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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) - FY 2025

Agency: U.S. Department of Commerce
CFDA: 11.463
Federal FON: NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2025-29526
Office: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Habitat Conservation Program Office (HCPO)
Multipart Grant: No
Next Due: 04/16/2025 (Application)
Solicitation Date: 12/06/2024
   
Match Required: Recommended
Match Type: Unspecified
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $100,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $750,000 (Min) / $10,000,000 (Max)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support transformational habitat restoration projects that restore marine, estuarine, coastal, or Great Lakes ecosystems using approaches that enhance community and ecosystem resilience to climate hazards. Funding will prioritize habitat restoration actions that demonstrate significant impacts; rebuild productive and sustainable fisheries; contribute to the recovery and conservation of threatened and endangered species; promote climate-resilient ecosystems, especially in tribal, Indigenous, or underserved communities; and improve economic vitality, including local employment.

This program will invest in transformational projects that have the greatest potential to provide holistic benefits through habitat-based approaches that strengthen both ecosystem and community resilience. Examples of habitat restoration projects that are transformational at a regional or national scale include projects that provide significant benefits for ecosystems and community resilience; projects that catalyze broad initiatives or partnerships; large-scale projects; innovative projects, which may include new techniques for restoration; and projects that connect to or build upon other restoration or resilience work in a watershed.

Applications may include the following types of project phases:

  • Planning and assessments
  • Feasibility studies
  • Engineering design and permitting
  • On-the-ground implementation
  • Pre- and/or post-implementation monitoring

Applications may also include capacity building and community engagement to support the proposed restoration. Applicants proposing pre-implementation activities should demonstrate how these efforts will support or catalyze subsequent on-the-ground restoration. Applications that include on-the-ground implementation will be given priority compared to those that include only pre-implementation activities.

Applicants should address the following set of program priorities:

  • Sustaining productive fisheries and strengthening ecosystem resilience: habitat restoration actions that align with relevant plans to recover and/or manage target species or fisheries, and that address how restoration will strengthen resilience within the target habitat and the surrounding ecosystem
  • Enhancing community resilience to climate hazards and providing other co-benefits: benefits to human populations within or near the project site(s), and an increase in resilience to the climate hazards that are most threatening to the local communities
  • Fostering regionally important habitat restoration: restoration actions that demonstrate high-priority and transformative potential within a defined geographic area
  • Providing benefits to tribal, Indigenous, and/or underserved communities, including through partnerships: restoration actions that demonstrate that tribal, Indigenous, and/or underserved communities have an opportunity to be an integral part of the visioning, decision-making, or leadership for activities that may affect their environment and/or health and well-being in a manner that builds trust and addresses barriers to community participation

Projects that are most responsive to the program priorities and are more transformative will be more competitive, by providing important and lasting changes that make a difference for coastal communities and ecosystems.

The funding agency is committed to the goals of advancing equity and support for underserved communities, and therefore encourages applicants to include and demonstrate principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility through proactive, meaningful, and equitable community engagement in the identification, design, and/or implementation of proposed projects. Applicants are also encouraged to propose projects with benefits to tribal, Indigenous, and/or underserved communities, and projects that appropriately consider and elevate local or Indigenous knowledge in project design, implementation, and evaluation.

Optional webinars are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for details.

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are:

  • Institutions of higher education
  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Commercial, for-profit organizations
  • U.S. territories
  • State, local, and tribal governments

Applicants must propose work in coastal, marine, or estuarine areas that benefit species or fisheries outlined within the program priorities. Eligible applicants for Great Lakes projects must propose work within the Great Lakes basin within one of the eight U.S. Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Projects may also be located in American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Applications that include multiple sites should demonstrate how projects collectively contribute to the priorities within the same geographic area or watershed, and applicants should demonstrate the capacity to manage concurrent habitat restoration projects over multiple years.

Federal agencies are not eligible to apply, but may serve as collaborative project partners. Foreign entities may also participate as partners of a prime recipient based in the United States.

Previous award recipients include:

  • Yurok Tribe (CA)
  • Southwest Florida Water Management District (FL)
  • Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TX)
  • North Carolina Coastal Federation (NC)
  • Johnson Creek Watershed Council (OR)

Refer to the Award file for additional information on previous award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Academic Institutions
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
Private Sector
State Government
Application Notes:

Applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on April 16, 2025.

Prior to submitting an application, applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the program staff, using the information provided in the Contact section, to discuss their project ideas.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Applications must include:

  • SF 424
  • SF 424A
  • SF 424B
  • CD 511
  • SF LLL (if applicable)
  • Recommended components:
    • Project summary and project narrative (20 pages max)
    • Budget narrative (10 pages max)
    • Supplemental materials and project designs (45 pages max)

The recommended components should be organized into a maximum of three flattened .pdf files, and it is recommended that file sizes not exceed 100 MB. Page limits assume an 11- or 12-point font and one-inch margins.

The following are required in order to submit an application:

  • Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
  • SAM (System for Award Management) registration
  • SPOC (state Single Point of Contact) notification

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam. Applicants in states participating in the SPOC program must contact the relevant SPOC listed in the SPOC file before applying.

