The Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) was established by Congress in FY 2000 to protect, restore, and conserve Pacific salmon and steelhead populations and their habitats. Under the PCSRF, NOAA Fisheries Service manages a program to provide funding to states and tribes of the Pacific Coast region -- Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho and Alaska. The thousands of PCSRF projects that have been implemented throughout the region have made important contributions to improve the status of Endangered Species Act-listed species, prevent extinctions, and protect currently healthy populations. These accomplishments are summarized in independent reviews (PDF 242KB) and annual Reports to Congress.

NOAA Fisheries and partner states and tribes have implemented an approach to track progress, measure performance, and ensure accountability in the use of public funds. These performance measures are described in the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund Performance Goals, Measures and Reporting Framework (PDF 694KB). The project status and performance information on all PCSRF projects can be accessed and queried on the PCSRF Data System Website.

The funding for PCSRF is approved by Congress annually and distributed by NOAA Fisheries Service to states and tribes. In FY 2007, NOAA instituted a competitive funding process to allocate funds based on Fisheries Service mission goals and regional priorities for salmonid recovery. States, tribal commissions, and individual tribes not affiliated with a commission are all eligible to apply. In FY 2009, Congress amended the program to make Nevada eligible to apply for PCSRF funds. In addition to the PCSRF federal funds, states provide significant matching funds through their grant allocation processes. The federal and state project dollars are further supplemented by private and local contributions that are also important to the success of PCSRF.

An announcement is published in the Federal Register early each calendar year, outlining requirements and timing for the competitive funding process. View the FY 2009 Announcement of Federal Funding Opportunity. (PDF 49KB)