Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration

To provide competitive matching grants to coastal States for coastal wetlands conservation projects. The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (Section 305, Title III, Public Law 101-646 U.S.C. 3954) established the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program to acquire, restore, and enhance wetlands in coastal States.

Eligible applicants include any agency or agencies designated by the Governor of a coastal State. It is usually a State natural resource or fish and wildlife agency. Eligible coastal States are States bordering the Great Lakes (Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin); States bordering the Atlantic, Gulf (except Louisiana), and Pacific coasts (Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington); and American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Applications are scored and then ranked based on criteria published in 50 CFR 84.32. See the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), and Attachment A to this NOFO for more information on ranking criteria. The NOFO is available at www.Grants.gov.

States with a dedicated fund for land conservation are required to provide a minimum cost share equal to 25 percent of the total project costs, including requested program funds and eligible match. All other States are required to provide a 50 percent cost share. We waive the first $200,000 of match for the following insular areas: American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Fiscal year 2025: Topsail Beach Partnership The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, in partnership with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust and others, is awarded $1 million to acquire 147.5 acres of maritime forest and coastal wetland on the south end of Topsail Island, a coastal barrier island in Pender County, North Carolina. The tract includes pristine beach, dune, salt flats, maritime shrub and estuarine wetlands that provide habitat for several federally listed species including seabeach amaranth, red knots, piping plovers, green sea turtles and loggerhead sea turtles. Eastern Shore Saltmarsh Conservation Initiative The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited and Wildlife Foundation of Virginia,?is awarded $1 million?to acquire and improve 621.4 acres of coastal wetlands and buffering uplands in Accomack County, Virginia, on the Delmarva Peninsula. This project will expand a?wildlife management area?for coastal fish and wildlife, facilitate inland marsh migration, enhance coastal resiliency, expand wildlife-related recreation opportunities and improve habitat for migratory birds and other...