More than 40 conservation, environmental, and coastal organizations. One mission.
The vision of Great Bay 2030 is to promote a healthy Great Bay Estuary, distinguished by clean water, accessible lands for recreation and education, habitat for fish and wildlife, climate resilience, and engaged communities committed to supporting the watershed for generations to come.
The underlying vision was developed by the Conservation Law Foundation, the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, The Nature Conservancy–New Hampshire, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, and the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership. These groups have worked collectively to advance this vision.
This broad, collaborative initiative has been powered by $12 million in philanthropic giving through the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation’s Great Bay Watershed Fund. For more information check out the Great Bay 2030 Vision Document as well as the Great Bay 2030 Initiative Map which lays out the geographic areas and towns that are eligible for Great Bay 2030 initiatives.
Great Bay 2030 Focus Areas and Projects
Great Bay 2030 has identified five focal areas for investment and action. With collective attention and effective partnerships working in each area, we can make a big difference for the future of the watershed. With three years of funding already distributed for projects in each focus area, exciting progress is being made!
Foster a Culture of Stewardship
7 Rivers to the Coast
The 7 Rivers to the Coast project is a shared communications platform for increasing awareness and engagement in efforts to protect the Great Bay Estuary and its watershed.
Project Leads: Great Bay Stewards and Conservation Law Foundation
Great Bay Changemaker Program
The Great Bay Changemaker Program educates residents about the region’s waterways, empower them with the skills and confidence to become environmental advocates, and create a cohort of changemakers who feel empowered to take action.
Project Leads: Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Conservation Law Foundation, and Great Bay Stewards
Shoreline Buffer Land Use: Status, Trends and Community Resources
This project will provide new GIS data and resources to enable municipalities, planning commissions, and community advocates to better understand the status and trends in land use within stream and shoreline buffers in Coastal New Hampshire.
Project Leads: NH Granit/University of New Hampshire
Building Community Support and Skills for Buffer Protection
This project will develop and deliver a comprehensive program of communications, training, and technical assistance to strengthen public support, empower volunteer board members, and help communities protect buffers around wetlands, rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.
Project Leads: Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, University of New Hampshire, and Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Implementation of Signage Project in the Great Bay Watershed
Improve public understanding of how local rivers/streams connect to the larger Great Bay estuary system through the installation of educational signage throughout the watershed.
Project Lead: Strafford Regional Planning Commission
COMPLETED: Seacoast Educator Resource Inventory and Gap Analysis
This project engaged partners and teachers in the creation of a digital collection of currently available science education resources related to the Great Bay and its watershed, and identified gaps within this collection.
Project Lead: Great Bay Stewards
COMPLETED: New Hampshire Coastal Access Map
This project developed an updated and comprehensive map of land and water access points to Great Bay and the NH Atlantic Coast.
Project Lead: Great Bay Stewards and Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Restore Critical Habitats
Improving Fish Passage at the Winnicut River Fishway
The goal of this project is to develop solutions to address the fish passage insufficiencies at the Winnicut River fishway by hiring a consultant to design fishway modifications and/or river restoration alternatives to allow for the passage of diadromous fish into the Winnicut River watershed.
Project Lead: NH Fish & Game
The Winnicut River Project
The Town of Greenland, through the work of The Winnicut River Project, intends to conduct a design charrette with PlanNH in October 2026 to focus and gather public input into the traffic and safety problems on Route 33 in Greenland, in particular at the Winnicut River Bridge. We will merge the traffic, safety, and environmental issues seeking synergistic solutions.
Project Lead: Town of Greenland
Adams Point Marsh Restoration
The proposed project has an overarching goal of completing single-channel hydrology to restore daily tidal flows, revegetate the marsh platform, and enhance long-term resiliency at a small yet highly visible salt marsh on conservation land.
Project Lead: University of New Hampshire
Fostering the Future of NH’s Shellfish Aquaculture Industry
Recognizing the restorative potential of shellfish aquaculture and the critical role of shellfish farms in scaling oyster restoration efforts, the goal of this project is to foster the growth and long-term stability of shellfish aquaculture in NH for the many benefits the industry provides to both people and nature.
Project Lead: The Nature Conservancy-NH
Fairhill Marsh Phase II
The Fairhill Marsh Project Phase II will advance restoration project development at Fairhill Salt Marsh from preliminary restoration design to the completion of final design and permits and enact additional stakeholder engagement.
Project Lead: Rockingham County Conservation District
Bellamy River Restoration Project
This project is conducting the necessary investigations and planning steps to address multiple fish passage barriers in the vicinity of Bellamy Road in Dover
Project Lead: City of Dover
Pickpocket Dam
This project supports the engineering design and permitting to remove the Pickpocket Dam that will restore and improve the resilience of the Exeter River.
