Re-post: Announcement from Jenna Jewett, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

The Shore Friendly program is excited to announce a notice of intent for an upcoming six-year funding opportunity.  The Shore Friendly program is a brand developed to encourage forgoing or removing shoreline armor and is grounded in social marketing research conducted in the Puget Sound. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), in collaboration with Washington Department of Natural Resources, has supported the underlying research, brand development, and pilot programs through National Estuary Program funding.  The Shore Friendly program is part of Puget Sound’s Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program (ESRP), a process-based ecosystem restoration and protection program.

The Shore Friendly program seeks to:

• Reduce shoreline armor and restore habitat  
• Engage and inspire behavior change by private landowners and communities through grant incentives
• Fund project sites with the greatest ecological gain while also supporting community engagement

Upcoming funding opportunity: Grants will be awarded to local “Shore Friendly” eligible organizations in order to initiate new programs or continue existing programs that provide incentives and support to Puget Sound marine shoreline residential landowners. These programs will incentivize landowners to voluntarily remove armoring, forgo armoring, build new homes back further than required, and/or use soft shore alternatives. Programs must target on-the-ground projects with landowners to remove or forgo hard armoring, and strive to produce measurable results in terms of a reduction in armoring.

Grants will be awarded to local “Shore Friendly” eligible organizations in order to initiate new programs or continue existing programs that provide incentives and support to Puget Sound marine shoreline residential landowners. These programs will incentivize landowners to voluntarily remove armoring, forgo armoring, build new homes back further than required, and/or use soft shore alternatives. Programs must target on-the-ground projects with landowners to remove or forgo hard armoring, and strive to produce measurable results in terms of a reduction in armoring.

The Shore Friendly program expects the request for proposals to be published on January 31, 2019 with proposals due April 15, 2019. 

Learn more in the Letter of Intent.

Did you know: A near-term priority in the Shoreline Armoring Implementation Strategy is funding to sustain marine shoreline landowner incentive programs throughout Puget Sound.