Audubon Receives Grants to Make Our Coasts More Resilient to Climate Change

WASHINGTON (November 19, 2019) — The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced $30 million in new grants from their National Coastal Resilience Fund to benefit coastal areas across the country. Among them, Audubon will receive funding for three projects—totaling over $1 million with matching funds—to enhance coastal areas in North Carolina, New York and California.

“Our coasts are the first lines of defense against sea level rise and stronger, more frequent storms,” said Dr. Karen Hyun, vice president for coastal conservation at the National Audubon Society. “These grants will allow us to shore up marshes and wetlands, which provide critical habitat for birds like Saltmarsh Sparrows and White Pelicans.”

“We thank Congress, NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for their support to increase coastal resilience for birds and for coastal communities,” Hyun added.

Following the destructive 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation created the National Coastal Resilience Fund in partnership with NOAA to strengthen our nation's natural infrastructure such as marshes, beach dunes, barrier islands and coral reefs.

With coastal resilience grants awarded in three states, Audubon will:

• Develop a publicly informed and community-supported design to restore and strengthen urban wetland in Marin City, California, which will serve as shoreline protection from storms and floods while supporting birds and other wildlife, and provide much-needed opportunities for local residents to engage with nature.
• Complete a comprehensive marsh site assessment in Currituck Sound, North Carolina, and generate a design plan at one to three of the highest-priority sites to increase community resilience to flooding, sea level rise, storms and other coastal challenges.
• Restore priority coastal habitat in a flood-prone area of the Town of Brookhaven on Long Island, New York, to benefit priority bird species and other wildlife, reduce flooding, and better protect inland areas from rising sea levels and storm events.

For more information on how Audubon works to make our coasts stronger and more resilient, visit https://www.audubon.org/conservation/coastal-resilience.

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About Audubon
The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow. Audubon works throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservation. State programs, nature centers, chapters, and partners give Audubon an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire, and unite diverse communities in conservation action. A nonprofit conservation organization since 1905, Audubon believes in a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Learn more at www.audubon.org and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @audubonsociety.

Contact: Rachel Guillory, rachel.guillory@audubon.org, 504.450.4976