The national oceanic and atmospheric administration is providing $1,131,500 in federal funding to the strafford county conservation district through the FY2024 and FY2025 coastal zone management…

Award Summary

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management (CFDA 11.473) awarded $1,131,500 to the Strafford County Conservation District through the FY2024 and FY2025 Coastal Zone Management Habitat Protection and Restoration Grant Competition. The award, effective October 1, 2025, with completion targeted for March 31, 2027, funds the establishment of a conservation easement to protect 44.3 acres of high-priority coastal habitat in Dover, New Hampshire.

The primary deliverable under this cooperative agreement is the protection and preservation of ecologically significant tidal frontage through a conservation easement mechanism. This protection activity will preserve critical ecosystem services including nutrient attenuation and flood mitigation capabilities while maintaining high-value wildlife habitat. The project directly supports the local commercial shellfish industry, particularly oyster farming operations in the immediate vicinity, by preventing water quality degradation that could undermine fishing and shellfish harvesting activities. This award exemplifies NOAA's broader coastal resilience strategy, which employs science-based solutions to enhance coastal community safety and productivity while safeguarding ecosystems in the nation's coastal zones.

The national oceanic and atmospheric administration is providing $1,131,500 in federal funding to the strafford county conservation district through the FY2024 and FY2025 coastal zone management habitat protection and restoration grant competition. This funding will increase the safety and productivity of coastal communities within coastal counties through habitat restoration planning, engineering and design projects, habitat restoration implementation projects, and land conservation projects. Specifically, the strafford county conservation district will use these funds to protect 44.3-acres of high priority habitat, including ecologically significant tidal frontage, through a conservation easement. Protection of the property is one of the most critical actions to ensure that nutrient attenuation, flood mitigation, and high value wildlife habitat remains in the area. A growing industry of commercial oyster farms are in the immediate vicinity of the property and the conservation easement will prevent water quality degradation to these resources that support fishing and shellfish harvesting.