ARM Fund FAQs

Projects that protect, restore or enhance wetlands and streams, to compensate for impacted aquatic resources, and loss of associated functions and values, in the watershed.

Land Protection of Wetlands and Streams with an Upland Buffer

Projects that establish legal protection of a wetland, stream or vernal pool and its critical buffer and preserve upland areas associated with important wetlands and other aquatic resources.

• Acquisition and protection of land through fee-simple purchase.
• Conservation easements held by a land trust, town, or not-for-profit organization that will protect the property in perpetuity.
• Deed restrictions preventing future development and land use of the property.
• Please see the NHDES Standard Conservation Easement Template to review the legal conditions needed for an ARM-funded land protection project.  

Wetland Restoration and Enhancement

Projects that will increase the functions and values of a degraded or altered wetland are eligible for funding.

• Removing fill.
• Restoring the natural hydrology of a wetland.
• Removing invasive species.
• Establishing native plant communities.
• Closing roadways that bisect wetlands and educing impervious surfaces and roadway runoff into a wetland.
• Living shoreline creation.
• Tidal marsh restoration.

Stream Restoration and Enhancement

Projects that will restore aquatic connectivity and natural river processes to improve aquatic habitat, water quality and increase flood resiliency.

• Dam removal.
• Culvert upgrades using stream simulation design following the New Hampshire Guidelines.
• Daylighting streams that are underground or lined with concrete.
• In-stream habitat enhancements such as wood additions and pool formation.
• Stream buffer improvements and floodplain reconnection.
• Stormwater treatment and erosion control.
• Bank stabilization using bioengineering techniques.
• Removing hard bank armoring.
• Removing restrictions on tidally-influenced rivers.

The ARM Fund is New Hampshire's In-lieu Fee (ILF) Compensatory Mitigation program. NHDES is authorized to receive payment for impacts to wetlands and streams in-lieu of permitee-responsible mitigation as part of an NHDES and Army Corps General Permit application. The ARM funds are pooled according to nine watersheds called Service Areas, and then made available as competitive grants to fund preservation, restoration, and enhancement activities across the state. As the ILF sponsor, NHDES holds and manages the collected funds, and announces a grant round (i.e., Request for Proposals) annually. The amount of grant money available in each Service Area is dependent on the amount of ILF payments received the previous year to compensate for impacts to aquatic resources. 

Any New Hampshire municipality, county government, regional planning commission, county conservation district, watershed or river association, state agency, institution of higher education, public school district, and nonprofit organization is eligible. Projects score higher if they are supported by the host municipality’s conservation commission or Selectboard/City Council and documented in a letter or meeting minutes.

• Money cannot be used for projects where invasive species removal and management is a stand-alone activity.
• Protection of only an aquatic resource that does not include an upland buffer.
• Developing engineering designs and construction plans for restoration that does not include any implementation. While the costs for final design may be included in a project’s overall budget, the program cannot fund design-only projects.
• Projects expected to take longer than two years to complete.

Land Preservation – Funds can be used for the legal mechanisms needed to permanently protect aquatic resources, and their upland buffers, through acquisition of conservation easements or fee simple ownership. Allowable expenses include purchase of the fee or easement, wetland assessment of the property, property surveys, baseline documentation reports, appraisals, environmental hazard assessments, title review, closing costs, legal fees, and registry fees. Funds may be used for stewardship to ensure the long-term management and protection of the land.

Wetland and Stream Restoration and Enhancement – Development of final design plans – please note that ARM cannot fund the costs for design only- implementation of the restoration must be the primary objective of the project. Allowable expenses include costs for site clearing and excavation, construction materials and management, consulting fees, permit costs, grading and soil augmentation, disposal of excavated materials, and plantings. Funds can be used for the permanent protection of areas associated with the restored resource to insure long-term sustainability. ARM can provide support for the staff and field assessments, data analysis, and reporting to fulfill five years of required monitoring.

An inventory of the aquatic resources is required to support the evaluation as a functional assessment (for wetland restoration and protection) or a stream survey (for stream restoration only). The Site Selection Committee reviews and ranks applications using set evaluation criteria established in the NHDES Wetlands Rules. Projects that fulfill the maximum number of criteria will score the highest and will be the most competitive. See the Evaluation Criteria for a full scoring checklist.

A Site Selection Committee appointed by the Governor is made up of nine experts in the fields of botany, wetlands ecology, wildlife biology, conservation and stream science. They review the applications and visit the sites to rank projects using evaluation criteria established in the NHDES rules. The Committee ultimately recommends approval of projects and the amount of funding for each grant award. A federal Interagency Review team is also involved in oversight of the program that includes representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NCRS, NOAA and the EPA. The IRT approves the recommendations from the Committee and he New Hampshire Wetlands Council has final approval. 

State Grant Agreement

Any ARM Fund grant exceeding $10,000 must be approved by the NH Governor and Executive Council. The Council is made up of five Executive Councilors and the Governor that approve all contracts with the State of New Hampshire. For more information, please visit the G&C About Us page. Before funds may be disbursed to the grantee from the ARM Fund, an approved G&C Grant Agreement must be established; acquiring the documents and submitting for NHDES and Attorney General review can take several months. The list below outlines the required documentation:

1. Grant Agreement Form (G1 Document).
2. Grant Exhibits:

• A: Special Provisions
• B: Scope of Services
• C: Budget and Payment Method

3. Certificate of Good Standing (not required for municipalities and government agencies)
4. Certificate of Authority
5. Certificate of Liability Insurance

• February- NHDES releases the Request for Proposals and funding available.
• End of May- Pre-proposal deadline.
• Mid-June- review pre-proposals and notify applicants for full application submittal.
• End of August- Full application deadline.
• September- Army Corps issues 30-day Public Notice and NH Division of Historic Resources Review.
• September- Site Selection Committee reviews proposals.
• September and October- Site Selection Committee and Army Corps visit all.
• End of October- Site Selection Committee does final evaluation of all proposals and votes on funding.
• November- The Wetlands Council reviews and approves disbursement of funds for selected projects.
• December- NHDES announces the awards.

Required Documents for ARM Fund Projects

Land preservation projects require the following items in order to ensure legal protections on the property:
1. Property Appraisal.
2. Property Survey.
3. Title Opinion.
4. Environmental Assessment.
5. Baseline Documentation Report.
6. Conservation Easement Deed.
7. Land Stewardship Plan (include information on the financial means to support annual monitoring and ensure conservation restrictions are upheld).
8. Land Management Plan.

Restoration and/or enhancement projects require the following items in order to ensure long-term mitigation success:
1. A Restoration Plan and engineering designs that meet the NHDES Wetlands Chapter 800 Mitigation Rules.
2. Approved NHDES Wetlands Permit.
3. Five years of Performance Monitoring. The NHDES Wetlands staff can assist with monitoring stream restoration projects, please contact Cheryl Bondi at cheryl.bondi@des.nh.gov to discuss further).
4. Financial Assurances for adaptive management (may be included in overall project costs funded by ARM).

Please see the ARM Fund Conversation Dashboard for examples of previously funded projects. A total of 130 projects have been funded by ARM since 2009.