NOAA Fisheries has awarded $103 million in funding for 16 habitat restoration projects across the country. These projects will recover and sustain our nation's fisheries by ensuring fish have access to high quality habitat.
By supporting America's fisheries, these projects will "Make America Beautiful Again" through proactive, voluntary, on-the-ground collaborative conservation efforts. America's abundant natural resources—including valuable commercial and recreational fisheries—are vital to our nation's economy and culture, bolstering industries, jobs, recreation, and more.
Fisheries rely on healthy habitats like wetlands, rivers, and coral reefs as important areas to grow, eat, and reproduce. These projects will restore healthy habitat for fish across the country: from planting corals to rebuild reefs in the Caribbean, to reconnecting rivers for salmon, to restoring salt marsh for shrimp and oysters in the Gulf of America.
NOAA received many more applications than we could fund. The total demand from the nearly 350 proposals we received was $1.5 billion, more than 17 times the amount of funding available. The full list of funded projects can be found below.
Coho salmon migrate up a creek in Oregon. Funding will support access to high quality habitat for fisheries across the country, including coho on the Oregon Coast. Credit: Adobe Stock.
Projects Selected for Funding
Alaska
- Knik Tribe: Restoring fish passage to support Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon. ($5.1 million)
- Trout Unlimited: Restoring fish passage in the Chena River watershed along the Yukon River. ($7.9 million)
California
- California Trout: Reconnecting floodplain habitat for coho salmon in the Klamath River. ($5.4 million)
- California Department of Water Resources: Restoring fish passage to support habitat for salmon and sturgeon. ($8 million)
Georgia
- University of Georgia: Restoring salt marsh to support nursery habitat for shrimp, oysters, and redfish. ($8 million)
Hawaii
- Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project Inc: Restoring coastal habitat at Tern Island. ($8.5 million)
Idaho
- Nez Perce Tribe: Restoring fish passage in the Lolo Creek watershed. ($1.4 million)
Michigan
- Little River Band of Ottawa Indians: Restoring habitat to support lake sturgeon and Arctic grayling. ($1.1 million)
Michigan and Wisconsin
- Trout Unlimited: Reconnecting aquatic habitat in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior shared priority waters. ($7.7 million)
New Jersey
- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection: Restoring tidal marsh habitat in Liberty State Park. ($10 million)
Oregon
- The Freshwater Trust: Restoring habitat to support salmon and steelhead in the Sandy River Basin. ($6.1 million)
- Wild Salmon Center: Restoring habitat for coho salmon across four Oregon Coast watersheds. ($5.9 million)
Puerto Rico
- Institute for Socio-Ecological Research: Restoring coral reefs through coral propagation and outplanting. ($6.9 million)
Texas
- Ducks Unlimited: Restoring marsh habitat in the Galveston Bay watershed to support redfish, shrimp, and oysters. ($9.9 million)
Washington
- Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group: Restoring floodplain habitat for Chinook and steelhead in the Mid-Columbia River. ($7.2 million)
- Skagit River System Cooperative (Sauk-Suiattle and Swinomish Tribes): Restoring fish passage to support Similk Estuary Chinook salmon. ($4.2 million)