Columbia River Estuarine Coastal Fund

The Columbia River Estuarine Coastal Fund was established in 2004 to receive community service payments ordered by court settlements resulting from violations of federal pollution laws. The court settlements require these community service payments to be made to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (Foundation) for investment in conservation projects in the area of environmental impact. Together with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), the Foundation used the funds to establish the Columbia River Estuarine Coastal Fund (Fund) as a grant making program to be used to finance: a) on the ground habitat conservation, restoration and management projects in and along the Columbia River below the Bonneville Dam and the adjacent Coasts of Oregon (up to and including Tillamook Bay) and Washington (up to and including Willapa Bay) that may be affected by estuarine flows to benefit the fish and wildlife resources and the habitats upon which they depend; b) landowner outreach and incentive programs for restoration and management of natural resources in the same geographic area; c) public use and natural/cultural projects that benefit the Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System; d) collaborative projects from local communities seeking environmentally and economically sustainable solutions to natural resource problems; and e) applied research that is directly related to improvement of natural resources management in the same geographic area.

Please click the 'Request for Proposals' link below to see the current Columbia River Estuarine Coastal Fund RFP.  Pre-proposals are due on September 18th, 2009.  Full proposals will be invited from the strongest applicants to be submitted by November 20, 2009.  Grant awards will be made in March of 2010, with funds available shortly thereafter.

Application Information

Request for Pre-proposals - Due 9/18/2009
Funds Available for Columbia River Restoration Projects
List of Previously Funded Projects

Program Information

New Grants Totaling More Than $600K to Benefit Columbia River Estuary

Staff Representative

Cara Rose
Assistant Director, Northwest
Cara.Rose@nfwf.org