| What is clear is that the breadth and scope of the act itself has resulted in a coastline that is better planned, regulated, developed, monitored, accessible, restored, appreciated, researched, understood, and protected than it would have been without the CZMA. |
One of the primary things that makes the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) a success is also what makes it hard to quantify or categorize. This distinctive piece of legislation has over the past 30 years empowered 34 of 35 coastal states and territories to create coastal zone management programs that specifically address their governance and coastal issues.
"Because each state sets its own priorities, coastal management accomplishments vary state to state," notes Tony MacDonald, executive director of the Coastal States Organization. "Louisiana has shown advancement in focusing local communities on the coastal restoration and wetland protection priorities that are so important to that state. In California, we see a lot of focus on reviewing development proposals because of development pressures. In the Great Lakes, there's more of a focus on working with communities and waterfront revitalization. They all work on other things as well, but they each have different priorities."
And then there are the differences between the coastal management programs and the 25 National Estuarine Research Reserves that the CZMA also has created. Trying to match up the successes and needs of regulatory and planning programs with this system of protected area research and education programs is much like trying to compare pelicans to dolphins.
What is clear is that the breadth and scope of the act itself has resulted in a coastline that is better planned, regulated, developed, monitored, accessible, restored, appreciated, researched, understood, and protected than it would have been without the CZMA.
There also are just as many areas—in many cases these same areas—where the managers interviewed for this article felt the act could be strengthened. And there is the sense that now is the time to plan for the CZMA's next 30 years to try to get in front of issues such as coastal population growth, climate change, ocean management, and many more.
The Legislation
The CZMA was passed in October of 1972. It created a one-of-a-kind state-federal partnership that leaves day-to-day coastal management decisions to states that have federally approved coastal programs. Through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal government provides financial and technical incentives for coastal states to manage their coastal zones in a manner consistent with CZMA standards and goals, which are to preserve and protect coastal resources while allowing compatible economic growth. Every coastal state and territory but Illinois participates in the program.
"I think this clearly was landmark legislation where the federal government was willing to share responsibility with the states to meet these national goals and objectives," says David Keeley, acting director of the Maine State Planning Office. "We've not seen much of that in subsequent environmental legislation. This is what makes the CZMA unique."
The National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) also was established by the CZMA. Federal and state authorities work together to establish, manage, and maintain these representative estuarine ecosystems, and to provide for their long-term stewardship. The reserves serve as "living laboratories" where research and education efforts are conducted to help communities understand and address coastal resource issues.
"I see the CZMA as the most comprehensive legislation directed toward trying to address the entire composite suite of activities going on along the coast," says Mike Graybill, manager of the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in Oregon. The state-federal management approach "is a very distinctive feature that really allows each one of the reserves to provide an on-the-ground, long-term presence for a federal agency that has a completely different complexion to it than any other federal program."
NOAA Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Tim Keeney notes the act is "a balanced piece of legislation that focuses on protection of coastal resources and the economic development of coastal areas. It really provides the potential for the optimal mix of protection and use of coastal resources."
Strengths
In the interviews for this article, 18 coastal managers were asked about the strengths, areas for improvement, and future of the CZMA, and for the most part gave 18 different answers. There were, however, areas that the majority of managers agreed upon.
One of these common areas is the power of the federal consistency clause in the CZMA. Under CZMA, section 307, federal agency activities that affect any land or water use or natural resource of the coastal zone must be consistent with the enforceable polices of the state coastal program.
"I think the federal consistency provisions of the federal law are perhaps its most important element," says Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission. "It's a significant states' rights provision."
George Stafford, director of the New York Division of Coastal Resources, notes that "there have been proposed projects in New York that would not have been good for the coast that were stopped because of our authorization through the CZMA." He lists such projects as "50-story residential towers in the middle of Long Island Sound, federal prison barges in New York City, and inappropriate power plants."
In Michigan, says Catherine Cunningham, chief of the Michigan Coastal Management Program, federal consistency's power to bring other agencies to the table was primarily responsible for various federal and state governmental agencies and other organizations coming together to save the state's lighthouses. The Michigan Lighthouse Project, now considered a model by the U.S. Coast Guard, "may never have happened" without the provision.
Federal consistency was the reason Alaska joined the coastal program, explains Patrick Galvin, director of the Alaska Division of Governmental Coordination. "At the time, we were looking at a lot of offshore oil and gas activities, and we were very concerned because of the high-value fisheries and subsistence activities that depend on offshore resources. We had the need for state input in federal decisions, and the CZMA provided us with the opportunity to influence federal decisions in ways not previously available to the state."
The fact that the act is flexible, voluntary for states, and comprehensive in scope seems to be considered both the CZMA's greatest strength and one of its weaknesses.
"I think one of the strengths of the program has been that while it prescribes for the management of the coastal zone, it allows the states to adopt management mechanisms that best fit within the governmental structure and political organization of those states," says Rick DeVoe, executive director of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium.
John King, acting chief of NOAA's Coastal Programs Division, agrees that states' flexibility in implementing the program has been a highlight of the act, but notes "the flip side is that the program objectives are so broad that they are difficult to measure."
New York's Stafford says that while having a lot of discretion in the act is "good in terms of allowing states to address their own priorities, it's a weakness in terms of having a strong partnership between state and federal governments to deal with national priorities."
