Habitat restoration has happened—albeit to a limited degree—almost since people began severely altering the region's habitats. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, people built wooden fish ladders in New England to allow herring to pass over dams.

But land development and commercial uses of coastal and marine habitats clearly took priority over fish and wildlife. Until midway through the twentieth century, coastal habitats were destroyed on an enormous scale. Rivers were dammed and polluted, salt marshes were filled for construction, and seagrass beds were dredged for harbors and channels.

As early as 1950, the United States Congress, recognizing that habitat loss and overfishing were causing declines in recreational fish species, passed the Sportfish Restoration Act. The Act provided funding for restoration and management of fisheries and fish habitat, and led to significant improvements in the technology of fish passage. Many fish ladders now operating were built with Sportfish Restoration Act funds, which continue to support restoration and management of recreational fisheries.

Beginning in the late 1960s, the first wave of modern environmental legislation slowed the pace of destruction. Among the important pieces of U.S. legislation were the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Coastal Zone Management Act. These laws greatly reduced air and water pollution, and regulated activities with the potential to harm habitats, such as filling of wetlands, coastal construction, and pesticide use.

A second wave of environmental legislation in the 1980s and early 1990s emphasized restoring historical damage to the environment. Superfund mandated the cleanup of contaminated sites and included provisions for restoration of natural resources. The Oil Pollution Act provided for the restoration of habitats damaged by oil spills, and the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act funded restoration of coastal wetlands.

The Clean Water Acts wetlands mitigation provisions and the first Bush Administration's "no net loss" wetlands policy provided further impetus for wetland restoration. The National Estuary Programs identified habitat loss as an issue common to estuaries nationwide, and the Water Resources Development Act authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to undertake environmental restoration projects. As recently as 2000, Congress passed the Clean Water and Estuaries Act, authorizing new federal funds for the restoration of coastal habitats.

Together, the laws and programs established mandates and funding for state and federal agencies in the United States to restore coastal habitats. By the early 1990s, coastal habitat restoration projects began to occur in the northeastern United States. Today state and federal agencies fund many partnerships for habitat restoration. Universities provide scientific expertise, community and environmental groups offer logistical support and volunteer involvement, and municipal public works departments and private contractors assist with implementation.