Nonpoint Source Program Grantee Engagements (2021–2023)
New NPS National Program Guidelines are now available.
The national NPS Program has released revised Guidelines to take effect in FY25. For more information, click here.
On this page:
Background:
From 2021–2023, the national nonpoint source (NPS) program focused on equitably expanding program access and investments for pollution reduction projects. The national NPS Program hosted a series of grantee engagements that included listening sessions with states, territories, Tribes and local communities. The series of facilitated conversations included topics related to understanding barriers to program engagement, discussing how past benefits have been distributed across the landscape, and ways that benefits may be reach more communities in the future. Highlights from these conversations included strategies for increased leveraging of funding, facilitation of innovative partnerships, and technical support for efficient grant, program and project management. This page provides the documentation from these conversations for future reference by grantees and program staff.
Engagement Notes and Recordings: December 2021 - October 2022
Quarterly Updates:
The NPS program has held quarterly meetings to update all grantees on efforts and progress since September 2021. These meetings have been recorded and can be found here:
- December 2021: Kick off Call
- March 2022: Quarterly Update
- June 2022: Quarterly Update
- October 2022: Quarterly Update
- February 2023: Quarterly Update
The nonpoint source program plans to continue quarterly updates with grantees on these efforts through 2023.
Listening Sessions:
In 2022, the NPS program held listening sessions with all grantees, Tribal/Nation grantees specifically, Territories and local watershed/community groups. These sessions were not recorded as a way to encourage open commentary, but comments were collected and have been compiled as a reference resource:
- All Grantee Listening Sessions Notes (pdf)
- R9 Territory Listening Session Notes (pdf)
- Subgrantee Listening Sessions Consolidated Notes (pdf)
Workgroups:
After the grantee listening sessions, the EPA synthesized perspectives shared during those discussions to form topic specific workgroups. Each group discussed topics and barriers that were heard during the listening sessions. Final reports included synthesis of discussion, as well as a list of suggested actions to for EPA to consider in FY23 and beyond. Workgroup reports can be found here:
- Technical Capacity Workgroup Report (pdf)
- Partnerships and Funding Workgroup Report (pdf)
- Baseline Analysis Workgroup Report (pdf)
Tribal Engagements:
Recognizing that Tribal programs and staff face unique challenges from state grantees, Tribal specific engagements were held to allow discussion of these nuances.
An EPA/Tribal workgroup was formed to discuss potential actions to address the key challenges facing Tribal NPS programs. The following workgroup report identifies options EPA could consider to better support Tribal NPS programs and compiles current Tribal NPS program approaches for addressing these challenges.
Consultation:
A formal consultation process was also run in conjunction with this effort. A formal letter opening the consultation was sent to Tribal leaders and invited comments through two 60-day comment periods.
Comment Period 1: The first comment period took place from March 29, 2022 to May 27, 2022.
- Tribal Consultation Package: Comment Period 1 (pdf)
- Tribal Consultation Summary: Comment Period 1 (pdf)
Comment Period 2: The second comment period took place from October 24, 2022 to December 23, 2022.
- Tribal Consultation Package: Comment Period 2 (pdf)
- Factsheet: Tribal Consultation Comment Period 2 (pdf)
- Tribal Consultation Summary: Comment Period 2 (pdf)
Additional information can be found on the EPA Tribal Consultation Opportunities Tracking System
