The Coastal Program is a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that funds habitat restoration and protection for fish and wildlife on public and privately-owned lands in coastal watersheds. The program delivers landscape-scale conservation from headwaters to nearshore areas, supporting strategic habitat conservation aligned with the Service's mission. Awards can reach up to $1,000,000 per application.

Eligible applicants include coastal and Great Lakes states, U.S. territories, universities, nonprofits, state and local governments, and private landowners participating through the program.

Coastal Program | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service The Coastal Program is one of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s most effective resources for restoring and protecting fish and wildlife habitat on public and privately-owned lands. We play an important role in promoting the Service’s mission and priorities, delivering landscape-scale conservation, and implementing strategic habitat conservation.

We deliver habitat conservation in coastal watersheds (i.e., headwaters to nearshore) on both public and private lands. Our ability to work on public and private lands and with a diversity of partners is necessary for implementing a coastal habitat conservation strategy, especially in coastal watersheds where land ownership is often a mosaic of private and public entities.

This ability also creates a unique opportunity for the Service to deliver landscape conservation, maintain habitat connectivity and continuity, and to connect and engage partners with the Service’s conservation priorities and objectives. Habitat protection is an important component of the Service’s landscape-scale conservation strategy.

Coastal Program fulfills a unique role by providing both technical and financial assistance for third-party land acquisitions to protect habitats. This practice allows the Service to complement its land holdings and expand its conservation efforts beyond the boundaries of the National Wildlife Refuges System.

Latest Stories and Topics Gulf of Maine Coastal Program 2025 Highlights In the Gulf of Maine, streams flow freely, marshes thrive, and communities come together. The Gulf of Maine Coastal Program and partners are restoring watersheds, strengthening coasts, and using technology to track progress. Discover the people, places, and innovations behind a year of conservation...

More Than $25 Million To Protect and Restore Coastal Wetlands and Build Coastal Resiliency Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awarding $25. 7 million to support 28 projects in 11 coastal states to protect, restore or enhance over 10,000 acres of coastal wetlands and adjacent upland habitats and more than eight miles of streams and shoreline under the National Coastal Wetlands...

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And that's just for starters. National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grants The National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grants Program annually provides grants of up to $1 million to coastal and Great Lakes states, as well as U.S. territories to protect, restore and enhance coastal wetland ecosystems and associated uplands. The Program is funded by revenues collected...

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The Coastal Program brochure that introduces the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Coastal Program, provides program statistics, and highlights the importance of coastal habitats. A collection of stories that highlight the work of the Coastal Program and our partners. A series of project stories that highlight the connections people and communities have with natural places.

The stories also highlight the assistance provided by the Coastal Program to partners and stewards who are working to make a home for people and wildlife and to conserve... National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program Factsheet This factsheet is geared toward increasing understanding of the National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program and to increase application submissions from the conservation community.

This factsheet was prepared in collaboration with Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. Guide to Farm Bill conservation programs with Coastal Program and Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program project examples.