NOAA Habitat Restoration Grants

NOAA Fisheries will provide funding for dam removals on the Patapsco River and oyster reefs in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

NOAA will disburse $1.34 million for oyster reef construction on the Lafayette River in Virginia and Harris Creek in Maryland.

Nearly 67 acres of oysters will be planted in the first year of these two awards, which will provide habitat for fish, crabs, and other marine organisms.

Oyster reef award recipients include Restore America’s Estuaries, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and the Oyster Recovery Partnership.

$3.83 million in funding will go towards the removal of Bloede Dam and for engineering design to remove the Daniels Dam on Maryland’s Patapsco River.

Patapsco River dam removals are part of a larger effort with partner American Rivers to restore more than 65 miles of spawning habitat for blueback herring, alewife, and American shad, and more than 183 miles for American eel. In 2010, the Simkins and Union Dams on the Patapsco River were removed.

source: NOAA Fisheries