Program aims to improve boating access

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Rhode Island officials are hoping to make the Ocean State friendlier to visiting boaters through a federal grant program.

The Department of Environmental Management is accepting applications until Aug. 31 for grants to build and improve boating facilities in the state.

The funding comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The grants will provide a 75 percent reimbursable match up to $1.5 million for the development or renovation of mooring buoys, piers, docks and other boating infrastructure.

Veronica Masson, a federal aid coordinator for the DEM, told Rhode Island Public Radio that the program's goal is to make it easier for people to visit Rhode Island from the water.

Federal officials will be awarding about $11 million in boating infrastructure grants for 2013 in a nationwide competitive program.