RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia and West Virginia each are receiving $1 million in federal funding for their roles in restoring the Chesapeake Bay.
The funding from the U.S. Department of Education is intended to help farmland owners plant trees along rivers and streams to reduce runoff into waters that feed the bay.
For the past 20 years, the USDA has worked with the six bay states to establish more than 7,000 miles of stream and riverside trees. They are called riparian forest buffers. The program is credited with keeping millions of tons of sediments and other pollutants out of the bay.
The Environmental Protection Agency is leading the cleanup effort after years of neglect by states within the bay's watershed.
