions restoring and protecting New Hampshire wetlands and streams to offset unavoidable aquatic resource losses.
Funder: New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
Due Dates: Rolling throughout 2026 (Special Project Assistance) | Spring 2027 (next RFP solicitation)
Funding Amounts: Service-area funding depends on mitigation payments and carry-over funds; implementation within three years of award
Summary: Supports restoration, enhancement, creation and preservation of New Hampshire aquatic resources to offset unavoidable wetland and stream losses.
Key Information: Projects require permanent legal protection, long-term stewardship and at least five years of performance monitoring.
Description
The Aquatic Resource Mitigation (ARM) Fund is administered by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Wetlands Bureau. It pools In-Lieu Fee mitigation payments across nine watershed service areas and funds projects that replace, restore or protect aquatic resources within the watershed where permitted losses occurred. The program seeks sustainable compensatory mitigation that advances no net loss of wetland functions while increasing aquatic resource acreage, functions or values.
Supported work includes restoring degraded wetlands and streams, enhancing selected ecological functions, creating self-sustaining aquatic resources and, in certain cases, preserving aquatic resources and upland buffers. ARM prioritizes restoration and enhancement over preservation-only projects. Projects should offset lost resource types and functions, strengthen landscape connectivity and resiliency, and sustain natural systems with little or no ongoing maintenance or hydrologic manipulation.
