As part of Mayor Greg Nickels' citywide Restore Our Waters Strategy, a new $300,000 grant program was approved last week that is expected to benefit the quality of the city's aquatic habitat, plus create and finance partnerships between the city and communities.

"Seattle is a city that is defined by its beautiful waterways," Nickels said. "This program will encourage people to get involved in improving our waters so that fish and plants can thrive for generations to come."

The Seattle City Council adopted the resolution for the plan last November, said Aquatic Habitat Program Manager Kathy Minsch. The funding for the grant comes from a percentage of the Seattle Public Utility drainage fund, a fee that every utility user pays into as part of their utility bill.

The total drainage fund is around $32 million, said Minsch, and within that amount $20 million is set-aside for capital improvement funds. The $300,000 comes out of this allotment.

Because of this connectivity to the drainage fund, criteria for eligibility of the grant is much stricter than other awards, she said.

To be eligible, the applicant must be an individual, a non-profit, a community group, or a business owner.

Projects must all be located within the city and along creek, marine or lake shorelines that have been adversely impacted by city's drainage system operation.

For instance, some of Seattle's urban creeks experience high storm water flows and this fast-moving water can cause changes to shorelines and channels and impact plants and animals.

A 100 percent match of funds is required.

"It's 50-50," said Minsch. "If we give an organization $50,000, they must come up with the same amount of money, either in the form of cash, volunteer labor, or a donation of professional services," such as an engineer or an architect donating their professional services.

The aquatic grant is also open to private parties, making it different from other grant programs, said Minsch.

"There is a lot of need for restoration work to be done and no money to fund it," said Minsch. There are a lot of creeks that run through people's backyards."

But in order for funding to be approved for private parties and private land, a public benefit must be shown, Minsch said.

"Basically if (the restoration work) helps the water quality or reduces the flow of the creek, that could count as a public benefit," she said. "It is a public resource, it can't just be used for a personal beautification project for someone's private land."

So far, there is money only for 2006, but Minsch said it is hoped it will be here for a long time.

"It will really depend on the need and how well the projects work," she said. "The whole idea is to get something that works for the community. A lot of thought and time went into the development of this plan."

According to the aquatic habitat grant website, examples of projects that could qualify for funding include removing fish passage blockages in creeks that are located on private property; removing invasive plants and planting native plants along creeks and along shorelines near storm water outfalls or creek mouths; removing bulkheads and restoring the creek channel or creating shallow water habitat.

Applications for the grant are being accepted until Sept. 23.

Grants have a minimum of $2,000 and require a full match..

For more details about the guidelines and the program visit www.seattle.gov/util/aquaticgrant. Further information is also available by contacting Kathy Minsch, Aquatic Habitat Program Manager, at Kathy.minsch@seattle.gov or call 206-615-1441, or Christina Faine, Aquatic Habitat Grant Coordinator, at Chrsitina.fiane@seattle.gov or call 206-386-4195.

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached at rebekah@robinsonnews.com or 783.1244.