What's New: NOAA Restoration Portal Website provides information on restoration techniques, NOAA restoration programs, projects, activities, and references.

NOAA staff load vessel with native oyster shell and spat to be distributed on an offshore oyster reef, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Courtesy of NOAA NOAA HABITAT ACTIVITIES To learn more about activities, visit these websites: Chesapeake Bay Community-based Restoration Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Essential Fish Habitat Estuary Restoration Act Invasive Species Hydropower Wetlands Protection

Introduction  

Coastal, marine, and Great Lakes habitats, including rivers and estuaries, are an indispensable part of our nation's natural resources and sustain a significant portion of the U.S. economy. These habitats are components of complex ecosystems beginning inland at the headwaters of streams and extending seaward. The health of these habitats depends on the quality of the ecosystems' physical and chemical processes and associated biological communities. Their degradation and loss affect the viability and productivity of invaluable natural resources.

The NOAA Habitat Program seeks to protect and restore habitats that support NOAA trust resources that are essential to the long-term health and sustainability of coastal, marine, and Great Lakes ecosystems. The Habitat Program applies the latest science, technology, and management tools to ensure that ecosystem productivity, function, and services are protected and restored using a variety of strategies and measures authorized by dozens of legislative and executive mandates. The Habitat Program promotes sound stewardship by engaging partners (i.e., federal, state, and local agencies, as well as tribes and stakeholders) to leverage additional capabilities to ensure long-term habitat integrity and sustainability.

To fulfill its mandates, the Program brings together resources and expertise from core NOAA programs within three Line Offices:

• NOAA's National Ocean Service
• Office of Response & Restoration
• Assessment and Restoration Division
• NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service
  • Office of Habitat Conservation
  • Regional Offices
    • Northwest Region
    • Northeast Region
    • Southeast Region
    • Southwest Region
    • Alaska Region
    • Pacific Islands
• NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
  • Oceans, Great Lakes and Coastal Research

Additional support for the Habitat Program is provided by NOAA's General Counsel (GC).

The Program strives to fully realize the mission and goals of the U.S. Ocean Action Plan and NOAA Strategic Plan to protect, restore, and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through an ecosystem approach to management.

NOAA Habitat Activities

The primary mission of the NOAA Habitat Program is the protection and restoration of coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes habitats.

• Chesapeake Bay Office
  The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office works to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay through its programs in fisheries management, habitat restoration, coastal observations, and education. The Office represents NOAA in the Chesapeake Bay Program.
• Community-based Restoration Program (CRP)
  A financial and technical assistance program that promotes strong partnerships at the national, regional, and local level to restore fisheries habitat with the help of volunteer support , and other in-kind services.
  Administered by NOAA Restoration Center
• Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Program (CWPPRA)
  Funds and supports restoration, protection, conservation, and enhancement of threatened wetlands in coastal Louisiana .
  Administered by NOAA Restoration Center
• Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program (DARRP)
  Collaborates with other agencies, industry, and citizens to protect coastal and marine resources, respond to pollution incidents, assess risk and injuries to trust resources affected by waste sites, spills, and ship groundings, and restore those resources when injured.
  Composed of NOAA Restoration Center , NOAA OR&R Assessment and Restoration Division, and NOAA Office of General Counsel
• Essential Fish Habitat Program (EFH)
  Identifies and describes EFH for each managed species using the best available science. The program identifies specific areas and the habitat features within them that provide essential functions to a particular species for each of its life stages.
  Administered by the NOAA Habitat Protection Division
• Estuary Restoration Act (ERA)
  This Act formed a federal interagency council to make restoring our nation's estuaries a top priority. NOAA is assigned primary data coordination responsibilities under the ERA, including the establishment of monitoring protocols for restoration projects and the development and maintenance of a national inventory of restoration projects—the National Estuaries Restoration Inventory. NOAA is also working to assess habitat trends and fill gaps in restoration planning in key coastal areas.
• Invasive Species Program
  NOAA Research works at the local, state, national, and international levels to address aquatic invasive species and their impacts on the environment, commerce, and trade using a six-part approach: prevention, monitoring and early detection, rapid response, control and management, restoration, and leadership and coordination.
  Administered by the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
• NOAA Hydropower Program
  Implements provisions of the Federal Power Act to prescribe fishways and other protection, mitigation, and enhancement measures at hydropower projects licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
  A component of the NOAA Fisheries Service Office of Habitat Conservation
• Wetlands Protection Program
  Provides technical advice to agencies and the public on proposed actions that could have a negative effect on coastal wetlands, often recommending ways to avoid, minimize, and mitigate the adverse effects of a project.
  Administered by the NOAA Habitat Protection Division

More Habitat-Related Information

For other NOAA habitat protection and restoration related activities, visit these websites:

• Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research – Beaufort, NC
• Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services
• Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research
• Coastal Services Center / Landscape Characterization and Restoration Program
• Coastal Zone Management Program
• Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine and Environmental Technology – CICEET
• Coral Reef Conservation Program
• National Coastal Data Development Center
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NOAA Partnership Program)
• National Estuarine Research Reserve System
• National Geodetic Survey
• National Marine Sanctuaries
• Special Projects
• National Sea Grant
• NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources
• NOAA Fisheries Science Labs
• NOAA Research
• Pribilof Islands Environmental Restoration Project
• South Florida Ecosystem Restoration

For more information, contact:

Peg Brady
Program Coordinator
NOAA Habitat Program
Phone: (301) 713-0174 x109
E-mail: peg.brady@noaa.gov