Coastal Program

Conserving coastal ecosystems to benefit fish, wildlife, and people

The Coastal Program focuses on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's efforts to restore and protect bays, estuaries, and watersheds in 16 high priority coastal ecosystems. The program is guided by 4 goals:

Serve coastal communities by providing assessment and planning tools to identify priority habitats that should be protected and restored
Conserve pristine coastal habitats through voluntary conservation easements and locally initiated land acquisition
Restore degraded coastal wetland, upland, and stream habitats by working with partners to implement on-the-ground projects
Focus resources through conservation alliances that leverage the financial and technical resources of our partners and multiply the impact of the taxpayer's dollar

Coastal Program Locations

Albemarle/Pamlico Sounds, NC
Chesapeake Bay, MD/VA/PA
Cook Inlet, AK
Delaware Bay
Florida Gulf Coast
Galveston Bay/Texas Coast
Great Lakes
Gulf of Maine
Oregon Coast
Pacific Islands
Puget Sound, WA
San Francisco Bay, CA
South Carolina Coast
South Florida/Everglades
Southern California/San Diego Bay
Southern New England/New York Bight

Project Examples
Examples of projects funded include:

Hawksbill Turtle Nesting Beaches in Hawaii: The Coastal Program worked with a school to support a turtle nesting beach volunteer monitoring program. Volunteers monitored and protected turtle nesting activities on several hawksbill sea turtle beaches on the Big Island and also cleared invasive weeds encroaching on 20 acres of nesting habitat. The National Park Service also contributed to the project.
Removal of Ballou Dam on Yokum Brook in Massachusetts: The Coastal Program contributed to the removal of a barrier to fish passage on Yokum Brook. The project should restore 5 miles of instream habitat to benefit Atlantic salmon and other anadromous (migratory) fish. Many partners contributed to this project, including Trout Unlimited, the U.S. Geological Survey, American Rivers, the Town of Becket, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs in Massachusetts.
Graveyard Creek Restoration in Wisconsin: This Coastal Program worked with the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to restore anadromous fish passage on Graveyard Creek. Beaver dams were removed at selected locations. Bank stabilization using natural vegetation and instream work restored the original channel. Past logging practices and beaver activity have damaged fish habitat in the creek, which has high potential for coaster brook trout. About 2.5 miles of in-stream and streamside habitat were enhanced with this project.

Application and Financial Information
Contact the appropriate regional office (see list in this entry). Your regional contact should be able to give you an idea of the appropriateness of your proposed project and the probability of its support by the Coastal Program.

Eligibility, Uses, and Restrictions
Eligible clients are federal, state, interstate, and intrastate agencies; local and tribal governments; sponsored organizations; public nonprofit institutes and organizations (such as conservation organizations, watershed councils, land trusts, schools, and institutions of higher learning); federally recognized Indian tribes; U.S. territories and possessions; private landowners including individuals, families, minority groups, and businesses.

Contact
Martha Naley
National Program Office
Chief, Branch of Habitat Restoration
4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 400
Arlington, VA 22203
Phone: (703) 358-2201; Fax: (703) 358-2232
Please visit website for list of Coastal Program offices near you.

Internet
www.fws.gov/cep/cepcode.html

Last Updated December 15, 2004