The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has recommended USD 220 million (EUR 203 million) in spending on coastal resilience and habitat restoration projects, with much of the money supporting salmon recovery efforts.
“These transformational projects will restore healthy coastal ecosystems across the country,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “We’re proud to support projects that span a broad range of habitats and restoration techniques – from reconnecting rivers to their historic floodplains, to outplanting corals to rebuild reefs, to restoring salt marshes that will protect coasts from erosion and sea level rise.”
The money will be spread across 32 projects with a further commitment of USD 66 million (EUR 61 million) in future funding.
The funding was pulled from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, while individual projects were selected via the federal Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience funding opportunity. The last round of funding in 2023 resulted in USD 285 million (EUR 263 million) in awards spread across 38 projects.
“We’re happy that NOAA continues to support nature and communities through these grants,” The Nature Conservancy North American Policy and Government Relations Managing Director Kameran Onley said. “NOAA received requests for projects that totaled 10 times the available funding – a clear statement of how important it has been to make this support more accessible to more communities.”
Much of the money is set aside for helping salmon populations recover, including USD 750,000 (EUR 692,000) for restoring Pacific salmon habitat in the Mendenhall River Watershed in Alaska, USD 3.8 million (EUR 3.5 million) for restoring landscape resilience for Sacramento River salmon, USD 8.1 million (EUR 7.5 million) for the Oregon Coast Coho Recovery Plan Implementation, USD 18 million (EUR 17 million) for restoring salmonids following the dam removal on the Upper Klamath River Tributary, and USD 1.6 million (EUR 1.5 million) for Chinook recovery in Washington.
“The Biden-Harris administration is committed to an ambitious climate agenda that strengthens our coastal communities, combats the climate and nature crises, and makes our nation and economy more resilient,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “This historic investment, made possible thanks to President Biden’s commitment to investing in America, will help sustain our nation’s fisheries across our coastal communities by strengthening climate resilience and protecting ecosystems from the impacts of climate change.”
