U.S. President Joe Biden has signed the Coastal Habitat Conservation Act, which codifies the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Coastal Program and provides funding to protect, enhance, and restore priority habitats along the nation’s coasts.
“Coastal ecosystems are an integral part of our nation’s economy and well-being, but climate change, pollution, and unsustainable development are rapidly deteriorating these critical resources,” U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) said of the bill when he introduced it more than a year and a half ago. “This collaborative bill is a bipartisan solution to preserve the health and resilience of coastal habitats, benefiting the wildlife, communities, and economies that depend on them.”
Established in 1985, USFWS’s Coastal Program is a voluntary effort that sees the service collaborate with local partners, such as state and Tribal governments, conservation organizations, communities, and federal partners, to protect and improve the health of coastal ecosystems. Since its inception in the Chesapeake Bay, the program has spread to 23 priority coastal areas, collaborated with 8,200 partners, protected 2.3 million acres of habitat, and restored 600,000 acres of habitat.
“These projects provide lasting benefits to coastal communities by employing contractors and stimulating local economies, restoring coastal wetlands that support commercial and recreational fisheries, improving water quality, and increasing opportunities for hunting, fishing, and wildlife observation,” USFWS Deputy Director for Policy Stephen Guertin told lawmakers in testimony in support of the bill.
The Coastal Habitat Conservation Act codifies the program and provides regular funding for it – USD 20 million to USD 25 million (EUR 19 million to EUR 24 million) annually through fiscal year 2028.
The U.S. House passed the legislation in a voice vote in September, while the U.S. Senate passed it in November. Biden signed the bill into law on 11 December.
The Biden administration has made fish habitat restoration, particularly in the Columbia River Basin, a priority for the federal government. The administration has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into restoring salmon populations along the West Coast and recently opened a third and final round of applications for the Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience funding opportunity. The government announced that USD 100 million (EUR 95 million) in competitive grants is available, with applications due 16 April 2025.
