2025 NEP Coastal Watersheds Grant – Request for Proposals Available Now
Restore America’s Estuaries is pleased to announce the 2025 funding cycle for the National Estuary Program – Coastal Watershed Grants. This year, in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, competitive grants ranging from approximately $200,000-500,000 will be awarded to organizations, partnerships, and municipalities working to improve clean water, healthy ecosystems, and habitat restoration. For more information, click the details tab below to read the RFP or visit the CWG webpage.
Restore America’s Estuaries, in close coordination with and financial support from EPA, administers the National Estuaries Program (NEP) Watersheds Grants. The Program is a nationally competitive grants program designed to support projects that address urgent, emerging, and challenging issues threatening the well-being of estuaries within the 28 NEP boundary areas. This grant program funds projects aimed at addressing the following Congressionally-set priorities:
- Loss of key habitats resulting in significant impacts on fisheries and water quality such as seagrass, mangroves, tidal and freshwater wetlands, forested wetlands, kelp beds, shellfish beds, and coral reefs;
- Coastal resilience and extreme weather events including flooding and coastal erosion related to sea level rise, changing precipitation, warmer waters, or salt marsh, seagrass, or wetland degradation or loss and accelerated land loss;
- Impacts of nutrients and warmer water temperatures on aquatic life and ecosystems, including low dissolved oxygen conditions in estuarine waters;
- Stormwater runoff which not only can erode stream banks but can carry nutrients, sediment, and trash into rivers and streams that flow into estuaries;
- Recurring harmful algae blooms;
- Unusual or unexplained marine mammal mortalities; and
- Proliferation or invasion of species that limit recreational uses, threaten wastewater systems, or cause other ecosystem damage.
RAE will select grantees through a two-step process: 1) Letters of Intent (LOI); and 2) full proposals by invitation only. The submission period is now open – all LOI’s are due no later than November 21, 2025 by 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT.
APNEP Involvement
As the National Estuary Program for the Albemarle-Pamlico watershed, APNEP must submit an acknowledgment letter for each project proposal. APNEP can send in acknowledgment letters for up to three proposals in which we are receiving funding, providing match, or in which APNEP staff time will be paid for as a part of the grant proposal. There is no limit to the number of acknowledgment letters we can send in for proposals in which we are not receiving funding. If APNEP receives more than three requests for acknowledgment letters requiring funding, we will evaluate those proposals using our evaluation criteria for external grant proposals. Please email stacey.feken@ncdenr.gov with any questions or to discuss partnership opportunities.