Eligible projects will fall under one or both of the following tracks:

• Track 1: Time-Sensitive Monitoring and Assessment to Inform Response to advance time-sensitive monitoring, research, and assessment.
• Track 2: Targeted Management and Response to reduce, mitigate, or respond to observed or anticipated impacts of El Niño on coastal and marine species and habitats, as well as those affecting public safety, health, coastal access, communities, and livelihoods.

Eligible activities include field- and remote-based monitoring, research, and synthesis, as well as targeted interventions such as wildlife emergency response and restoration efforts. Laboratory-based projects are not eligible. Given the time-sensitive nature of the current El Niño, priority will be given to projects that can mobilize rapidly using existing capabilities, partnerships, and infrastructure. To support timely management and response, projects that provide for real-time and/or rapid and broad dissemination of data and information to resource managers, partners, and the public will be prioritized.

Additional Funding from the State Coastal Conservancy

The State Coastal Conservancy (SCC) is adding an additional $1 million in funding to support projects through this solicitation, pending approval at its December 3, 2026, Board meeting.

SCC will consider the full range of activities eligible under this solicitation, with funding decisions informed by SCC’s Project Selection Criteria. An additional priority is to evaluate the performance of shorelines restored using nature-based solutions for sea level rise adaptation compared to similar armored or degraded shorelines, particularly in San Francisco Bay and Southern California, where coastal impacts associated with El Niño are already occurring. Such projects could provide timely information to inform near-term coastal hazard response, including the selection of emergency shoreline protection measures that preserve opportunities for future nature-based adaptation, as well as longer-term sea level rise adaptation planning.