The Coastal States Organization represents the nation’s Coastal States, Territories, and Commonwealths on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resource issues. |
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Spotlight on Coastal Management:
Lower Columbia Solutions Group Receives ASBPA 2020 Robert Wiegel Coastal Project Award
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The LCSG was formed by the Governors of Washington and Oregon in July 2002 and is co-convened by the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Program and the Washington Coastal Zone Management Program. The LCSG is a diverse, bi-state partnership of local, state and federal governmental and non-governmental stakeholders interested in and affected by dredge material disposal activities in the Lower Columbia River area. Stakeholders include crabbers, fishing interests, environmentalists, development interests, and local, state and federal government.
This ASBPA “lifetime achievement award” for coastal projects was presented for a series of interconnected projects that maximize the beneficial use of sediment dredged from the Federal Navigation Channel in the Columbia River. These projects include, among others, nearshore thin layer placement in multiple sites to provide sediment to naturally feed the adjacent beaches, while protecting sensitive habitat.
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In the States and Regions |
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National Academies’ Gulf Research Program Awards $5.27 Million to Enhance Understanding of Gulf Ecosystems and Their Interactions with Natural Processes and Human Activities
The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine today announced grant awards totaling $5.27 million for six new projects. These projects, planned to span two to three years, aim to improve understanding of how natural processes and human activities interact to affect coastal ecosystems in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. The focus of the funding opportunity was derived from a recent National Academies consensus report, Understanding the Long-Term Evolution of the Coupled Natural-Human Coastal System: The Future of the U.S. Gulf Coast and the opportunity was specifically designed to support scientific research that would inform decision-making and natural resource management actions along the Gulf Coast. Read more
La. Gets to Work on Climate Change Goals
Gov. John Bel Edwards said Louisiana must address the looming effects of climate change on the state's population in ways that both reduce future weather disasters and create opportunities for the state to participate in a new economy, during a speech Monday at the opening session of his new Climate Initiatives Task Force. Read more
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New H2Ohio Incentive Program Helps Improve Water Quality
As part of Ohio Gov, Mike DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is offering a new incentive program to encourage farmers to aid in conservation and improve water quality. The new program is being offered in combination with the Lake Erie Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). CREP is a USDA conservation program that offers farmers and landowners financial compensation for taking cropland out of production and establishing conservation practices. The H2Ohio Water Quality Incentive Program will offer a one-time payment of $2,000 per acre for new Lake Erie CREP wetlands and forested riparian buffers (buffer strip with trees) to help improve water quality in the Lake Erie watershed. Read more
As Great Lakes Pummel Michigan, Beach Towns Rush to Set Development Rules
Rousseaux, the Port Austin Township supervisor and Village of Port Austin planning commissioner, notes with dismay the way record-high Great Lakes water levels have transformed his community's shoreline. Water has flooded yards, scoured away beaches and threatened homes. Waves are threatening to chew through the points that protect the historic harbor in Grindstone City, at the township’s eastern end. But most troubling for Rousseaux are the seawalls and rock barricades, known as riprap, that now line the shore as residents scramble to protect their property from the encroaching waves. It's a reminder, to Rousseaux, of local government's past shortcomings: In Port Austin and many communities on Michigan's coasts, a longstanding laissez faire approach to coastal land use policy has allowed residents to build homes precariously close to the shoreline, with devastating consequences when Great Lakes water levels inevitably rise. But the ongoing high water crisis is leading some communities, Port Austin included, to rethink the policies that put them here. Read more
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California Coastal Commission Five-Year Plan
The California Costal Commission has just revealed its strategic five-year plan. The proposal suggested 199 actions items are to be intended to be undertaken by the Commission between 2021- 2025. The Commission is focused on a series of goals pertaining to “internal agency capacity and effectiveness; public access; coastal resources; climate change and sea level rise; environmental justice, diversity, and tribal relations; coastal planning and permitting; enforcement; public presence and partnerships; and information management and e-government” stated in press release. Read more
California, Oregon, Tribes Join Plan to Restore Klamath River
Bolstering a bid to revive salmon populations that once sustained Native American tribes for thousands of years, California and Oregon agreed Tuesday to help fund a series of long-awaited dam removals on the Klamath River. With the addition of the states as partners in the demolition of four dams on the river that stretches from Oregon into Northern California, supporters say the plan now has the financial clout needed to gain federal approval. If things go as planned, the largest such dam demolition in U.S. history could begin as soon as 2023. Read more
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On October 29, 2020, on the 8th Anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Matthew W. Luzzatto announced the Atlantic Shorefront Project. This project will protect communities and strengthen the shoreline along six miles of the Rockaway Peninsula. The Atlantic Shorefront component is the first of two U.S. Army Corp of Engineers major coastal infrastructure projects to strengthen the Rockaway Peninsula. Read more
