This is a grant to puget sound partnership to carry out activities in the national estuary program (NEP)

The Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 awarded Puget Sound Partnership $73.55 million on October 1, 2025, under the National Estuary Program (CFDA 66.456) to implement ecosystem recovery and restoration activities for the Puget Sound estuary through September 30, 2030.

Puget Sound Partnership serves as the lead organization coordinating development and implementation of the Puget Sound Action Agenda—the comprehensive conservation and management plan for the estuary. The award funds activities to co-develop, maintain, and implement the Action Agenda with communities, agencies, tribes, and other stakeholders; support coordinated program and project activities that advance focused implementation to protect and restore ecosystem functions and services; develop and monitor progress measures and indicators; and provide scientific information to decision-makers for incorporation into planning and management documents supporting ecosystem recovery.

Work is performed in Washington State, with administrative oversight in Olympia. The award obligated $73.55 million with a period of performance from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2030.

Puget Sound Partnership distributes funding through multiple sub-recipients. Oregon State University receives funding to provide regional technical support and social science research answering priority needs in Tasks 1 and 2 of the ecosystem recovery science portfolio. University of Washington provides science support for recovery efforts, including advancement of science-based implementation strategies, ecosystem monitoring, and peer review of recovery plans and documents. The State of Washington Department of Ecology coordinates the Northwest Straits Commission and seven Marine Resources Committees (spanning Clallam, Island, Jefferson, Skagit, San Juan, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties) to improve marine water and shoreline health through training, capacity-building, and implementation of the Action Agenda. Additional sub-recipients include Local Integrating Organizations (LIOs) serving watershed-scale recovery coordination across the Puyallup-White River, West Sound Partners for Ecosystem Recovery, Hood Canal, Island County, Whatcom County, Snohomish-Stillaguamish, and Strait Ecosystem Recovery Network regions, as well as the Mid Puget Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group for habitat restoration implementation. These sub-recipients convene tribal and local governments, state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and communities to identify priorities, develop recovery plans, and implement priority actions aligned with local and regional Puget Sound recovery goals.

Each NEP is required to convene a management conference and supporting board structure to develop and implement a comprehensive conservation and management plan (ccmp) to protect and restore water quality and ecological integrity of the ecosystem. As the ccmp for puget sound, the puget sound action agenda is supported by a portfolio of topically focused implementation plans, including the science work plan, the puget sound ecosystem monitoring program, local recovery plans, tribal habitat strategies, strategic communications plans, a puget sound indicators framework, and an overarching implementation plan built on a set of focused implementation and institutional strategies. The primary objective of this agreement is to help implement these plans to achieve identified outcomes. Activities:as the lead organization for the puget sound NEP, the activities to be carried out through this grant include working with a wide range of communities, agencies, tribes and other groups to CO-develop, maintain and implement the action agenda toward achieving identified program goals. This is done by supporting coordinated program and project activities identified in the action agenda that advance and accelerate focused implementation to protect and restore ecosystem functions and services. Subrecipient:IT is anticipated that there will be two large subawards to university programs to provide regional technical support and two sets of smaller subawards to local coordinating networks for providing implementation support. Outcomes:the anticipated deliverables include providing relevant scientific information to decision-makers for incorporation into planning and management documents to support ecosystem recovery efforts; developing and monitoring progress measures and indicators; identifying barriers and priorities, and empowering partners with the tools, funding, and resources they need to implement local and regional recovery plans. The expected outcomes are to ensure that knowledge and information from monitoring activities is available, distilled, and communicated to support planning, recovery process development and adaptive management. The intended beneficiaries include local communities, the general public, local governments, tribes, local businesses and other organizations dependent on a healthy puget sound.