Habitat Focus Areas Showing Results
NOAA's Habitat Focus Areas improve ecosystems, benefit communities, and advance science.
Habitat Focus Areas (HFAs) are targeted places where NOAA focuses its programs and investments to address a high priority habitat issue by working with partners and communities.
There are currently 10 HFAs across the country, with more to be designated soon.
Hover over the points on the map to learn more.
Habitat Focus Areas bring NOAA's programs together for greater impact.
HFAs use the diverse expertise across the agency—from restoring habitat to monitoring ecosystems to forecasting the weather—to advance habitat conservation in specific places. By working with partners and local communities, the HFAs have achieved significant results.
Habitat Focus Areas Improve Ecosystems
The HFAs address a wide range of ecosystem challenges—restoring oyster reefs, removing barriers to fish passage in rivers, protecting corals from pollution, improving water quality, and more. Healthy habitats are necessary for fish and marine mammals to survive and thrive.
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Oyster Restoration in the Choptank River Complex
The Choptank HFA team in Maryland and Delaware worked with several partners to implement the world’s largest oyster restoration effort of its kind, with nearly 1,000 acres restored to date. Post-restoration surveys have demonstrated a 98 percent success rate on monitored three-year-old reefs. If restored oyster reefs in the Choptank are allowed to mature, they will produce an estimated 80 percent increase in blue crab , supporting 142 additional full and part-time local jobs and an additional $9.9 million in total sales.
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Coho Salmon Return to the Russian River
In the early 2000s, fewer than 10 adult coho salmon were known to return to the Russian River watershed each year. With the establishment of a broodstock hatchery program in 2001 combined with collaborative efforts in the HFA to restore habitat and conserve freshwater, there are now more than 300 adult coho salmon that return to the watershed every year (a 30-fold increase). This is thanks to the work of many partners including California Sea Grant, Sonoma Water, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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Fishpond Restoration in West Hawai‘i
Hawaiian fishponds are a traditional aquaculture system often found in coastal estuarine ecosystems. Restoration of the ancient Hawaiian fishpond at Kīholo included the removal of invasive plants by local community members, which has provided space for native plants to thrive, reduced leaf litter, and decreased sediment in the water. In the restored areas, the community has seen a 10-fold increase in the total biomass of striped mullet (ama‘ama), the primary traditional food source from the fishpond. The number of known fish species in the fishpond has also increased from 19 to 32 since restoration efforts began in 2012.
First photo courtesy of The Nature Conservancy.
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Road Stabilization in Puerto Rico
On Puerto Rico's Culebra Island, sediment erosion from unpaved roads is one of the main sources of pollution smothering nearshore coral reefs and seagrass beds. NOAA and its partners conducted an inventory of all 50 miles of unpaved roads on the island and prioritized a subset for stabilization. To date, more than half of the unpaved roads on Culebra Island have been stabilized through sediment traps, installation of green infrastructure , and other erosion control practices. Early monitoring suggests that these efforts have resulted in a reduction of 50 metric tons of sediment delivery to nearshore coastal waters every year—that’s about half a blue whale! Additionally, there have been observed improvements in water clarity and seagrass abundance.
Habitat Focus Areas Benefit Communities
Communities need healthy ecosystems to provide safe and abundant food, protection from storms and sea level rise, and opportunities for tourism and recreation. Through collaborative partnerships, NOAA works to identify community needs, build local networks and capacity, and develop tools and resources that support resilient coastal communities.
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Safe Shellfish Harvesting in Kachemak Bay
Kachemak Bay communities depend on healthy populations of shellfish for their food and livelihoods. In 2015, paralytic shellfish poisoning events from harmful algal blooms (HABs) increased sharply across coastal Alaska in association with warming ocean waters. The HFA team and partners conducted collaborative monitoring for HABs and developed risk assessment products that help guide harvest decisions. These new data and tools have improved the safety of commercial, recreational, and subsistence shellfish harvesting.
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Public Access in the St. Louis River Estuary
Tourism is one of the largest industries around the St. Louis River, especially in Duluth, Minnesota, directly contributing more than $780 million annually to the local economy. To highlight recreational opportunities in the estuary, NOAA worked with local partners to promote public access and cultural tourism in the HFA. The resulting St. Louis River Public Access and Cultural Guidebook provides information on where the public can access the water, recreational activities, and cultural and historical sites.
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Building Local Capacity in Manell-Geus
Community engagement is the cornerstone of the Manell-Geus HFA in Guam. The HFA team conducted biophysical and socioeconomic assessments to prioritize activities that benefit ecosystems and people and build local capacity for long-term stewardship. The team held fire prevention training and worked with volunteers to restore savanna grasslands back to native forest, worked with fishermen to monitor seasonal algae blooms, held native plant identification and propagation workshops, and helped communities plan for climate adaptation. Over the course of 4 years, the HFA engaged nearly 2,000 volunteers and reached more than 2,400 community members through outreach and education events. By building relationships and trust through these capacity-building activities, the HFA team helped cultivate a community of stewards working toward shared goals.
Habitat Focus Area Science Informs Decision-Makers
Research conducted and tools developed in the HFAs help inform decision-makers at the local, state, and federal levels on how to best manage habitats, resources, and communities for maximum benefit.
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Fertilizer Ordinances to Improve Water Quality in Biscayne Bay
Excess nutrients can cause a healthy bay to become one plagued by toxic algal blooms and dead zones. The Biscayne Bay HFA is advancing scientific understanding of water quality by pinpointing nutrient sources that are causing ecological problems , particularly from fertilizer use. Using these findings, HFA partner Miami Waterkeeper conducted a targeted outreach campaign to local officials. In March 2020, the Miami City Commission and City of Coral Gables both passed ordinances to limit fertilizer use within the city to combat excess nutrients in Biscayne Bay. Other local municipalities are considering similar ordinances.
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Pilot Commercial Alewife Fishery Opens in Town of Penobscot
In 2020, the town of Penobscot will have its first commercial fishery for alewives in over 50 years. The commercial harvest was approved by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission as a result of strong local stewardship, community monitoring, and cultural importance of the town’s alewife run. This renewed fishery was made possible by the many partners and community members working to prioritize and restore fish passage and monitor alewife populations in the Penobscot River HFA.
Video courtesy of Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries.
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Water Conservation in the Russian River
In the Western United States, meeting water demands for people while ensuring that rivers and streams have enough water for fish is a significant challenge. The HFA team is working with partners to improve forecasts of water availability and ensure that water management is informed by precipitation and streamflow. In 2018, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a "major deviation" to adjust the water release date from the Coyote Valley Dam on Lake Mendocino. This decision was based on NOAA water models and a novel management strategy called Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations . This was a huge milestone for NOAA's partnership with the Army Corps and Sonoma Water and was made possible by a multi-agency partnership. Preliminary results show improved water supply downstream of the dam, helping ensure enough water for spawning and migrating Chinook salmon and steelhead.
NOAA’s Habitat Focus Areas demonstrate how partnerships and innovation can achieve significant results for ecosystems and communities. NOAA continues to seek opportunities to work across the agency to tackle important habitat challenges at the watershed scale.
