Under this cooperative agreement the U.S. Fish and wildlife SERVICE (SERVICE) new jersey field office (NJFO) has designated conserve wildlife foundation of new jersey (CWFNJ) as the habitat offset…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Region 5 awarded $442,857 to the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, Inc. (CWFNJ) under the Coastal Program (CFDA 15.630) to serve as Habitat Offset Manager for restoration and enhancement projects in New Jersey. Under this cooperative agreement effective July 1, 2025, through May 30, 2027, CWFNJ will develop and implement habitat restoration initiatives designed to offset losses to federally listed species resulting from maintenance dredging of the Sandy Hook Channel by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This work fulfills a binding conservation measure established in a 2017 Programmatic Biological Opinion covering channel dredging activities through 2038.

CWFNJ will identify and design habitat projects over multiple five-year funding cycles, with budgets calculated using a formula developed jointly with the USFWS New Jersey Field Office. The USFWS will maintain involvement throughout all project stages, including identification, design, implementation, and monitoring. Projects may include invasive species control, grassland restoration, wetland enhancement, and other habitat improvement techniques targeting species such as piping plovers, bog turtles, wood turtles, and other federal trust species. Funding from earlier cycles may carry forward to active projects with overlapping periods, allowing for adaptive project development as specific restoration needs are identified over the agreement period.

Under this cooperative agreement the U.S. Fish and wildlife SERVICE (SERVICE) new jersey field office (NJFO) has designated conserve wildlife foundation of new jersey (CWFNJ) as the habitat offset manager to develop and carry out habitat restoration and enhancement projects to offset loss of habitat for four federally listed species that will occur as a result of repeated maintenance dredging of the sandy hook channel by the U.S. Army CORPS of engineering (CORPS). In october 2017 the SERVICE issued a programmatic biological opinion (PBO) covering all dredging authorized or carried out by the CORPS in this section of the sandy hook channel through 2038. A binding conservation measure included in the PBO is an offset plan. The offset plan provides that the CORPS will transfer funding associated with each dredging cycle. Each funding cycle allows for projects to be developed over a five year period and funding from previous cycles may carry over if not already spent since active projects or project periods may overlap with different dredging cycles. Budgets for each funding cycle are based on a formula developed between NJFO and CWFNJ. NJFO is involved in each stage of project identification and design and implementation and monitoring. We cannot fully anticipate the exact project(S) that will be developed at the time the funding is made available under the conditions of the PBO