Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program (ESRP)

The Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program (ESRP) is a protection and restoration funding opportunity being developed by the Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project to support the transition from opportunistic project funding to strategic and sustained nearshore ecosystem restoration in Puget Sound. The ESRP program deviates from customary grant making in several key respects:

We provide phased funding to incrementally support complex projects. At early phases of nearshore project development, it can be difficult to accurately estimate the resources and schedule necessary for reaching project goals. ESRP invests public funds incrementally based on readiness to complete project phases.

We continue supporting exemplary projects to completion. Once a project has completed feasibility, and ranks well through a regional competition to receive ESRP funding, we consider supplemental funding annually for projects showing good progress.

We build a technical record of project activity. Learning opportunities are best realized when sponsors document objectives, assumptions, and treatments. Using a sequence of standard project deliverables, ESRP develops a record of project work that allows for strong analysis of restoration benefits.

We invest in project-based learning through enhancements. ESRP enhancement funding is an approach to working with project partners and the scientific community to resolve technical uncertainty to increase efficiency and effectiveness of restoration practice.

In these ways, ESRP is not simply a grant program; it is a tactical element of an ecosystem restoration strategy. We believe that funding programs like ESRP have a unique and critical role to play in ecosystem restoration, and must be directly linked to science-driven strategy development and evaluation.