EPA Press Office

EPA Awards over $3.7 Million to Support Wetlands Restoration in the Pacific Southwest

SAN FRANCISCO (June 16, 2022) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a total of $3,745,495 to boost programs that restore habitat, protect tribal water quality and preserve wetlands across the Pacific Southwest. The funding was awarded through EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grants.

“We are very pleased to support our partners in their efforts to improve water quality and restore wetlands in California, Hawaii, and Nevada,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman “Healthy wetlands provide numerous benefits to ecosystems and communities across the Pacific Southwest, and these grants will allow our state, local and tribal partners to make significant progress protecting these vital resources where it's needed most.”

Wetland Program Development Grants assist state, tribal, and local government agencies and interstate/intertribal entities in developing or refining programs which protect, manage, and restore wetlands.

Below are the projects funded in this year’s round of grants:

The Yurok Tribe’s Wetland Program Plan will receive $309,718 to advance preservation and restoration of headwater wetlands in response to climate change. The project will create a Wetlands Headwaters Restoration and Prioritization Plan to inform better stewardship practices through the worsening drought.

California State Coastal Conservancy will receive $365,000 to build capacity for assessing wetland recovery efforts. The project will develop a regional monitoring program for the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project.

Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk will receive $262,174 to continue to build on its 2019 Wetlands Program Plan and develop a tribal wetland inventory, monitoring and assessment program.

Southern California Coastal Water Resource Project will receive $443,005 to develop a Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Monitoring Program for the Southern California Bight.

Association of Bay Area Governments will receive $569,366 for the SF Bay Wetlands Regional Monitoring Program Plan Phase III: Enhancing Community Relevance. This project will plan coordinated monitoring efforts and advance work to analyze wetland status and trends.

San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission will receive $379,622 to develop new sediment management policies for wetland restoration and climate change resilience in San Francisco Bay.

Aquatic Science Center will receive $436,969 to develop the Russian River Regional Monitoring Program, which includes a comprehensive base map of surface waters and riparian areas.

Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources will receive $264,116 to develop Hawaii’s first protection and restoration strategy for the state’s anchialine pools—enclosed water bodies or ponds with an underground connection to the ocean—and marshes. The project will convene a state advisory committee, develop a monitoring and assessment strategy, identify regulatory program needs, and distribute project outputs to partners to guide wetland restoration and protection efforts across the state. These activities were identified as priorities in Hawaii’s Wetland Program Plan developed with support from a previous EPA Wetland Program Development Grant.

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe will receive $234,881 to continue building capacity to safeguard Pyramid Lake and the Truckee River, and to protect endangered cui-ui sucker fish, threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout, and the Tribe’s people from water pollution and its effects.

Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Natural Heritage Division, will receive $480,644 to revise Nevada’s Wetlands Program Plan and continue the ongoing inventory, monitoring and assessment of the state’s springs.

For more information, visit EPA's wetland program development grants page.

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