The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and NOAA have announced forty-nine grants totaling $39.5 million in support of coastal resilience projects in twenty-eight states and U.S. territories.

Awarded through the National Coastal Resilience Fund, the grants will help generate more than $58.3 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of nearly $97.8 million. Established in 2018, NCRF works to protect coastal communities while enhancing fish and wildlife habitats by investing in projects that restore or expand natural features such as coastal marshes and wetlands, dune and beach systems, oyster and coral reefs, forests, coastal rivers and floodplains, and barrier islands. NCRF is a partnership between NFWF, NOAA, Shell Oil Company, TransRe, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), AT&T, and first-time participant Occidental, with additional funding support from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Recipients include the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, which will address wetland resiliency in the St. Marys River in Michigan; the Trust for Public Land, which will develop forest management and improve resiliency in southern Oregon; the Nature Conservancy, in support of a community-driven adaptation and resilience plan in Oyster Village, Virginia; and the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust in Collier County, Florida, which will restore hydrologic connectivity on mangrove wetlands and improve habitat resilience.

“The grants announced today will help communities from Maine to Hawaii strengthen coastal landscapes, adapt to a changing climate, sustain local wildlife, and harness the benefits of natural habitats to increase community resilience to future storms and floods,” said NFWF executive director and CEO Jeff Trandahl. “Grants awarded through the NCRF will help reduce flooding by increasing water retention capacity through restored floodplains, mangroves, and wetlands. Restored beach dunes, barrier islands, and oyster reefs will provide living barriers to storm surge and wave intensity, all while providing habitat for fish and wildlife.”

For more information about the grantees, see the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation website.

(Photo credit: Cat Bowler/National Audubon Society)