How The Coastal Program Works

Since the great majority of the Nation's coastal areas are in private hands, conservation of these ecologically important habitats is vital to protecting coastal natural resources. The key is to find solutions that ensure self-sustaining natural systems despite conflicting demands on our natural resources.

The Coastal Program also provides incentives for voluntary protection of threatened, endangered and other species on private and public lands alike. The program's protection and restoration successes to date give hope that, through the cooperative efforts of many public and private partners, adequate coastal habitat for fish and wildlife will exist for future generations.

Coastal Program funds are to be used to protect and restore Great Lakes coastal ecosystems for the benefit of fish, wildlife and people.  The Program has established the following goals:

Identify and prioritize coastal habitats and evaluate ecosystem health

Identify threats to coastal living resources and ecosystem functions

Lend biological focus to the planning processes of other agencies

Implement on-the-ground projects in partnership with others

Monitor project impacts and refine approaches to maximize success

Promote public stewardship of coastal fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats

Factors To Be Used In Partnership Selection 

Projects must contribute to the protection and restoration of Great Lakes coastal habitat and ideally have:

Variety of partners: states, tribes, local governments, non-governmental organizations, and other federal agencies

Variety of ecosystems: urban, pristine, riparian, coastal wetland

Variety of strategies: planning, acquisition (only on a cost-share basis), restoration, outreach and monitoring

 Projects should emphasize:

Coastal Program - Great Lakes focus areas. However, projects not within focus areas will also be considered

“On-the-ground” results for coastal habitat, e.g., protection or restoration of coastal wetland/upland/riparian habitats, removal of barriers to fish passage or provision of fish passage in coastal streams, prevention and control of non-native invasive species, etc.

Partially funded projects where Coastal Program funds are leveraged

Minimize process and red tape

 Process

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