Deadline: 3-Feb-22
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is announcing the 2021 Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund (ECRF) to support projects that increase the resilience of coastal communities impacted by hurricanes and wildfires in 2020 and 2021.
NFWF will award approximately $24 million in grants to create and restore natural systems to help protect coastal communities from the impacts of coastal storms, floods, sea-level rise, inundation, coastal erosion, wildfires and associated landslides/debris flows, and enable communities to recover more quickly from these events, all while improving habitats for fish and wildlife species.
Program Priorities
- The ECRF will focus on increasing recovery from storms and wildfires and building resilience of coastal communities. This program will prioritize nature-based restoration projects that provide dual benefits – both benefits for human community resilience and benefits for fish and wildlife. The program hopes to build upon existing state, federal, regional, and local resilience and/or wildlife plans, and/or disaster mitigation plans.
- Natural habitat such as coastal marshes and wetlands, forests, rivers, lakes, streams, dune and beach systems, and oyster and coral reefs – maintained at a significant size for the habitat type and natural hazard being addressed – can provide communities with enhanced protection and buffering from the growing impacts of sea-level rise, changing flood patterns, increased frequency and intensity of storms, wildfires, and other environmental stressors.
- At a minimum, all proposals must clearly describe how projects will support achieving the dual goals of the ECRF:
- Relative benefit to coastal communities from reducing the impact of future storms and other natural hazards (e.g., coastal storm surge, sea-level rise, wave velocity, flooding, debris flow/landslides as result of wildfires, stormwater run-off) to properties, community infrastructure (such as schools and municipal buildings), assets of economic importance, and health and safety assets (such as hospitals, evacuation routes, utilities and fire and rescue response); and
- Anticipated enhancement of the ecological integrity and functionality of ecosystems to enhance fish and wildlife and their habitats.
Categories
Proposals will be considered that support the following two categories:
- Restoration and Monitoring
- The primary focus of the ECRF is to help with implementation of restoration projects. There is no maximum limit on the award amount for “Restoration and Monitoring” grants. Grant requests should be appropriate to the scope and scale of the project. NFWF expects most awards for this project category to range from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 and anticipates awards will vary significantly in amount based on the scope of the project and the work proposed.
- Site Assessment and Preliminary Design
- While ECRF’s primary focus is the implementation of nature-based community resilience projects, in limited instances projects may be considered that complete site assessments and preliminary designs of best options for communities to address restoration and community resilience goals. The amount requested should reflect the project proposed. NFWF expects the average award to be $250,000 for this priority area, but that awards will vary significantly in amount based on the scope of the project and the work proposed.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include non-profit 501(c) organizations, state and territorial government agencies, local governments, municipal governments, Tribal governments and organizations, educational institutions, or commercial (for-profit) organizations.
- Tribal governments include all Native American tribal governments (both federally recognized tribes and those tribes that are not federally recognized).
- For-profit applicants: please note that this is a request for grant proposals, not a procurement of goods and services;
- As this program will award grants of Federal financial assistance funds, applicants must be able to comply with the OMB guidance
- Ineligible applicants include federal agencies or employees of federal agencies, foreign organizations, foreign public entities and unincorporated individuals.
For more information, visit https://www.nfwf.org/programs/emergency-coastal-resilience-fund/emergency-coastal-resilience-fund-2021-request-proposals