EPA awards $260,000 to Hawaiʻi for wetlands restoration

The US Environmental Protection Agency awarded $264,116 to the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources to boost programs that restore habitat, protect water quality and wetlands. The funding was awarded through EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grants.

The funds are for developing Hawaii’s first protection and restoration strategy for the state’s anchialine pools — enclosed water bodies or ponds with an underground connection to the ocean — and marshes.

The project will convene a state advisory committee; develop a monitoring and assessment strategy; identify regulatory program needs; and distribute project outputs to partners to guide wetland restoration and protection efforts across the state.

These activities were identified as priorities in Hawaiʻi’s Wetland Program Plan developed with support from a previous EPA Wetland Program Development Grant.

“Healthy wetlands provide numerous benefits to ecosystems and communities across Hawaiʻi, and these grants will allow our state and local partners to make significant progress protecting these vital resources where it’s needed most,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman in a news release.

For more information, visit EPA’s wetland program development grants page.