NOAA’s Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants protect coastal communities and ecosystems from flooding through adaptation projects that reconnect rivers, restore coral reefs, or create living shorelines.

	Does not require a cost share or matching funds
	Allows in-kind services to contribute toward nonfederal cost share requirements
	Supports nature-based solutions

Application cycle: December 6, 2024 – April 16, 2025. 

Summary: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience Grants Program aims to preserve the nation’s fisheries, advance the recovery of threatened and endangered species, and safeguard coastal areas and ecosystems from flooding and other natural hazards. The program supports efforts including reconnecting rivers to their natural floodplains, restoring coral reefs, and creating living shorelines to combat erosion and rising sea levels. Communities and state resilience leaders can use these grants to boost flood resilience, while protecting marine, estuarine, coastal, and Great Lakes habitats, and supporting recreational opportunities like boating, fishing, and tourism.

Eligible applicants: State, local, and tribal governments, institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, and U.S. territories. Projects must be located in coastal areas, including coastal shoreline counties directly adjacent to oceans, estuaries, or the Great Lakes, or coastal watershed counties along inland rivers and streams that significantly impact downstream coastal and ocean resources.

Eligible activities:

• Removing barriers like dams and outdated culverts to restore fish passage, reconnecting tidal and floodplain habitats, and restoring wetlands, coastal dunes, and marshes. 
• Projects that support endangered species, improve water quality, enhance stormwater management, increase water storage, and increase community flood resilience.
• Stabilizing shorelines, managing sediment and erosion, installing living shorelines or nature-based solutions to protect against storm impacts, and creating nursery facilities for species like corals and oysters.
• Land acquisition or dune renourishment may be included as part of a broader habitat restoration project but should not be the proposal’s sole focus.

Funding: $750,000 – $10,000,000. NOAA anticipates typical federal funding for awards will range from $4 million to $6 million. In the previous application cycle, NOAA made $240 million in total funding available through allocations from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

Cost share: Cost sharing is encouraged but not required; cost sharing is a variable considered by NOAA in evaluating proposals.

Application process: 

• To learn more, visit NOAA’s website and apply via Grants.gov.