San Francisco Bay Restoration Grants

Background
The San Francisco Bay Grant Program, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since 2008, is a competitive funding opportunity aimed at making measurable progress in restoring the Bay and its watersheds. The program focuses on improving water quality, cleaning up contaminated shorelines, restoring wetlands, and implementing urban stormwater treatment systems.

The SF Bay Program supports a variety of project types that enhance ecosystem functions and address water quality impacts from nutrients, stormwater, urban pesticide use, and habitat loss.

Grant Details
Eligible projects must align with the SF Bay Program's priorities and can include activities such as:
- Beneficial reuse of dredged material
- Projects to reduce nutrient inputs into SF Bay
- Restoration of subtidal habitat through sediment remediation
- Installation of green stormwater infrastructure
- Removal of trash from the Bay
- Multi-benefit shoreline projects
- Contaminated site cleanup
- Large-scale restoration projects for wetlands
- Development of AI for water quality monitoring.

Applicants must demonstrate how their projects provide environmental and/or public health benefits under one or more of the Program's 11 Priorities and align with EPA’s 5 Pillars. They must also describe expected environmental outputs and outcomes, which will be included as deliverables in the grant workplan if selected.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants include state and local agencies, special districts, federally recognized Tribes (and non-federally recognized Tribes represented by a nonprofit), public or nonprofit agencies, institutions, and organizations. Applications must meet specific threshold criteria including demonstrating alignment with program priorities, providing a 25% match of total project costs, ensuring project consistency with the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP), and being carried out within one or more of the nine SF Bay counties.

Period of Performance
The anticipated period of performance for awarded grants is expected to be between 3 to 5 years.

Grant Value
Approximately $33 million is available for this funding opportunity, with individual awards expected to range from $1 million to $5 million depending on various factors including agency funding levels and application quality.

Place of Performance
Projects must be conducted within one or more of the nine SF Bay counties: Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Francisco.