Project Lead: Town of Exeter
Gonic Dams Removal/Cocheco River Restoration Project
This project improves water quality, habitat connectivity, natural sediment transport and flood resilience on the Cocheco River by removing two hazardous dams and 4,000 cubic yards of contaminated impounded sediment.
Project Leads: City of Rochester and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
COMPLETED: Intertidal Rockweed Facilitation of Eastern Oysters
This project mapped the distribution of rockweed–oyster habitat in the Great Bay Estuary, investigating the facilitation of eastern oysters by rockweed in the intertidal zone, and assessing the efficacy of adding oysters as an extra component to salt marsh living shorelines.
Project Lead: University of New Hampshire and Jackson Estuarine Laboratory
COMPLETED: Fairhill Salt Marsh: Collaborative Restoration Design Planning
This project assessed existing conditions, identified impairments and restoration alternatives, developed a restoration plan for a demonstration project for Fairhill Marsh based on single channel hydrology and engaged stakeholders throughout the process. Find the final report here.
Project Lead: Rockingham County Conservation District
COMPLETED: Sawyer Mill Dam Adaptive Management Project: Final Adaptive Management Phase
This project implemented the final adaptive management phase of the Sawyer Mill Dam Removal Project to optimize river channel conditions for river herring passage.
Project Lead: Great Bay Stewards and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Coastal Program
Adapt to Climate Change
Adapting Together: Implementing a Technical Assistance and Funding Program.
Adapting Together provides a two-track grant and technical assistance program to help municipalities, organizations, and committees build climate resilience through activities that address flooding or extreme heat in Great Bay.
Project Leads: Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership and University of New Hampshire
Growing Flood Ready Neighborhoods
This project sustains and strengthens Flood Ready Neighborhoods, a responsive and neighborhood-led approach to building resilience in Great Bay watershed communities, by investing in neighborhood projects, neighborhood leaders, and programmatic capacity.
Project Leads: NH Sea Grant and University of New Hampshire
Climate in the Classroom
Climate in the Classroom supports local teachers to incorporate climate change education in their classrooms.
Project Leads: NH Sea Grant and University of New Hampshire
Pathway for Partnership: A Crossing Coordinator for the Great Bay’s Multi-Benefit Stream Crossing Projects
This project will enhance the flood-resiliency of the Great Bay watershed’s transportation infrastructure and adjacent ecosystems by providing staffing capacity to New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services’ (NHDES’) Coastal Program (NHCP) and the New Hampshire Stream Crossing Initiative (NHSCI) to connect communities with NHSCI resources and those being developed via the Crossing Capacity Pilot Project.
Project Lead: New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Coastal Program
Preparing Businesses for Extreme Weather – Piloting a Seacoast Business Resiliency Academy
This project is piloting a “Seacoast Business Resiliency Academy” for coastal communities dealing with extreme weather. The Academy will support local businesses and the communities in which they reside by building a cohort of individuals from local business and economic development to connect, learn and plan together around flooding and extreme weather while also developing and piloting training in which participants can identify actions to address risks and vulnerabilities while building resilience.
Project Lead: University of New Hampshire Extension
Building Intermunicipal Partnerships to Address Climate Change
The project aims to support coastal watershed communities - Dover, Durham, Madbury, Newmarket, and Rollinsford in the Strafford (SRPC) region and Exeter, Greenland, Newfields, Newington, and Stratham in the Rockingham (RPC) region - to prioritize existing climate resilience projects and establish frameworks to jointly invest in and implement those with the greatest regional benefit, based on the coastal resilience cooperative agreements allowed in RSA 36:53-a.
Project Lead: Strafford Regional Planning Commission
Neighborhood Preparedness Guidebook
This project will create and pilot a user-friendly Neighborhood Preparedness Guidebook. The goal of this effort is to increase resilience to and preparedness for extreme weather and climate change impacts at the household and neighborhood scales and enhance two-way communication between residents and municipalities about emergency preparedness.
Project Lead: NH Sea Grant
New Hampshire Coastal Flood Hazard Assessment, Risk Reduction Plan, and Project Pipeline
The goal of the New Hampshire Coastal Flood Hazard Assessment, Risk Reduction Plan, and Project Pipeline project is to mitigate coastal and freshwater flood risk to assets across sectors, including transportation, critical infrastructure, natural resources, economy, and community within NH’s Coastal Watershed.
Project Lead: Great Bay Stewards and New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Coastal Program
Building a Foundation to Evolve CAW’s Practice
This project is helping the New Hampshire Coastal Adaptation Workgroup (CAW) build shared competencies, skills, and resources to support and advance equitable climate adaptation. It includes a focused effort by the Strafford Regional Planning Commission and the Rockingham Planning Commission to identify and map communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change.