Optional webinars will be held for this program as follows:

January 21, 2025
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET
Registration: register.gotowebinar.com

February 21, 2025
11:00 a.m. - noon ET
Registration: register.gotowebinar.com

March 18, 2025
11:00 a.m. - noon ET
Registration: register.gotowebinar.com

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Importance/relevance and applicability of application to the program goals (35 points)
  • Technical/scientific merit (25 points)
  • Overall qualification of applicant (10 points)
  • Project costs (15 points)
  • Outreach and education (15 points)

Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.

Match Required: Recommended
Match Type: Unspecified
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Range: $100,000,000 (Max)
Award Range: $750,000 (Min) / $10,000,000 (Max)
Match Notes:

Matching funds are not required for this program; however, the funding agency desires cost sharing to encourage partnerships among government, community, industry, and academia. Applicants are strongly encouraged to combine funding from this program with formal matching contributions or informal leverage from a broad range of sources in the public and private sectors. Such cost sharing and leveraged funds will be considered during the application evaluation process.

The funding agency encourages applicants whose proposed initiatives exceed the budgetary limits for this program to apply to this program and also for other, complementary federal funding for separate components of their larger initiatives.

Funding Notes:

Up to $100 million is expected to be available to support cooperative agreements ranging from $750,000 to $10 million through this program. Typical awards are expected to range from $4 million to $6 million over three years, and only three to five awards are expected to be funded near or at the cap of $10 million.

Of the total funding available, up to 15 percent will be specifically available as direct awards and subawards to Indian tribes and Native American organizations that represent Indian tribes through formal legal agreements. The remaining funding will be available to all eligible applicants.

The funding agency encourages a project period of up to three years, with the potential for up to five years, if necessary. The earliest start date for awards is expected to be January 1, 2026. Priority will be given to activities with the highest certainty to occur within two to three years.

Award recipients may expend pre-award costs up to 90 days before the project period start date at the applicant's own risk without approval from the funding agency, and in accordance with the applicant's internal policies and procedures.

Funds may not be used for:

  • Application preparation costs
  • Projects in the Freely Associated States
  • Projects that focus solely on marine debris prevention and removal
  • Projects that focus solely on acquisition of real property
  • Projects that focus solely on beach renourishment for recreational purposes
  • Projects addressing hard infrastructure only for water quality improvement, including wastewater treatment plant upgrades, elimination of combined sewer outfalls, replacement of failing septic systems, and implementation of agricultural animal waste management plans
  • Activities that are required by a separate local, state, or federal consent decree, court order, statute, or regulation
  • Effectiveness monitoring and research

For FY 2023, nearly $220 million was distributed via 32 awards through this program. For FY 2022, more than $265 million was distributed via 38 awards ranging from $1.3 million to $14.9 million. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Rina Studds
(301) 427-8651
resilience.grants@noaa.gov

Amanda Cousart
(301) 337-9447
resilience.grants@noaa.gov

Agency Address
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 5128
Washington, D.C. 20230

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to the program staff.

Applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
NOFA File: US17405_NOFA_FY2025.pdf (397.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US17405_Overview_FY2025.pdf (170.2 Kb)
Award File: US17405_Award_FY2025.pdf (543.6 Kb)
Federal Forms:
SPOC (67.7 Kb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The Overview file contains general program information, including information regarding optional webinars scheduled for this program. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients. The SPOC file contains information on the state Single Point of Contact program. Additional program resources can be found online at www.fisheries.noaa.gov.

Grant Keywords
USDOC, DOC, NOAA, NMFS, IIJA, territory, territories, conservation, conserve, ecological, ecology, ecosystem, environment, environmental, environmentalism, green, habitat, natural resource, nature, outdoor, preservation, preserve, protect, protection, restoration, restore, stewardship, animal, biodiversity, bird, distribution, domestic bird, fish, plant, population, wildlife, creek, estuaries, estuarine, estuary, lake, river, stream, tributaries, tributary, water, waterbodies, waterbody, beach, coast, coastal, coastline, riparian, riparian buffer, shore, shoreline, watershed, wetland, fisheries, fishery, fisheries management, open space, park, parks and rec, parks and recreation, chemical, contaminant, contaminate, contaminated, pollute, polluted, pollution, toxic, land management, land use, on-the-ground, climate change, global warming, sea level, temperature, Great Lakes, habitat restoration, sustainable fishery, sustainable fisheries, fishery management, overfishing, over-fishing, candidate, endangered species, extinct, extinction, hunting, near-extinct, protected, threatened, fish passage, native species, invasive species, water quality, climate resilience, climate-resilient, climate-resilient ecosystem, economic vitality, climate hazard, environmental hazard, disaster preparedness, natural disaster, drought, precipitation, rain, storm, tropical storm, weather, emergency preparedness, climate emergency, climate preparedness, local climate hazard, coastal resilience, green job, green employment, environmental equity, climate equity, community resilience, green economy, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, tribe, tribal, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, BIL, Inflation Reduction Act, IRA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act
Grant Categories
Community Development
Disaster Preparedness
Environment/Natural Resources