GREENFIELD — Officials at the Greenfield-based Connecticut River Conservancy are left waiting amid the freeze of $13 million in federal funding that had been awarded to the environmental advocacy nonprofit, including $11.5 million for river restoration in New Hampshire.

The $11.5 million grant was awarded to the multi-state nonprofit in November 2024 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program, implemented through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. At the time, the grant marked the largest funding award in the organization’s 72-year history.

These funds were designated to be used for the restoration of degraded stream and forest ecosystems in parts of the Connecticut River watershed in New Hampshire, which in turn would improve water quality, ecosystem health and climate resiliency. The work would be accomplished by stabilizing at least 2,000 feet of streambanks, removing dams, replacing undersized culverts, planting riparian buffers, installing strategic wood additions and carrying out forest management practices.

The New Hampshire project’s kickoff was slated for this spring. However, considering the grant was funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, it was frozen in January “due to ongoing federal administration deliberations over IRA-related funding allocations,” according to the Connecticut River Conservancy. The paused funds are creating “uncertainties,” with impacts on a range of partners.

The grant freeze impacting the Connecticut River Conservancy is part of President Donald Trump’s Unleashing American Energy executive order directing agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.” This act, approved during the Biden administration, included billions of dollars for climate and environmental projects.

Although this grant was designed for river restoration in New Hampshire, Connecticut River Conservancy Executive Director Rebecca Todd said this project would have regional impacts down the river. The nonprofit supports projects in the entire 410-mile Connecticut River watershed.

“What affects people upstream will affect people downstream,” Todd said.

Todd noted that all the necessary paperwork — including the program participation agreement between the federal government and the Connecticut River Conservancy — had been signed. In the past, Todd said the nonprofit has experienced administrative delays in grant funds being released, but it has “never experienced” a delay like this.

Outside of this grant impacting work in New Hampshire, a grant awarded to the Connecticut River Conservancy for wood turtle habitat restoration from the USDA’s Northeast Forests and Rivers Fund was also frozen in January, impacting work expected to be done in Franklin County.

The Connecticut River Conservancy’s Restoration Program Manager Rebecca Budd said this grant for $229,000 was awarded in November 2024 for habitat restoration, monitoring and outreach in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. While the nonprofit was in the process of completing its grant paperwork, the funds were frozen.

“The money,” Budd wrote in an email, “will be used for outreach to landowners, habitat restoration (riparian buffer plantings, nest site enhancements and invasive management) and monitoring turtle populations. We are working watershed-wide, and all of Franklin County is included.”

With this grant frozen, Budd said the project has come to a halt. Efforts put on hold include ordering trees and hiring people to plant them, and hiring contractors to do invasive species management and wood turtle nest site enhancements. Their grant partners, the Georgia-based conservation nonprofit The Orianne Society, planned to hire a technician for turtle monitoring, which was put on hold due to the freeze.

“We have an excellent hardworking staff dedicated to the health of the watershed, and the freeze on federal funds will limit how much CRC can accomplish,” Budd said. “It is a frustrating situation.”

Other organizations dedicated to Connecticut River conservation are also sounding the alarm about the impacts these freezes pose.

Andrew Fisk, Northeast regional director of the non-profit American Rivers and former executive director of the Connecticut River Conservancy, said the federal freezes are “unwarranted” and are going to create “huge impacts” that will slow down the momentum of conservationists, landowners and other advocates to improve the Connecticut River watershed.

Fisk, a Massachusetts member of the Connecticut River Migratory Fish Restoration Cooperative, was also one of four members to sign a March 6 letter to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Wendi Weber expressing concerns over a reduction in force impacting the agency. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Northeast regional headquarters in Hadley is also proposed to close on Aug. 31 as part of a federal initiative to end leases.

“We ... hope the administration will agree with our finding that the work done by the USFWS regarding river restoration in New England is statutorily mandated and, therefore, should not be at risk of reduction,” the letter reads.

Sharing similar sentiments to Todd and Budd, Fisk said the Trump administration’s commitment to keeping U.S. water the cleanest in the world is a goal the nonprofit wants to hold him to.

According to the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit policy group made up of former Environmental Protection Agency employees that seeks to advance environmental policy, post-election polling data has indicated bipartisan support for “increasing federal funding to communities disproportionately harmed by air and water pollution,” with 80% of total respondents saying they agree.

“Our message is clear: This is a top priority for all Americans,” Fisk said, adding that voters support the idea of maintaining clean water, but freezing federal funding is “in direct opposition” of those wishes.

As the Connecticut River Conservancy deals with the freeze, Todd said staff members are in a “proactive wait,” describing how they are waiting and watching to see what happens at the federal level amid pending litigation to lift the freezes. Meanwhile, they are being proactive in searching for other revenue sources and keeping supporters aware of the work being completed.

“Keep your fingers crossed for us,” Todd said.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.