The following information relates to one or more Federal Funding Opportunities (FFOs) published by the NOAA Restoration Center. Please refer to the actual FFO document to see if this information is relevant. All Federal Funding Opportunities published by the Restoration Center have a point of contact, if you need to confirm the relevant priorities for the funding opportunity.
Some Federal Funding Opportunities published by NOAA ask applicants to describe the benefits of their project to species listed as Endangered or Threatened under the Endangered Species Act, managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, or of recreational fishing importance. Here are some resources to assist applicants in determining what species fall in these categories, and where those species live.
Species in the Spotlight - A list of species and their action plans.
Critical Habitat Maps - Critical Habitat is a designation that describes habitat essential for conservation of the Listed species.
Managed Fish Stocks - View NOAA Fisheries' quarterly updates to the status of fish stocks managed under federal fishery management plans.
Regional Fishery Management Councils - Click the map or logos for links to Council websites, where you can find fishery management plans.
Essential Fish Habitat Mapper - Essential Fish Habitat is a designation that describes all waters and substrate necessary for the Managed fish’s life cycle.
National Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Policy - View the NOAA Fisheries policy, and implementation plans, which provide guidance for Agency consideration in its deliberations pertaining to development and maintenance of enduring and sustainable high-quality, saltwater recreational fisheries.
Saltwater Recreational Fisheries Regional Snapshots - View information about recreational species near where you live.
Some Federal Funding Opportunities published by NOAA ask applicants to demonstrate the importance of their project within the watershed or other geographic boundary. This can be done by showing your project was included in a regional planning document or process. These collaborative planning efforts are strongest when they engage diverse communities in planning or ranking projects (e.g. government, non-profit, and industry), and gather organizations to co-fund restoration priorities. The following is a list of some examples, but our priorities are not limited to projects covered in these plans.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) comprehensive plans
Restoring Priority Coho Habitat in the Scott River Watershed Modeling and Planning Report
Smith River Plain Stream Restoration Plan, Del Norte County, California
The Restoration Center’s Northeast region (Virginia through Maine) has developed fish passage priority watersheds to help inform our grant funding decisions. These priority watersheds were developed by first prioritizing Northeast Region diadromous species and then mapping these species’ current and historic distributions across the region.
Fisheries management status
Protected status (federal and/or state)
Commercial importance
Recreational importance
Public interest
Importance of barrier passage for species’ restoration
This table (PDF, 1 page) shows how each of these factors was scored from 0 (no importance) to 3 (high importance) for a given species, then summed for a Total Priority Index (TPI) score. TPI scores were sorted from largest to smallest and all species were subsequently assigned categorical priority ranks—high, medium, and low—that were represented in later analyses as weighting values of 3, 2, and 1.
The basic premise guiding fish passage prioritization is that watersheds with greater numbers of priority species are higher priority. For each Hydrologic Unit Code-08 (HUC-08) watershed, the weighting values for each species occurring there currently or historically were summed. The total co-occurrence score for each HUC-08 watershed could range from 0-27 because there are no watersheds where all species occur. We then binned the total co-occurrence scores as evenly as possible to assign final geographic priorities as high (19-27), medium (10-18), and low (0-9).
Highly valuing watersheds that have higher numbers of priority diadromous species allows the Restoration Center to more efficiently improve conditions for greater numbers of our trust resources.
Some Federal Funding Opportunities published by NOAA ask applicants to monitor both the ecological and socioeconomic benefits of their proposed work. Suggestions for monitoring ecological benefits of restoration are available on our website. The socioeconomic benefits of restoration are varied, and include increased or maintained economic activity, improved or protected infrastructure and public safety, and enhanced recreation. The following resources may be beneficial in identifying and quantifying socioeconomic benefits of restoration.
A Guide for Incorporating Ecosystem Service Valuation into Coastal Restoration Projects
Massachusetts Department of Ecological Restoration - Restoration and Economy Reports
NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program - Social Science Program
Benefit relevant indicators: Ecosystem services measures that link ecological and social outcomes
A school of lined butterflyfish swim above a shallow coral reef at Kona, Hawaii. Credit: Christine Shepard.
Carrie Selberg Robinson (center, black jacket) visiting the Southern Flow Corridor habitat restoration project in Tillamook Bay, Oregon in 2016 with NOAA staff and partners. Credit: NOAA
