2025 Legislative Priorities
The 2025 legislative session offers a unique opportunity to advocate for ocean conservation and urge decision-makers to prioritize Oregon’s invaluable coastal ecosystems. The Oregon Ocean Alliance is leading the charge in advocating for bills that safeguard coastal habitats and increase climate resilience in 2025.
Our bill priorities collectively aim to increase funding for natural resource agencies to improve the management of eelgrass and rocky habitats, to the benefit of fish, wildlife, and coastal communities as a whole. Thanks to our chief sponsor, Representative Gomberg, we are proud to see the following bills up for consideration by the legislature.
Eelgrass Action Bill
(HB 3580)
Develops a Task Force to assess the status of eelgrass meadows across the state, recommend conservation and restoration targets, and address barriers to meaningful conservation.
Rocky Habitat Stewardship Bill
(HB 3587)
Eelgrass is Essential
Eelgrass is a native seagrass that forms underwater meadows in Oregon’s estuaries. It is one of the most productive coastal habitats on the Pacific coast; supporting biodiversity and entire marine food webs. Eelgrass meadows are recognized as Essential Fish Habitat by NOAA, because it provides nursery grounds for many commercially and culturally important species, such as Dungeness crab, rockfish, salmon, and herring.
Eelgrass offers a number of climate benefits as well. Some research suggests the plant sequesters carbon up to 35x faster than tropical rainforests, protects coastlines from storm surges and erosion, and buffers ocean acidification.
Tillamook Bay, OR
- Action Needed Now
Globally, eelgrass meadows are declining at a rate of 7% per year. In Oregon, scientists have found once functioning meadows disappearing unexpectedly in Coos Bay. However, we don’t know the status of our eelgrass resources in Oregon’s other estuaries and estuary management plans across the coast are outdated. Meanwhile, pollution and sedimentation in our watersheds from forestry practices, dredging, and warming waters threaten to diminish this habitat if we don’t proactively set safeguards.
The Eelgrass Action Bill (HB 3580) is the first coordinated statewide effort to set conservation goals for this essential resource in Oregon, following Washington’s lead.
Eelgrass Action Bill Objectives:
Convene Tribes, agencies, scientists, and stakeholders in a task force
Review the status of eelgrass and develop conservation targets
The task force would be tasked with reviewing information on the current and historical extent of eelgrass resources in Oregon’s estuaries and to develop statewide targets for the protection, conservation, and enhancement of eelgrass resources by 2040.
Evaluate barriers to effective eelgrass management
The task force would be tasked with identifying policy barriers and environmental challenges to meeting the statewide targets and addressing habitat decline, including topics related to water quality, restoration, leasing and permitting, agency coordination, and more.
Improve monitoring and mapping programs
The task force would assess the existing monitoring and mapping programs and make recommendations on technical improvements that could improve mapping frequency, data quality and quantity, public access to data, allow agencies to track progress in meeting 2040 targets, and develop estimates of carbon stocks. It would also identify research needs.
Identify funding needs and sources
The task force would develop cost estimates for implementing conservation goals and policy recommendations and identify potential sources of funding.
Make recommendations to the legislature
The task force’s findings and recommendations would be delivered to the legislature in 2027 to provide guidance on improving eelgrass management and legal protections.
Iconic Rocky Habitats
- Rocky Habitats Need Help
Unfortunately, the Department of Land Conservation and Development does not have the financial resources needed to fully implement the vision of the Rocky Habitat Management Strategy– which coastal communities fought so hard to develop.
The Rocky Habitats Bill (HB 3587) would ensure the implementation of our Rocky Habitat Management Strategy by providing agency and community capacity.
Rocky Habitat Stewardship Bill Objectives:
Makes Rocky Habitat Coordinator position at DLCD permanent
The Department of Land Conservation currently has a temporary Rocky Habitat Coordinator position, helping to develop management plans for new rocky habitat sites. However, this position is needed permanently, to help administer the program and work with communities.
Develops a grant fund to support community projects
This bill allocates $300K to support community groups in building their volunteer and community science programs to steward and manage their sites. The grant would be administered by the Oregon Ocean Science Trust
Evaluate barriers to effective eelgrass management
Investing in the Rocky Habitat Management Strategy allows the program to become self-sufficient and meet the goals established by the communities it serves. Without this bill, these new sites could become “paper parks” with no meaningful implementation.
