Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of the NOAA Restoration Center?

The NOAA Restoration Center (RC) provides restoration expertise and comprehensive restoration planning and implementation for coastal and marine habitas facing chronic problems like subsidence, erosion, and disruption of natural processes.

The RC works to:

• Implement quality restoration project
• Advance the science of habitat restoration
• Monitor success of projects to ensure healthy and sustainable fishery resources
• Empower local groups to implement their own community-based restoration project

What are the key programs run by the Restoration Center?

The RC administers four main programs:

• DARP - Damage Assessment and Restoration Program
• CWPPRA - Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act
• CRP - Community-based Restoration Program
• RRP - Restoration Research Program

How much is the NOAA Restoration Center spending on restoration activities across the country?

The RC has a number of programs working to restore coastal habitats. Some of which are:

The Community-based Restoration Program, which provides $10 million annually for restoration projects, as well providing technical assistance. Based on past experience, NOAA’s $10 million investment in these projects in 2002 will be leveraged several times with matching funds and in kind services, bringing the estimated value of funded projects to upwards of $40 million.

The Damage Assessment and Restoration Program - The RC spends approximately $2 million in appropriated funds to restore injuries to the environment due to oil spills and toxic release. Since its inception in 1990, the Program has collected over $260 million in damage awards for use in restoration activities.

The Coastal Wetland Planning Protection and Restoration Program - In FY2000, NOAA Fisheries received $6 to $7 million to undertake large scale wetland restoration in coastal Louisiana. Since the Program started, the NOAA RC has allocated $80 million for 22 large-scale wetland restoration and creation projects.

What is the Community-based Restoration Program?

The CRP began in 1996 in response to requests for help from local groups and individuals interested in restoring habitats in their communities. It has grown into a systematic effort to catalyze partnerships at the national, regional, and local level to help citizens carryout meaningful restoration projects. The program provides seed money and links NOAA technical expertise to grass-roots restoration projects, with an emphasis on collaborative strategies built around improving coastal resources. In short, the CRP:

• Provides funding for individual projects or partnerships
• Provides local technical assistance and guidance on site selection and designs
• Depends upon strong partnerships with other public and private organizations
• Promotes a conservation ethic and stewardship of coastal and marine resources
• Encourages grass-roots approaches to successful habitat restoration

Who is involved in the Community-based Restoration Program?

Partnerships occur at national, regional, and local levels and bring together a wide range of people to implement restoration efforts:

• Community organizations
• Public, nonprofit, and not-for-profit groups
• Government agencies
• Businesses
• Commercial and recreational fishing organizations
• Students and educational institutions
• Youth conservation corps
• Private land owners

What is the budget history of the Community-based Restoration Program?

Year Funding

1996: $ 250,000
1997: $ 250,000
1998: $ 250,000
1999: $ 500,000
2000: $ 2,000,000
2001: $ 8,000,000
2002: $10,000,000

How many community based restoration projects has NOAA funded?

Since the program began in 1996, funding has supported over 650 projects in 27 states, with at least 150 more scheduled to begin within the year. NOAA support has ranged from $1,000 for the smallest projects to $500,000 that was matched 1:1 under two separate national partnerships, the combined funds of which support many projects. Most individual projects typically receive between $5,000- 75,000. Although projects may be small individually, they are beginning to have a significant cumulative impact on coastal and estuarine habitats across the country.

What do partners contribute?

Partners bring in funding from a variety of public and private sources. At the national level, a partner may match the amount of funds provided by the NOAA Restoration Center with its own funds. Partner funds are typically leveraged again with support from other organizations at the local level, resulting in 3 to 5 times the Federal dollars invested.

Partnership contributions for community-based restoration projects can include:

• Cash and in-kind services such as donation of materials, earthmoving equipment
• Technical asssistance for restoration site selection, design, and evaluation
• Land
• Workforce support or other in-kind services, especially those that promote citizens’ hands-on involvement
• Local stewardship and monitoring to sustain and evaluate the success of the restoration over time.

What kinds of habitats have been restored by the CRP?

The CRP is focused on restoring habitats that NOAA trust resources depend upon. NOAA trust resources include:

• Commercial and recreational fisheries (marine fish and shellfish)
• Anadromous species (fish like salmon and striped bass that spawn in freshwater and then migrate to the sea)
• Endangered and threatened marine species
• Marine mammals and sea turtles
• Marshes, mangroves, seagrass beds, coral reefs, and other coastal habitats
• Living resources associated with National Marine Sanctuaries, National Estuarine Research Reserves, and other marine protected areas

What kinds of Community-based Restoration projects have been supported?

Freshwater anadromous fish habitat examples:

• Fishway renovation or installation
• Fish blockage removals, such as culvert replacement and selective dam removal
• Riparian buffer habitat restoration

Tidal estuarine fish habitat examples:

• Saltmarsh restoration and creation
• Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) restoration
• Oyster reef restoration

Coastal marine habitat examples:

• Kelp forest restoration
• Coral reef restoration
• Mangrove forest restoration
• Artificial Reefs

What organizations have already joined the CRP at the national or regional level?

