Up to $100 million in funding is available for transformational projects that will restore coastal habitat and strengthen community resilience under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Of the $100 million of funding available, up to 15 percent is specifically available to U.S. federally recognized tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and organizations that represent tribes through formal legal agreements, through direct awards or subawards. The remaining funding will be available to all eligible applicants. Applications are due by April 16, 2025. Contact: Jessica Edwards.

Up to $20 million in funding for projects that will advance the coastal habitat restoration priorities of tribes and underserved communities. This funding is available through the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Of the $20 million in funding available, 15 percent is specifically available to U.S. federally recognized tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and organizations that represent tribes through formal legal agreements, through direct awards or subawards. The remaining funding will be available to all eligible applicants. Applications are due by May 12, 2025. Contact: Jessica Edwards.

Pocket estuaries are where shorelines are protected from waves, allowing salt marsh to grow, and are often fed by freshwater streams. However, most pocket estuaries, like other salmon habitat in the Puget Sound, have been degraded and filled in for development and agriculture. This poses a serious threat to the recovery of the threatened Puget Sound Chinook. With funding from NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation, the Skagit River System Cooperative, and many partners, are restoring the Similk pocket estuary for Skagit River Chinook. In 2023 and 2024, the Cooperative was awarded $5.8 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for salmon habitat restoration work in Washington State. Contact: Laurel Jennings.

NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation recently awarded The Nature Conservancy $12 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to fund the GulfCorps program for the next 3 years. Since 2017, GulfCorps has engaged more than 500 young people in hundreds of coastal restoration and conservation projects across the five Gulf Coast states working with many partners. Over the last 7 years, the RESTORE Council allocated $20.7 million from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement to fund GulfCorps. Also, be sure to read some personal accounts from a few Corps members. Contact: Eric Vichich.

A former industrial site in East Newark, New Jersey is a hub of activity these days, as construction crews busily undertake the work of transforming a former industrial site into a five-acre natural resources public park along the Passaic River. The planned park is in a historically underserved area that was impacted by hazardous substance releases from various industrial facilities in the area. The park will improve residents’ quality of life, while benefiting wildlife by converting hardened industrial land into wooded areas, grasslands, wetlands, and pollinator gardens connected by pathways and an elevated walkway along the Passaic River. Contact: Rich Takacs.

Celebrate Corals Week at NOAA this December by exploring more about this diverse group of invertebrate animals and the reef habitats they create. Coral reefs are the most diverse habitats on the planet. They provide coastal protection for communities and millions of dollars in recreation and tourism. Learn about coral species, coral reef habitats, and the work NOAA Fisheries does to research and protect this diverse group of animals.

NOAA and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation recently announced grant recipients for the 2024 National Coastal Resilience Fund. The initiative advances regionally identified priorities and innovative approaches and will invest $139 million in 94 projects designed to strengthen the natural infrastructure that protects coastal communities and enhances fish and wildlife habitat in 31 states and territories. There was overwhelming interest, with 384 pre-proposals requesting a total of over $777 million in funding. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will administer the funding in partnership with NOAA, the U.S. Department of Defense, Shell USA, and Oxy.

NOAA Fisheries announced up to $99 million in funding through the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund for conservation and recovery projects focusing on Pacific salmon and steelhead. This funding—which includes $34.4 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—will advance state and tribal efforts to restore salmon populations and habitats, and bolster climate and economic resilience in surrounding communities.

NOAA recently released a report of a preliminary economic impact evaluation of 173 of its coastal and fisheries management funding opportunities from 2022 and 2023 totalling $717 million in federal funding mostly from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. To begin to understand the value of this funding—and to inform future policy and grant-making decisions—NOAA evaluated eight coastal management and conservation funding opportunities in the National Ocean Service and NOAA Fisheries’s Office of Habitat Conservation. The $717 million in direct spending from these awards is expected to generate about $1.4 billion in economic output based upon a preliminary assessment and to create more than 7,800 jobs in coastal communities.

In collaboration with the National Fish Habitat Partnership and the American Fisheries Society, NOAA Fisheries co-sponsors the Stanley A. Moberly Fish Habitat Conservation Award. This annual award recognizes the efforts of as many as three individuals, groups, or projects with an outstanding, long-term record of success in research, management, policy, communications, education, or other fields that support fish habitat conservation. To nominate someone deserving of this award, please submit a nomination package online before April 1, 2025.