The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will award more than $6 million to local groups to protect and improve surface water. Interested and eligible organizations are encouraged to apply for a surface water grant. A pre-application must be submitted by Sep. 15 to compete for a grant in November.

The DNR’s Surface Water Grants Program leverages money from the water resources account of the state conservation fund to help local communities accelerate water protection and restoration efforts across Wisconsin. The funding can be used to support a wide range of locally driven projects that invest in watersheds and surface waters.

Activities eligible for funding include:

• Organizational capacity building
• Educational programs on surface water
• Data collection and ecological assessments
• Lake and river management planning
• Water quality improvement
• Habitat restoration projects
• Aquatic invasive species prevention and control
• Conservation easements and land acquisition

The amount of funding available varies by project. Education projects are eligible for up to $5,000 in state support, planning grants are available for up to $10,000 and larger management plan implementation grants can provide up to $200,000 per project. Grants operate on a reimbursement basis and require matching funds from 25% to 33% of the total project cost.

Submit a pre-application by Sep. 15. This will ensure eligibility to submit a final application by Nov. 15. Pre-application forms can be found under the “Applying” tab on the DNR’s Surface Water Grants Program webpage. Email the form by Sep. 15 to DNRSurfaceWaterGrants@wisconsin.gov. The department will be in touch with more information following your submission.

Visit the DNR’s Surface Water Grants Program webpage for more information on applying and managing a grant project. 

The DNR Surface Water Grant Applicant Guide is a comprehensive user manual for the program. This document has been updated for the 2025-2026 grant cycle. It is organized chronologically to explain how to navigate the grant program from application to closing. Start by reading Section 1, which contains enough high-level introductory information to get you started. Section 2 summarizes each grant type, and Appendix A includes the corresponding criteria that the ranking teams will use to evaluate submitted applications.