NFWF and Shell USA Partnership

Jefferson Parish has experienced the highest rates of land loss in Louisiana and the United States as a whole. This once thriving salt marsh is now almost entirely open water and can no longer provide the coastal protection it once did.

With funding from Shell USA, this project aimed to restore 450 acres of former brackish marsh habitat in Louisiana by constructing 33,000 linear feet of marsh terraces from on-site material and stabilized with native marsh vegetation. This project will employ terrace platforms to capture sediments, protect critical habitat from wind and wave erosion, and increase resiliency to coastal storms.

Coastal communities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to coastal flooding, storm surge, land loss and more frequent natural disasters. However, constructing earthen marsh terraces can be a cost-effective way to create wetland habitat by buffering land from water. These terraces also support diverse species of fish and wildlife, while reducing shoreline and interior marsh erosion due to wind-driven waves action.

Shell USA funding supported a project undertaken by Ducks Unlimited to construct earthen marsh terraces in open water using on site dredged material and vegetative planting. This project will establish 80 acres of emergent marsh habitat to benefit waterfowl, shorebirds, and seabirds; enhance submerged aquatic vegetation growth and water quality; provide tidal flats; and reduce impacts of storm surge and erosion.

In 2010, NFWF launched the  Fisheries Innovation Fund  to foster innovation in fisheries and seafood production in order to sustain livelihoods, working waterfronts and sustainable access to fisheries while rebuilding fish stocks.

Shell USA funding has helped to support truly innovative fisheries projects, including bycatch monitoring and reduction using artificial intelligence, community engagement and capacity building, and exploration of technologies to aid North Atlantic right whale conservation. Most projects have originated locally to address needs, challenges and opportunities at the community level.

Learn about some of these projects below.

Fishing gear can pose a significant entanglement risk for marine life, including the federally endangered North Atlantic right whale. Shell USA funding helped the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries work with fishermen to study the potential benefits and challenges associated with integrating on-call or ropeless fishing gear technology into New England fisheries. This project evaluated the issues using semi-structured interviews and workshops with experts in the field, synthesized perspectives, and analyzed the technical, legal, and socioeconomic challenges and opportunities to develop a set of recommendations for further work.

Forests in the eastern United States that are structurally complex—that is, if the arrangement of vegetation is varied throughout—promote biodiversity, boost forest productivity and sequester more carbon.

Shell USA funding helped to support American Bird Conservancy as they expanded forest planning and habitat management in the Pennsylvania Wilds of north central Pennsylvania. This project worked to balance forest age classes and increase structural habitat complexity for the benefit of several at-risk bird species, including golden-winged warbler, cerulean warbler and wood thrush. The goal of this project was to improve the management of multiple 5,700- to 25,000-acre forest blocks using prescribed fire and invasive plant removal to restore 100 acres of young forest and 350 acres of mature forest.

The aquatic species of Central Appalachia—including brook trout, eastern hellbenders and freshwater mussels, among others—can be crucial indicators of healthy watersheds. Unfortunately, trends of warming waters and increasingly intense precipitation events that result in dramatic water flows, erosion and sedimentation threaten these species throughout their range.

Funding from Shell USA helped McKean County Conservation District to assess road stream crossings and dirt and gravel roads in McKean County, Pennsylvania, to identify high-priority projects that will reduce stream sedimentation and improve aquatic connectivity and habitat for eastern brook trout, eastern hellbenders and freshwater mussels and their host fish species. This project aimed to rectify three fish barriers, open 8 miles of stream and improve 5 miles of road in the Upper Allegheny watershed.

The Cheat River in West Virginia suffered decades of pollution and degradation from old mining operations and development. With much investment from conservation groups and federal and state environmental agencies, the Cheat River is now a haven for anglers and whitewater rafters.

Funding from Shell USA helped Friends of the Cheat to reconnect habitat for eastern hellbender, brook trout and freshwater mussels, and reduce sedimentation to improve water quality. The project aimed to remove barriers to fish passage, restore access to more than 74 miles of stream and hundreds more miles of tributaries, and identify areas to potentially introduce hellbenders and freshwater mussel species.

The  Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program  focuses on the stewardship and restoration of coastal, wetland and riparian ecosystems across the country. Its goal is to meet the conservation needs of important species and habitats, providing measurable and meaningful conservation and educational outcomes.

Over the years, Shell USA funding helped promote community stewardship efforts across the nation. Learn more about a few of these projects below.

Trees provide vital habitat for wildlife, filter stormwater for healthier rivers and streams while sequestering carbon. Shell USA funding was essential for helping Allegheny County Conservation District engage volunteers to protect waterways and community green space. This project engaged 20 volunteers to restore approximately 2.6 acres of multifunctional forest buffer by planting 500 native riparian trees and shrubs in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Planting native species of riparian trees and shrubs also promoted soil stability, filtered nonpoint source pollutants and reduced stormwater runoff and flooding.