Project Lead: University of New Hampshire and Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership
Farmington Stormwater Drainage Study Update
This project will update the Town of Farmington’s Stormwater Drainage Study to incorporate new GIS data and precipitation frequency estimates; evaluate the performance of the existing drainage system; and prioritize infrastructure improvement projects.
Project Lead: Town of Farmington
Protect Priority Lands
Priority Land Acquisition
This project involves the acquisition of four critical properties totaling approximately 875-acres that protect resources under threat from habitat loss, resource degradation, and impacts of climate change and that were identified within Focus Areas in the 2021 NH Coastal Watershed Conservation Plan (“Coastal Plan”).
Project Leads: Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership and Southeast Land Trust
Land Protection Transaction Grant Program
The LPTGP will provide grants for transaction costs to land trusts and municipalities to protect priority lands in the Great Bay watershed.
Project Leads: The Nature Conservancy and Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership
Stewardship Grant Program
The Stewardship Grant Program (SGP) will provide grants to land trusts and municipalities for stewardship projects that advance landscape management priorities and implement best management practices on protected priority conservation lands in the Great Bay watershed.
Project Leads: The Nature Conservancy and Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership
Public Policy Support to Increase Access to Federal Funding
This project is implementing a strategy to address the barrier of access to federal funding for land conservation in the Great Bay watershed.
Project Lead: Southeast Land Trust
Stewardship Grant Program
The Stewardship Grant Program will provide grants to land trusts and municipalities for stewardship projects that advance landscape management priorities and implement best management practices on protected priority conservation lands in the Great Bay watershed.
Project Lead: Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership
Land Conservation Capacity
This project is supporting the Coastal Watershed Land Conservation Manager, who supports strategic actions to protect priority lands and critical habitats in the coastal watershed.
Project Lead: Southeast Land Trust
COMPLETED: Land Capacity: Land Conservation Manager
This project is creating a new land protection position to increase the rate of conservation and operationalize increased public conservation funding. It focuses on strategic land conservation identified in the Coastal Conservation Plan.
Project Lead: Southeast Land Trust
Water Quality and Quantity
Clean Sweep: Innovative Regional Street Sweeping Program for Great Bay: Phase One
This project is implementing a comprehensive regional street sweeping program that will operate across municipal boundaries in the Great Bay watershed to significantly reduce nonpoint source pollution and measurably improve water quality.
Project Lead: City of Dover
Resilient Natural Shorelines: Vegetated Buffer Outreach & Cost-Share Program
This project restores resilient natural shorelines in the headwater regions of Great Bay and increase awareness about their importance to water quality.
Project Lead: Acton Wakefield Watersheds Alliance
Salmon Falls River Watershed Plan
This project aims to create a locally driven, adaptive management plan to reduce pollution and ensure clean water in the Great Bay watershed (Great Bay Quality and Quantity Focal Area Goal Template, 2025). This project will: identify point and nonpoint source pollution, assess threats from climate change, and develop a detailed and implementable action plan to address identified issues.
Project Lead: Acton Wakefield Watersheds Alliance
Mitigation of Non-Point Source Nitrogen
This project helps mitigate non-point source nitrogen loading to Great Bay through restoration of ecosystem function in a highly impaired coastal watershed.
Project Lead: UNH Department of Natural Resources
Reducing Nutrients in the Upper Great Bay Watershed
This project involves implementing a regional approach to improve water quality through proposed regulatory amendments, outreach events, demonstration projects and capacity building in several towns within the Great Bay Watershed that will reduce non-point pollutant/nutrient loading from septic, stormwater, and other contributing sources across the headwaters.
Project Lead: Strafford Regional Planning Commission
Collaboratively Implementing Neighborhood Scale Stormwater Management, Phase I & Phase II
This project implements stormwater management and treatment options at the Exeter River Run site, and to stabilize a failed riverbank along the Exeter River with an innovative living shoreline design.
Project Lead: Rockingham County Conservation District
COMPLETED: Milton Three Ponds Lake Watershed-Based Management Plan
This project developed a watershed management plan for Milton Three Ponds in order to identify and manage environmental stressors impacting water quality of the ponds. The Milton Three Ponds Watershed Management Plan was completed in September 2025. Strafford Regional Planning Commission (SRPC) received funding to develop the plan through the NH Charitable Foundation which began in the summer of 2024. The plan was a coordinated effort between SRPC, FB Environmental, and a project Steering Committee including members from the Town, Three Ponds Protection Association, NHDES, and interested parties.
Project Lead: Strafford Regional Planning Commission
For more information on Great Bay 2030, contact:
Annie Cox
Watershed Resilience Manager, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership
Coordinator, Great Bay 2030