HabitatNews: September 2024

Habitat restoration funding for Great Lakes, North Carolina oyster restoration, and mor

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. SEPTEMBER 2024 Highlights $12 Million Available for Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Up to $12 million in NOAA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding is available to support habitat restoration in the Great Lakes. We are seeking proposals for projects that restore Great Lakes habitats and lead to significant and sustainable benefits for Great Lakes native fish species. Contact: Julie Simmons. $4.2 Million Recommended for Great Lakes Habitat Restoration NOAA Fisheries is recommending $4.2 million in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding to continue ongoing work restoring important habitat in the Great Lakes. Through this funding, partners will implement projects that support fisheries, habitats, and communities in Great Lakes ecosystems. Contact: Julie Simmons. Collaboration on St. Croix Fish Passage Projects May Create Largest Alewife Run in North America An international partnership led by the Passamaquoddy Tribe will improve access to 600 miles and 60,000 acres of habitat to alewives and other sea-run fish on the St. Croix River in Maine. With $35.6 million from NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik and the Maine Department of Marine Resources will develop state-of-the-art fishways to carry six species of migratory fish over the dams. Contact: Matt Bernier. North Carolina Oyster Restoration Project Trains the Next Generation of Marine Scientists NOAA and our partner the North Carolina Coastal Federation are helping train the next generation of restoration practitioners at North Carolina State and North Carolina Central universities. We are funding undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds to study the impacts of oyster reef restoration in the Pamlico Sound among other topics. We met students Rebecca Ruiz, Amin Neal, and Lauren Johnson to learn about their research. NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation awarded the Federation $14.9 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for this work and the restoration of more than 100 acres of oyster reef habitat. Contact: Stephanie Krug. Washington Tribes Restore Salmon Habitat on South Fork Nooksack River Recovery of the Nooksack River spring Chinook salmon sub-population is critical for the recovery of Puget Sound Chinook and affects the entire North Pacific salmon fishery. Lummi and Nooksack Tribes are leading efforts to restore river habitats through construction of engineered log jams. These efforts have been accelerated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. These structures mimic the natural log jams in rivers and provide hiding places for young fish and resting places for adult fish returning to spawn. Contact: Paul Cereghino. Sharing Climate Change Knowledge, Inspiring Action in the Chesapeake Bay Climate change is already affecting the Chesapeake Bay and its residents—human and otherwise. We're working to give educators the tools and knowledge they need to help students understand climate change, and to inspire them to take action. Contact: Bart Merrick. Data from Tagged Fish to Help Scientists Enhance Restoration Efforts NOAA scientists are using data from nearly 400 tagged fish to study how different species in Chesapeake Bay use restored and natural habitats near Poplar Island, Maryland. The data collected from telemetry receivers will help identify which habitats are most beneficial, guiding future restoration efforts. Contact: Wilmelie Cruz Marrero. Trustees Release Final Restoration Plan to Implement Shoreline and Wetland Restoration Projects at Metal Bank Site The Trustee Council for the Metal Bank Superfund Site in Philadelphia recently released the Final Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment  to restore habitat and natural resources injured as a result of contaminants being released at the site. The Trustees will implement the Kensington & Tacony Trail Living Shoreline and Tacony Boat Ramp Project, which includes shoreline and riparian habitat  restoration. Contact: Rich Takacs. New Guidance Added to Deepwater Monitoring and Adaptive Management Manual The Deepwater Horizon Trustee Council has added new guidance to its Monitoring and Adaptive Management Manual. This update provides guidance for evaluating restoration progress to meet the programmatic goals described in the Trustees' Programmatic Restoration Plan. Adaptive management involves fine-tuning restoration as monitoring results become available and scientific understanding improves. The Manual provides guidance for monitoring activities used to evaluate outcomes of individual projects and across all Deepwater Horizon restoration activities. Contact: Natalie Matthews. Habitat Across NOAA Under Pressure to Restore Deep-Sea Corals NOAA Fisheries and partners conducted a saturation diving mission deep in the Gulf of Mexico to advance our coral restoration efforts. This summer, a team of experts set out to support the Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities restoration projects. This effort aims to restore vital seafloor habitats damaged by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This operation, which took place within and around the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, involved a unique combination of data collection methods. Coastal Marsh Restoration in the Mid-Atlantic: Aligning Habitat Objectives to Maximize Project Benefits In collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries has developed a guidance document to support the development of coastal marsh restoration projects in the mid-Atlantic region. It highlights common goals, provides guidance for partners, and addresses some potential issues of concern, marking a step forward toward scaling up effective coastal marsh restoration in the face of many challenges. The Elwha River Restoration: A Case Study in Adaptive Management for Salmon Recovery Removing the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on Washington's Elwha River presented an opportunity to study the ecological response of a river ecosystem to large-scale disturbance and subsequent restoration. Central to this effort was the development and implementation of an adaptive management framework aimed at guiding the recovery of Chinook salmon and steelhead trout populations. This restoration project offers valuable insights into the complex ecological processes involved in dam removal and river recovery. Visit our Website NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation

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