Marine shoreline landowner incentives programs are important to achieve restoration and protection of Puget Sound shorelines. The Shore Friendly program is a brand developed to encourage Puget Sound landowners to choose to forgo or remove armor along the shoreline and is grounded in social marketing research conducted in the Puget Sound. The Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program (ESRP) at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has adopted the Shore Friendly program and has announced its first round of funded programs encompassing all of Puget Sound’s marine shorelines.
Strategic use of Habitat SI NEP funds
The Habitat Strategic Initiative (Habitat SI) Advisory Team recommended to leverage and align the Habitat SI FY 2018 Funding Recommendation to support the transition of Shore Friendly programs to ESRP. This portion of NEP funds will support ESRP grantees that also proposed a related Near Term Action in the 2018-2022 Action Agenda. Following the ESRP proposal review and applicant selection, the Habitat SI reviewed the ESRP-selected program list to determine which programs met the intent of the Habitat SIAT funding recommendation. In the end, four of the six ESRP-selected programs have NTAs eligible for Habitat SI National Estuary Program (NEP) funds and will be supported. The selected programs and related NTAs are listed in the table below:
| ESRP Grantees | Supported NTAs |
| Shore Friendly King County | 2018-0432 Marine Shoreline Technical Assistance |
| Shore Friendly Kitsap | 2018-0322 Shore Friendly Kitsap- Reduction in Marine Shoreline Armoring |
| Expand South Sound Shore Friendly Programs | 2018-0172 Expand South Sound Shore Friendly Programs |
| Northwest Straits Shore Friendly | 2018-0707 Shoreline Armoring Reduction and Prevention Program 2018-0826 Technical Assistance Program for San Juan County Shoreline Landowners |
The Northwest Straits Foundation will work with the two ESRP-grantees (Island County Shore Friendly Program, Shore Friendly Program (Swinomish)) which did not have related NTAs in the 2018-2022 Action Agenda to support access to opportunities such as workshops and outreach materials that otherwise would not be supported by ESRP funding.
Did you know?
One of the main goals of the Shoreline Armoring Implementation Strategy is to support marine shoreline landowner incentive programs throughout Puget Sound. Check out the Habitat SI funding page for technical assistance, regulatory, and monitoring projects, as well as previously funded incentive program projects, that address the priorities of the Implementation Strategy.