The Oregon Coastal Management Program (OCMP) offers a variety of grant programs tailored to Oregon's coastal zone. These grants, based upon availability of funding, support a wide range of projects, including habitat acquisition and restoration for coastal resiliency, as well as providing technical assistance to local communities and tribes for land use planning.
DLCD provides additional grant opportunities to applicants ranging in topics from local government planning and other technical assistance, to transportation planning, and community green infrastructure planning and implementation. For a list of these grants please visit
DLCD's Community Grants page.
Please see the list of OCMP current funding opportunities below. As additional funding opportunities open this site will be updated with new information.
Coastal Zone Management Habitat Protection & Restoration Program
One notable funding opportunity is the Coastal Zone Management Habitat Protection & Restoration Program. This initiative, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), focuses on ecosystem conservation and habitat restoration planning, engineering, design, and implementation. The program seeks to enhance resilience through large-scale habitat restoration and conservation in coastal ecosystems nationwide.
These funds are awarded competitively to support coastal habitat restoration and conservation efforts. Restoring and conserving ecologically significant ecosystems — such as wetlands, headlands, and natural shorelines — helps reduce the impacts of coastal hazards, including flooding and sea level rise, on property, infrastructure, and cultural resources.
Cape Foulweather | photo by Steve Smith Photography
Watch here for announcements of a 2025 funding cycle. Contact Claire.Fiegener@dlcd.oregon.gov for more information and to be added to an information distribution list.
Project Types Funded
There are three categories of "shovel-ready" projects that are eligible. Projects should be designed, when possible, to meet multiple objectives within the project category.
For habitat restoration projects, priority will be given to projects that:
- reflect coastal habitat restoration priority areas identified in state/territories, tribal or regional plans;
- restore important habitats and connected ecosystem functions/species;
- restore hydrologic connections between habitats that improve ecosystem function;
- enhance or restore important ecosystem services that support coastal communities, vulnerable populations or cultural resources (i.e., coastal flood protection, extreme weather resilience, water quality and quantity, food safety and security, chronic coastal erosion, etc);
- include a long-term plan for monitoring specific criteria relevant to achieve project objectives; and/or
- provide for engineering and design needs, if not already completed.
- Habitat restoration planning, engineering, and design projects will be evaluated using the same criteria as noted for habitat restoration projects
- Habitat restoration planning activities do not have to support the implementation of a specific infrastructure project, but applicants should demonstrate how these efforts will support or catalyze subsequent on-the-ground restoration
Priority will be given to projects that:
- show significant ecological value
- establish a demonstrated need for protection
- can be effectively managed and protected
- protect properties under an imminent threat of conversion to a use that will degrade or diminish their natural, undeveloped, or recreational state
- serve to mitigate the adverse impacts caused by coastal population growth in the coastal environment
- reflect that the land conservation project goals are identified in CELCP and/or other regional or statewide conservation plans
- have a high level of project readiness
Eligibility
Restoration and restoration planning, engineering and design projects must be located on publicly-owned land or land where a public entity holds a lease or easement that provides for adequate public control of the property. All acquisition projects must have final ownership of fee-lands or conservation easements held by a non-Federal public entity (includes Federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal organizations).
OCMP's partners eligible to apply for this funding include:
- Non-federal public entities (includes state agencies, local governments, regional authorities, or Federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal organizations) and institutions of higher education.
- Non-governmental organizations may serve as the applicant for habitat restoration or habitat restoration engineering, design and planning projects. However, all restoration projects must be located on publicly-owned land or land where a public entity controls the land. NGO's are not eligible to hold title to lands acquired with these funds and therefore may not apply for the Land Conservation funds.
Project Location
Projects must be located within the OCMP Coastal Zone (to see a map of the coastal zone visit
https://www.oregon.gov/lcd/OCMP/Pages/Coastal-Zone.aspx)
Project Funding
Each project can request a maximum of $6 million for project costs. Match is not required, but cost sharing is an important element considered in the evaluation criteria.
Project Implementation Timeline
Projects of any type must generally be completed in less than 3 years of the start date of the award (can include an additional year for restoration monitoring).
General Grant Application Process
As the lead agency of the OCMP, DLCD acts as the main applicant to NOAA for these applications. NOAA invites all coastal state management programs to submit up to a total of 3 Letters of Intent for each funding cycle. From the submitted LOI's, NOAA invites certain projects to submit a full application.
DLCD and OCMP will have interested partners participate in a mandatory 'Pre-Application Consultation Meeting' and submit LOI's to DLCD. DLCD will then choose the 3 top ranked projects to submit to NOAA for consideration. Detailed information is included in the Grant Guidelines & Application Resources section below.
Watch for updates to this page and send your contact information to
claire.fiegener@dlcd.oregon.gov to receive solicitation notifications.
Pre-Application Consultation Meeting with DLCD Requirement
Pre-Application Consultation Meetings will be scheduled prior to application due dates. Exact dates will be released when the funding cycle opens. We would like to meet with you to review basic information about your proposed project, and ensure you are proposing an eligible project that will meet NOAA’s funding requirements. This is also an opportunity for potential applicants to ask OCMP/DLCD staff questions about the funding program and proposal development.
For more information see the
2024 Pre-Application Consultation Meeting Fact Sheet and to schedule a Pre-Application Consultation Meeting please contact: Claire Fiegener, Coastal Habitat Projects Coordinator at
claire.fiegener@dlcd.oregon.gov or 971-301-3512.
Grant Guidelines & Application Resources
Below is a selection of resources, forms, and templates regarding this funding opportunity.
Financial assistance for this program provided by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, administered by the Office for Coastal Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.