NOAA Great Lakes Fish Habitat Restoration Partnership Grants

The principal objective of the NOAA Great Lakes Fish Habitat Restoration Partnership Grants competition is to provide federal financial and technical assistance to habitat restoration projects that meet NOAA's mission to restore coastal habitats and support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) (https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2019-10/documents/glri-action-plan-3-201910-30pp.pdf) goal to protect and restore habitats to sustain healthy populations of native fish species in the eight U.S. Great Lakes states. Proposals submitted under this solicitation will be evaluated based on alignment with our program priorities, including: 1) contribution to GLRI Focus Area 1 (Toxic Substances and Areas of Concern) goals to implement management actions within select Areas of Concern (AOC), and 2) contribution to GLRI Focus Area 4 (Habitats and Species) goals to restore habitat for native Great Lakes fish species whose populations have been impacted by habitat degradation. Through this solicitation, we intend to address GLRI Focus Area 4 goals by prioritizing a subset of habitat restoration projects identified by the Lake Committees as Environmental Priorities to meet fish community objectives for Great Lakes fish species. Lake Committees are composed of senior officials from state, provincial, and U.S. intertribal fishery agencies, convened by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Together, they are responsible for managing the Lakes' fisheries and developing plans and guidance to sustain healthy populations of Great Lakes commercial and recreational fish species.

Applicants are encouraged to propose one or more projects that are identified on 1) an AOC management list and/or 2) a Lake Committee Environmental Priorities list. (Please see section I.B of this funding opportunity to see the AOCs and Environmental Priorities that are prioritized in this competition). An applicant's capacity to manage concurrent habitat restoration projects over multiple years and willingness and ability to work with stakeholders and communities to achieve project goals will also be evaluated through this competition. NOAA reserves the right to fund some and not all the proposed projects based on program priorities and funding availability. Proposals may include the following types of activities: restoration feasibility and/or design; habitat restoration construction (i.e., on-the-ground activities); or a combination thereof.

Proposals selected for funding through this solicitation will be funded through cooperative agreements. One-year or multi-year awards will be considered. Multi-year awards are awards that are funded annually, for up to three years. Funding needs for the second and/or third year (Fiscal Year 2023 and/or FY 2024) will be estimated in FY2022, with final amounts determined in future years, pending future federal appropriations and progress towards project milestones. NOAA anticipates typical federal funding for awards will range from $500,000 to $5 million over one to three years. NOAA will not accept proposals with a federal funding request of less than $300,000 or more than $30 million total over three years. NOAA anticipates up to $10 million will be available under this announcement in FY22. Funds will be administered by the NOAA Restoration Center. Awards are dependent upon the amount of funds made available to NOAA for this purpose by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in FY22 - FY24 budgets.