REMINDER: Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund Request for Proposals- due February 3, 2022

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. Funding for this program was appropriated under the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, 2022 (PL 117-43).

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.

The Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund priority geographies for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are in the attached map. Eligible projects must be located within the outlined National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF) Coastal Areas and be within counties that received a federal Major Disaster Declaration with a Public Assistance designation as a result of hurricanes or wildfires in 2020 and 2021. For the Mid-Atlantic this includes Calvert, Dorchester, and St. Mary’s Counties in Maryland and Kent and New Castle Counties in Delaware.

The ECRF will focus on increasing recovery from storms and wildfires and building resilience of coastal communities within the above-described geographies. 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.

Please check the Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund on the NFWF website for the most current dates and information.

For more information or questions about this RFP for the Mid-Atlantic States (MD, DE, NJ) please contact Stephanie Heidbreder, stephanie.heidbreder@nfwf.org.

Emergency-Coastal-Resilience-Fund-2021-RFP_1

NE map- ECRF eligible areas