NOAA Recommends Nearly $220 Million in Funding for Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Projects

NOAA Recommends Funding for Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Projects

NOAA is recommending nearly $220 million in funding for 32 transformational habitat restoration and coastal resilience projects this year, as well as an additional $66 million in funding in future years. The projects are funded under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. This is a historic investment in strengthening the climate resilience of our nation’s coastal ecosystems and communities.

View the projects recommended for funding

Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience

These projects will have a transformative impact across the country, through:

• Capstone projects that build on decades of work in priority watersheds
• Innovative projects that implement cutting-edge restoration techniques
• Groundbreaking efforts that restore habitat in urban ecosystems to benefit tribes and underserved communities

They will help protect coastal communities and ecosystems from the impacts of climate change, and make significant strides in the recovery of threatened and endangered species.

Building on Decades of Work

Many projects are advancing efforts that have decades of financial and technical support from NOAA and partners. In the upper Klamath River basin, the Yurok Tribe, in collaboration with other tribes, will restore habitat that will soon be reopened to fish migration. Following the decades-long effort to remove four dams on the Klamath, fish will be able to reach upstream habitat on the river for the first time in more than 100 years. A landscape-scale restoration effort led by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will build on two decades of past NOAA-supported work in Puget Sound. This work will make significant progress on addressing habitat-related factors needed for the recovery of salmon. Sea Ventures and partners in Puerto Rico will expand upon the success of their past NOAA-supported coral restoration efforts by implementing the largest single-site coral restoration project ever undertaken in the region.

Implementing Innovative Techniques

Some projects will use innovative methods to restore habitat, and will promote the sharing of best practices and new approaches to build capacity for restoration work. A coalition of partners will scale-up new approaches for increasing the heat tolerance of corals to help build the resilience of Florida coral reefs. These reefs experienced an extreme heat wave and bleaching event last year. In California, partners will launch an initiative to catalyze and coordinate restoration of rocky reef and kelp habitats. These efforts will support the species, such as endangered white abalone, that rely on them.

Benefiting Tribes, Urban Ecosystems, and Underserved Communities

Several projects will restore habitats in urban areas and provide benefits to tribes and historically underserved communities that live close by. The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians will reconnect the Boardman-Ottaway River, which flows through downtown Traverse City, to Lake Michigan. They will also preserve and restore coastal habitat on Mashkiigaki, a parcel of sacred ancestral land along West Grand Traverse Bay. A suite of projects across the New River watershed will help reduce flooding, increase water quality, and improve recreational access in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Partners will restore wetlands in John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, an urban wildlife refuge along the Delaware River. This will help prevent flooding in surrounding communities while also providing habitat for numerous species.

Building Resilience to Climate Change

Many projects will help protect coastal ecosystems and communities from the effects of climate change, such as increased flooding, rising sea levels, and larger, less predictable storms. An effort to restore oyster reefs and salt marshes on Sapelo Island, Georgia, will help protect the Gullah Geechee community of Hogg Hummock from flooding. On Virginia’s Assateague Island, restoring wetlands at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge will help protect important habitats that are highly vulnerable to sea level rise. Restoration across multiple habitats will help reduce land-based pollution affecting Olowalu Reef in West Maui. This work will support resilient coral reefs that can better survive future climate conditions. A project in southeast Wisconsin will help protect local roads and infrastructure from flooding. It will incorporate designs intended to withstand more frequent and extreme weather events caused by climate change.

Supporting Recovery of Endangered Species

Degraded habitat is one of the largest obstacles to recovering threatened and endangered species. Many projects will make significant progress on efforts to recover these species by restoring the habitats they depend on for food, protection, spawning, and rearing. A landscape-scale effort in California’s Sacramento River watershed will restore habitat for endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, a NOAA Species in the Spotlight. A suite of projects along the Oregon coast will support the recovery of five populations of threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon. The projects will restore floodplain, wetland, and estuary habitats on which the juvenile coho rely.

Habitat Restoration and NOAA

NOAA invests in habitat restoration across the country to support our nation’s fisheries and protected resources, while also strengthening the resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems. Efforts such as restoring coastal wetlands and removing outdated dams can improve coastal resilience—helping communities recover from and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather and climate change.

NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation has a long history supporting habitat restoration efforts through large-scale competitive funding opportunities and expert technical assistance. Through our Community-based Restoration Program, we have partnered with more than 2,600 organizations to take on more than 2,200 projects since 1996. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act provide a historic opportunity for us to continue supporting fisheries, protected resources, and coastal communities. In our first round of funding opportunities, we awarded more than $480 million for 109 projects across the country.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 14: Life Below Water
• SDG 15: Life on Land
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

The issues highlighted in the article are connected to these SDGs because they involve habitat restoration and coastal resilience projects that aim to protect coastal ecosystems and communities from the impacts of climate change, restore habitats for threatened and endangered species, and promote partnerships for effective implementation.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 13: Climate Action – Target 13.1: Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters
• SDG 14: Life Below Water – Target 14.2: Sustainably manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems to avoid significant adverse impacts
• SDG 15: Life on Land – Target 15.1: Ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals – Target 17.17: Encourage and promote effective public, public-private, and civil society partnerships

The article’s content aligns with these targets as the habitat restoration and coastal resilience projects aim to strengthen resilience to climate-related hazards, manage and protect marine and coastal ecosystems, restore habitats, and promote partnerships for effective implementation.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

No, the article does not mention or imply any specific indicators that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets.

4. SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: fisheries.noaa.gov