Ocean City Inlet Dredging Sediment Used As Assateague Erosion Buffer
A dredging project will be going on in the Ocean City inlet throughout November, and it’s a win-win for boat navigation and erosion prevention in the area. “Both dredging efforts benefit navigation by removing sediment from the inlet system that could cause navigation issues. Both benefit Assateague Island by placing dredged sand offshore of Assateague Island south of the inlet to help counter long-term erosion,” as the Navigation Branch of USACE’s Operations Division explains it. Read more
Shaheen, Hassan & Pappas Announce $257K to Safeguard NH Coastal Communities & Ecosystems Impacted by the Effects of Climate Change
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the Vice Chair of the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations subcommittee which funds the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), announced today with U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) that NOAA will award $257,000 to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) for the Department’s Living Shoreline Stabilization for Communities and Tidal Wetlands in the Great Bay Estuary project. The effort will support living shoreline projects that protect salt marsh habitat and coastal communities from erosion, sealevel rise and flooding, such as plants, sand or rock, in the Great Bay Estuary municipalities of Dover, Durham and Newmarket. The funding was awarded through NOAA’s 2020 National Coastal Resilience Fund and will be matched dollar for dollar. Read more
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November 20, 2020
December 1, 2020
December 2, 2020
December 8, 2020
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Hawaii Releases 2020 Ocean Resources Management Plan
The Hawaii Office of Planning, Coastal Zone Management Program has released the Hawaiʻi Ocean Resources Management Plan (ORMP) is a statewide plan that seeks to resolve coastal problems and issues that are not adequately addressed by existing laws and rules. The plan is a requirement under Hawaii Revised Statutes and is a main component of the CZM Program. Learn more here.
NFWF and NOAA Announce National Coastal Resilience Fund Grant Recipients
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and NOAA today announced more than $37 million in new grants from the National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF) that will support coastal resilience projects in 25 states and U.S. territories. The NCRF grants will contribute to the restoration or enhancement of natural features such as coastal marshes and wetlands, dune and beach systems, oyster and coral reefs, mangroves, forests, coastal rivers and barrier islands. These natural buffers can help reduce the impacts of storms, rising sea levels and other extreme events on nearby communities and habitats. Learn more about NCRF and the selected projects here.
The National Sea Grant Office and the NOAA Ocean Acidification Program are funding a joint competition to fund proposals that seek to establish, continue, and/or expand collaborations between researchers and the shellfish aquaculture industry. Specifically, applications to this competition should utilize new or existing research/industry partnerships to study how ocean and coastal acidification in combination with other stressors impacts shellfish aquaculture. Applications must include at least one researcher and one shellfish grower acting as co-Principal Investigators, and the proposed work must utilize a co-production of knowledge framework. Total funding for this competition includes up to $2,000,000 in federal funds to support 2-6 projects. Each project will be funded at the approximate level of $100,000 - $300,000 per year for 1-3 years. Applications are due March 16, 2021. Learn more here.
The application period for FEMA’s fiscal year 2020 Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grants under the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) programs is now open. Eligible applicants must apply for funding through the FEMA Grants Outcomes (GO) system. All applications must be submitted no later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 29, 2021. For FY20, a total of $660 million in funding is available for FMA and BRIC. Visit the FMA and BRIC web pages to find helpful resources.
NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship Applications Are Open!
Are you interested in a scholarship and paid summer internship with NOAA? Consider applying for the Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship or the Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) Undergraduate Scholarship. Applications are open from September 1, 2020, through February 1, 2021. Learn more here.
NOAA RESTORE Science Program Grants
The NOAA RESTORE Science Program is making approximately $2.5 million available for this competition to fund approximately 20 planning projects that will run for one year each. This competition will provide natural resource managers, researchers, and other stakeholders with funding to plan a research project that informs a specific management decision impacting natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico. A second competition for funding to execute and apply actionable science will follow this competition. These two competitions will be independent of one another. The deadline for applications is Dec. 15, 2020. See the full announcement here.
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Interdisciplinary
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The views expressed in articles referenced here are those of the authors and do not represent or reflect the views of CSO.
If you have a news item or job posting to include in future CSO Newsletters, please send an email to: rkeylon@coastalstates.org with a subject line: "Newsletter Content". Please include the information to be considered in the body of the email. Please note: CSO reserves final decision regarding published newsletter content and may not use all information submitted.
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Coastal States Organization | 50 F Street. NW, Suite 570, Washington, DC 20001 | 202-508-3860 | cso@coastalstates.org | www.coastalstates.org |
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