National Estuary Program

A collaborative, efficient, and adaptable ecosystem-based network of organizations that protects and restores 28 estuaries of national significance.

On this page:

• About the Program
• Types of Assistance
• How This Program Helps Build Resilience
• Connections to Other EPA, Federal, or Non-Governmental Efforts

About the Program

The National Estuary Program (NEP) protects and restores water quality and ecological integrity in specific estuaries of national significance across the country. These locations are part of an ecosystem-based network of 28 individual National Estuary Programs, also called NEPs. These individual NEPs protect and restore the water quality and habitat in their local estuary and watershed. Each NEP develops a locally driven Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) and then implements the specific restoration and protection actions identified in that CCMP.

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the EPA will distribute $132 million in fiscal years 2022 through 2026 to the NEPs to expand and accelerate the implementation of projects in each program’s CCMP. The EPA’s July 2022 memorandum “National Estuary Program Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding Implementation Memorandum for Fiscal Years 2022-2026 (pdf)” encourages NEPs to “use BIL resources to continue to expand on their climate change adaptation, hazard mitigation, and resilience activities, where appropriate, including protection and restoration of key habitats that increase resiliency and carbon sequestration.” The memo states, “NEPs should elevate climate efforts through BIL implementation including, but not limited to:

• Assessment and planning projects that involve climate change vulnerability assessments, community resilience and adaptation plans, or hazard mitigation plans;
• Restoration, water infrastructure, green infrastructure, stormwater management, and nonpoint source projects that prioritize innovative climate adaptation, hazard mitigation, and resilience solutions;
• Projects focused on climate-related research, including those that measure, monitor, and increase carbon sequestration;
• Projects focused on climate-related outreach and education.”

Types of Assistance

The NEP offers each of the 28 individual NEPs both financial and technical assistance that can help these local estuaries increase climate resilience.

Financial Assistance

• National program grant funds. The national program offers each of the 28 individual NEPs annual grant funds that require a match of equal dollars. These grant funds and matching funds support the implementation of CCMP specific actions for water quality and habitat restoration and protection. Funded projects have included assessments of potential impacts from a changing climate.
• Competitive grants. The EPA has awarded two funding agreements with Restore America’s Estuaries to administer a national competitive subaward program. The goal of this NEP Coastal Watersheds effort is to address urgent and challenging environmental issues established by Congress that threaten the ecological and economic wellbeing of coastal and estuarine areas including, but not limited to, the loss of key habitats such as seagrass and wetlands, flooding and coastal erosion, microplastics found in coastal and estuarine waters, and harmful algal blooms. The projects awarded under the grant will help implement actions identified in EPA-approved CCMPs, or in existing state or locally approved community-based watershed management plans, within the boundary of the identified geographic areas. In addition to demonstrating on-the-ground or tangible quantifiable improvements, awarded projects are also intended to achieve advances in new approaches, practices, methods, or techniques for preventing and addressing threats to estuaries. This includes activities to establish or improve local capacity to prevent and address challenging issues in these areas.

Technical Assistance

The NEP can help implement projects to address climate impacts to coastal watersheds and estuaries.  The National Estuary Program: At the Forefront of Climate Change Adaptation, Hazard Mitigation, and Resilience report describes the wide-range of climate adaptation, hazard mitigation, and resiliency projects that generally fall into six categories: 1) Assessment and Planning, 2) Restoration, 3) Water Infrastructure/Green Infrastructure/Stormwater/Nonpoint Sources, 4) Monitoring and Research, 5) Outreach, and 6) Environmental Justice/Equity.

How This Program Helps Build Resilience

The NEP can help local communities build resilience in their estuaries in a variety of ways:

• Conducting vulnerability assessments
• Implementing living shoreline and other restoration projects
• Advancing water infrastructure priorities that address climate risk
• Conducting monitoring and research to inform decision-making
• Engaging and communicating information with stakeholders to ensure they have a voice in planning and decision-making processes
• Leading on climate-related EJ and equity issues.

Examples of climate resilience projects currently supported by the NEP include:

• Morro Bay—Constructing rainfall storage tanks to store winter precipitation for livestock watering in a dry summer climate, so creek water is not depleted and native steelhead trout can thrive.
• Galveston Bay—Installing stormwater treatment wetlands to improve water quality of stormwater runoff or flows before it reaches the estuary.
• Casco Bay—Testing the performance of living shoreline designs on coastlines with large tidal ranges and winter ice to determine an optimal design approach.
• San Juan Bay—Developing a local hazard mitigation plan to identify risks and vulnerabilities from natural disasters like hurricanes. Establishing watershed-based, long-term strategies focusing on community priorities and the most significant risks they face.
• Peconic Estuary, Long Island—Developing a living shoreline that will more effectively disperse wave energy during heavy storms and serve as a model for restoring and protecting the coastline, including beach and wetland habitats, by mitigating coastal erosion through natural processes that trap sediment and filter runoff.

Connections to Other EPA, Federal, or Non-Governmental Efforts

The NEPs and their diverse local partners often collaborate with other federal agencies and EPA programs to collaboratively address their particular CCMP priorities. This includes partnering with EPA programs such as the Urban Waters Federal Partnership Program, the Green Infrastructure Program, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the WaterSense Program, the Clean Water Act Section 319 Nonpoint Source Program, Wetland Program Development Grants, the Climate Resilient Water Utilities Initiative, the Restoration and Watershed Planning (or Clean Water Act 303(d)) Program, and the Healthy Watersheds Program.

As NEPs select Bipartisan Infrastructure Law projects, the EPA expects programs to collaborate with other federal agencies and new partners and identify opportunities to leverage other EPA and federal agencies’ funds (including other Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds), as well as state, local, and nongovernmental organization funds as available and appropriate.