NOAA Releases $77M National Estuarine Research Reserve System Grant Opportunity
This program comes as part of a slew of new programs announced in the past several days
Note: This opportunity is part of a series of grant opportunities that NOAA released on June 29th. You can find the news release here and the list of associated funding opportunities here. While these programs have fairly narrow uses, many of them (including this one), include non-competitive grants for planning and therefore are a great opportunity for estuarine research reserves (in this case) to receive funding even if they do not have a robust pipeline of eligible projects.
Opportunity: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NOAA)
Overview and Eligible Uses: Habitat restoration; habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design; ecosystem conservation. The majority of this funding will support competitively selected projects. However, non-competitive funds to support program capacity will be available up to $100,000 per year for each reserve to support work plans focused on the Infrastructure Act.
Amount: $77 million over five years. Approximately $15 million per year in competitive and non-competitive program capacity funds, with competitive projects expected to range in cost from approximately $200,000 up to $4 million per project, depending on project type.
Type: Competitive grants (projects), non-competitive grants (planning)
Eligible Applicants: National Estuarine Research Reserves must serve as primary applicants. However, reserve partners under a memorandum of understanding can also receive funds, if approved and coordinated. Projects must be within the reserve boundary or targeted watershed.
Key Dates: Letters of intent are due July 29, 2022, and full proposals will be due October 14, 2022.
Key Links:
Notice of Funding Opportunity (Grants.gov)
For a full list of currently available grant programs under the Infrastructure Law and other helpful tools, take a look at our Helpful Resources page.