NOAA Great Lakes Fish Habitat Restoration Partnership Grants

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The principal objective of the NOAA Great Lakes Fish Habitat Restoration Partnership Grants competition is to provide federal financial and technical assistance to habitat restoration projects that meet NOAA's mission to restore coastal habitats and support the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) (https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2019-10/documents/glri-action-plan-3-201910-30pp.pdf) goal to protect and restore habitats to sustain healthy populations of native fish species in the eight U.S. Great Lakes states. Proposals submitted under this solicitation will be evaluated based on alignment with our program priorities, including: 1) contribution to GLRI Focus Area 1 (Toxic Substances and Areas of Concern) goals to implement management actions within Areas of Concern (AOC), and 2) contribution to GLRI Focus Area 4 (Habitats and Species) goals to restore habitat for native Great Lakes fish species whose populations have been impacted by habitat degradation. Through this solicitation, we intend to address GLRI Focus Area 4 goals by prioritizing a subset of habitat restoration projects identified by the Lake Committees as Environmental Priorities to meet fish community objectives for Great Lakes fish species. Lake Committees are composed of senior officials from state, provincial, and U.S. intertribal fishery agencies, convened by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Together, they are responsible for managing the Lakes’ fisheries and developing plans and guidance to sustain healthy populations of Great Lakes commercial and recreational fish species.