NOAA’s Habitat Focus Areas: Showing Results

Our new story map shows how Habitat Focus Areas improve ecosystems, benefit communities, and advance science.

Habitat Focus Areas (HFAs) are targeted places where NOAA focuses programs and investments to address a high priority habitat issue by working with partners and communities. Over the past several years, the 10 HFAs across the country have achieved significant results for ecosystems and communities.

Each HFA is created to tackle a different habitat challenge. We pursue these challenges using diverse expertise from across the agency and a variety of approaches, such as community engagement, weather forecasting, and on-the-ground restoration.

Visit the Habitat Focus Area story map to learn how oyster restoration in Maryland and Delaware’s Choptank River complex increases fishing revenue, algal bloom forecasting in Alaska’s Kachemak Bay protects public health, water models in California’s Russian River inform complex water management, and more.

Building on the accomplishments of the HFAs, NOAA continues to seek opportunities to work across the agency to tackle important habitat challenges at the watershed scale.