National and regional partners (# of projects they've supported through 2002):

• FishAmerica Foundation/American Sportfishing Association (148)
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
  • Five Star Restoration Challenge Grant Program (71)
  • Pacific Grass Roost Salmon Initiative (27)
  • Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants (21)
  • Restore Our Southern Rivers ()
  • NOAA/NFWF (45)
• Restore America’s Estuaries (53)
• Ocean Trust (12)
• The Nature Conservancy (16)
• Trout Unlimited (17)
• American Rivers (13)
• Ducks Unlimited (4)
• Salmon Corps (9)
• Connecticut River Watershed Council (1)
• Gulf of Maine Council (13)
• California Coastkeeper (1)
• Gulf of Mexico Foundation (10)
• Pacific Salmon Watershed Fund (8)
• Institute for Sustainable Forestry (new)
• Institute for Fisheries Resources (new)
• Earth Conservation Corps (new)
• Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (5) - discontinued
• People for Salmon (10) - discontinued

Are restored habitats as productive as the previously unperturbed habitats were?

Naturally, the desired result of all restoration projects is to restore full ecosystem function, but just as habitats are not degraded overnight, habitat structure and function also take time to become reestablished, even when the best available engineering and scientific techniques are used.

Restoration is still a relatively young science, and many habitat restorations "completed" over the last decade are still becoming established, evolving toward better functioning, and so are still under evaluation. During this monitoring phase, research often reveals that further modifications or corrections are needed to achieve the desired level of restoration. Some habitats have been degraded so severely over such a long period of time that it may take years before they become as productive as undamaged areas, so it is critical to evaluate every project with a thorough and ongoing monitoring program

How will national and regional partnerships be selected for funding in FY2004?

Complete details will be available in a Notice published in the Federal Register (FRN) should funds be made available by Congress. This Notice will be posted on the NOAA Restoration Center website, www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration some time in late 2003. Briefly, applications for proposed partnerships will be accepted and reviewed on a monthly basis until all the funds are awarded or until June 1, 2004. The applications will be technically reviewed by NOAA national and regional technical staff to determine how well they fit with the criteria NOAA developed to establish strong partnerships. These include:

• Evaluation of the potential of the partnership to benefit living marine resources under NOAA stewardship;
• Evaluation of the partner’s strengths and experience in managing the various phases of habitat restoration projects;
• The feasibility and potential impact of the proposed partnership plan;
• The ability of the applicant organization to engage communities in habitat restoration;
• The cost-effectiveness and budget justification.

What are the minimum and maximum funding levels that NOAA will invest in national and regional partnerships?

NOAA anticipates investing up to $2 million per national partnership, and up to $1 million for regional partnerships, which is expected to result in combined partnerships of up to $4M and $2M respectively in the case of cash contributions. The nature of the contribution (cash or in-kind) and the degree of cost-sharing are two of the factors that will be taken into account in the selection of partners.

How long will partnerships last once established?

The RC is encouraging multi-year partnerships that may last up to 3 years without the applicant needing to reapply for funds every year. This allows NOAA and its partners to re-evaluate the relationship, and make adjustments for continuing the partnership in subsequent years. The intention of the program is to maintain partnerships that will be ongoing and long lasting. Current partnerships have been running between 1 and 3 years, with most partnerships running the full three-year period. Future opportunities for submitting proposals to the competitive process for developing multi-year national and regional partnerships are anticipated, but will be dependant on CRP funding levels..

What are the priorities for habitat restoration partnerships anticipated under this announcement?

FY2004 priorities for restoration partnerships are expected to include:

• Areas identified by NOAA Fisheries as essential fish habitat (EFH) and areas within EFH identified as Habitats of Particular Concern.
• Areas identified as "critical habitat" for federally or state-listed marine and anadromous species
• Areas identified important habitat for marine mammals and sea turtles.
• Watersheds or such other areas under conservation management as special management areas under state coastal management programs.
• Other important commercial or recreational marine fish habitat, including degraded areas that historically were important habitat for living marine resources.

Not all organizations and groups interested in conducting habitat restoration fit requirements for a national or regional partnership. Are there other opportunities for individual restoration projects at the local level?

Individual habitat restoration projects are funded two ways. Either through the Restoration Center's direct solicitation, which is published annually in a separate Federal Register Notice (January 2, 2003 - application postmark deadline March 3, 2003), or through one of the many solicitations that occur through Restoration Center partnerships. For example, last year FishAmerica had two calls for habitat restoration project proposals, as did the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The Five Star program had a solicitation too. Quality projects that are submitted to the Restoration Center or one of its partners that don't receive funding in one arena are often forwarded to other funding sources we are aware of, so the Restoration Center functions in a clearinghouse capacity as well.

How can I keep up to date about upcoming funding opportunities for habitat restoration from NOAA and its partnerships?

All of these announcements or links to them will be available on the RC website: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/habitat/restoration.