Caring for the natural places that exist in and around the communities where we live is the basis of NFWF's community stewardship efforts, including through the Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program. In urban areas like Houston, community actions are revitalizing parks and natural spaces to benefit people and wildlife.

Shell USA funding helped Houston Wilderness to restore and enhance 15 acres of riparian corridor along and near Mason Park to improve the quality of water flowing into Houston’s many waterways. This project worked to educate community members on the importance of stewardship, engaged area population in watershed restoration through outreach, provided access to restored areas and installed interpretative signage.

The  Pecos Watershed Conservation Initiative  supports conservation projects in the Pecos River Watershed, which extends from eastern New Mexico into West Texas, and comprises a large portion of the energy-rich Permian Basin. The initiative identifies strategic conservation opportunities and works to enhance and restore the natural resources and wildlife habitat in the region.

Over the years, Shell USA funding helped conserve, restore and enhance habitats across the Pecos Watershed region. Learn more about a few of these efforts below.

The Pecos River winds more than 900 miles from its headwaters in the ponderosa pine forests of northern New Mexico through the Chihuahuan Desert grasslands of southeastern New Mexico and West Texas. The river supports some of the most biodiverse arid and semiarid ecosystems in the world. Despite the harsh, arid climate of the region, this ecosystem plays host to a large number of fish and other aquatic species found nowhere else.

Shell USA funding helps Texas Parks and Wildlife Department restore and preserve the 29 species of native fishes found in the region, including Pecos pupfish, Pecos gambusia, Rio Grande darter, Rio Grande chub, Rio Grande silvery minnow and Chihuahua catfish. This project aimed to restore 25 acres of riparian habitats and deliver conservation best management practices on 50,000 acres in focal watersheds, improving habitat conditions for native fishes in 50 miles of creeks and rivers.

The Pecos watershed once hosted the formerly vast Chihuahuan grasslands. However, decades of human activity and development have diminished its extent. Migratory grassland birds like the chestnut-collared longspur fly up to 1,500 miles from their summer range on the Northern Great Plains to their wintering grounds in the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico, while the iconic pronghorn are year-round residents. These native grasslands have dwindled to just a fraction of their former extent and productivity. This puts pressure not only on the wildlife that inhabit these areas, but also on working ranches that need high-quality forage for livestock production.

Shell USA funding has helped NFWF grantees to restore native grassland habitat for use by pronghorn and migratory grassland birds, install pronghorn-friendly fence and conduct brush management to control expansion of nonnative species, including mesquite, tarbush, whitebrush, acacia and creosote.

The Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation Fund supports work that advances the conservation of the monarch butterfly and other at-risk native insect pollinators.

From 2018 to 2022, Shell USA funded 10 projects to help conserve and recover the monarch butterfly while also benefiting other pollinator species.

The monarch butterfly is one of the most iconic species in North America, and its annual migration cycle is one of the most remarkable natural phenomena in the world. However, the monarch butterfly population has declined by more than 80 percent in recent decades throughout much of its range. Pollinators such as the federally endangered rusty patched bumble bee are also experiencing population declines. Habitat loss is one of the primary factors challenging pollinators.

That's why Shell USA funding helps NFWF grantees to increase pollinator habitat in prairies and grasslands. By providing technical assistance to increase the number of private landowners engaged in monarch butterfly and pollinator conservation practices on working lands, we can more easily restore and improve habitat for the monarch butterfly, regal fritillary, rusty patched bumble bee, and other at-risk pollinator species across a network of public and private lands.

Pollinators provide essential services to ecosystems, communities and economies, so it's in our best interest to help create a healthy home for them. Shell USA-funded projects have helped to restore and enhance breeding and migration habitat to support ample milkweed and diverse nectar plants; protect and improve overwintering habitat; and develop sustainable and affordable supplies of native milkweed and nectar-producing plant seeds and seedlings.

NFWF and Shell USA teamed up in the Pacific Northwest to help in aiding the recovery of Southern Resident killer whales. This population of whales is iconic to the people of the Pacific Northwest and an indicator of the health of the entire ecosystem of the Salish Sea.

Shell USA funding supported 24 projects that addressed critical gaps in knowledge around threats to Southern Resident killer whales, including the impacts of declining prey availability and vessel noise. Learn more about a few of the projects below.

The San Juan County Public Works Department wanted to improve recreational boater regulatory compliance around Southern Resident killer whales in the Salish Sea. With funding from Shell USA, this project expanded the whale warning flag program to additional critical habitat areas and developed new, innovative outreach campaigns to increase awareness of boating regulations to protect killer whales.

With funding from Shell USA, Long Live the Kings, a marine conservation nonprofit, was able to test an innovative seal deterrent technology, the GenusWave acoustic startle device in the Nisqually Estuary, Washington. If effective, the acoustic startle device can reduce predation-related mortality of juvenile Chinook salmon and provide a nonlethal option to address unnatural levels of predation.