Accomplishments
The list of CZMA accomplishments that managers note is lengthy. It includes everything from increased public access and improved coastal development to habitat and wetlands protection and restoration, and research and education efforts. Other areas of success include the public's involvement in and awareness of coastal issues; mitigation of the potential damage from coastal hazards, such as hurricanes; special area management planning; waterfront redevelopment; water quality; erosion; and various partnerships.
The general consensus, however, is that the act's greatest accomplishment may be the fact that 34 coastal zone management programs and 25 reserves have been established.
"One of the primary strengths has been that it provided the incentive for states to create coastal management programs to manage these resources Congress found so important to the country," says Galvin. "It's been very successful in getting states to adopt those plans."
Gary Lytton, director of the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Florida, says, "The longer the NERRs [reserves] are in place and are able to implement programs through the NERRS system, the more convinced I am that this is the way to deal with coastal management. It enables state and federal resources to have the most effective impact at the local level. After 20 years of being in coastal management, I realize that we have to be working with local communities to be having any success at all."
Some managers say that part of the success of both the coastal programs and reserves is their sum, rather than their parts.
"The strength of the act is tied to the fact that it creates an organization which can coordinate activities on the coast," says Stuart Stevens, administrator of the Georgia Coastal Management Program. "That's not clear in the way the law is worded, but in reality that's what's happened."
"One of the things that is really clear to me," says Christine Gault, manager of the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Massachusetts, "is that without a strong interpretation of the CZMA, all of these reserves would just be scattered, individual state sites. What it's done is made a network of sites that have national significance."
Gault points to system-wide coastal decision-maker training and monitoring as areas where reserves are making a national difference.
Room for Improvement
While managers see the CZMA as a cohesive piece of legislation, most say there are areas where they would like to see more guidance, financing, or national focus. Habitat protection and restoration, ocean management and observing, water quality, hazard mitigation, protected areas, and climate change are just a few of these areas.
Suggestions managers had for strengthening coastal management include creating national marketing plans to increase public awareness and participation in coastal issues; elevating NOAA's political authority within the administration; focusing on regional issues; integrating federal environmental statutes; and improving interagency coordination. Other ideas were for providing incentives for local governments; increasing the flexibility in working with nonprofits; ensuring program requirements are applicable to territories; providing opportunities for the transfer of technology between state and federal programs; and better focusing national research on state issues.
The biggest debate among managers centers on determining ways to measure coastal management performance and how the program can best address national issues.
"I think the biggest weakness [in the CZMA] is the lack of accountability," says Peter Douglas, "the fact that it does not have a meaningful way to evaluate the real on-the-ground effectiveness of the state coastal management programs."
"I worry about the states having to develop a consistent set of performance indicators," says Michigan's Cunningham. "Because state programs are set up differently it's going to be difficult to develop indicators that are the same for each state. They need to be based on the objectives of the CZMA, but tailored to meet the priorities and resources of that state."
An example, she says, is trying to evaluate wetland acreage in the nation. "The Great Lakes have fluctuating water levels so our acreage can change drastically from year to year." It would be "a lot of apples and oranges" to try to measure Michigan's wetland acreage under high water and low water.
Ralph Cantral, acting chief of NOAA's National Policy and Evaluation Division, agrees that indicators are needed, but acknowledges the challenge. "As diverse as public access, and coastal development, and the various issues that coastal managers deal with are, it's hard to measure what the impact of the act actually is. It's even more difficult because each state adopts its own program. It's hard to get a national picture from that."
Evaluating performance is becoming standard federal government procedure. NOAA's Keeney says the Office of Management and Budget is "constantly interested in what difference the program makes. They want us to show them the level of improvement, or why we're better off than we were."
Gault notes her concern that "in an attempt to find a way to do evaluations, we'll settle on indicators that are not really pertinent... Our success needs to be measured by how much communities are taking [coastal] issues on and dealing with them on their own."
Stafford is one of the managers calling for more of a focus on national priorities. "It may not be popular to say this, but I think after 30 years, states have a blueprint for what they perceive is needed and are acting on implementing that. Now let us move into the next generation of the act, which needs to be perhaps a rethinking of what the national priorities and problems are, and focusing the base CZM programs on those individual problems."
"This is the push-pull when it comes to the state and federal power struggle," says Galvin. If you push this voluntary program "to the next level where the federal government is requiring a certain level of protection or mandating a certain level of protection, it becomes questionable how attractive" the program will remain to the states.
The amount and structure of federal funding is another area almost all the managers suggest needs to be changed.
"There needs to be some greater investment if we're really going to make the coastal zone a healthier place from an environmental standpoint, and to provide more human benefits," says Marc Hershman, director of the University of Washington School of Marine Affairs and a member of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy.
Sea Grant's Rick DeVoe notes the majority of states are facing significant budget cuts, which is "going to affect the ability of coastal zone programs to be able to handle the coast's increasing pressures."
Stuart Stevens says the law capping the amount of federal money available to states is hindering many coastal programs. "It's been in effect for a long time and has never been changed. It needs to be adjusted" to enable states to keep up with the coastal issues they face.
Janice Hodge, director of the Virgin Islands Division of Coastal Zone Management, says the islands in some ways could benefit more from a different method of allocating funds than the existing method of distributing funds based on shoreline miles and population. "Some areas depend a lot more on their coastal resources for a number of reasons. I would like to see some weight given to areas that demonstrate a greater need for coastal resources to sustain their economies," such as island dependence on coastal tourism.
The CZMA's Future
Most managers agree that their jobs are going to get harder as more and more people move to coastal areas.
"I think the pressures on the coasts are increasing," says DeVoe. "A lot more people are coming to live, retire, and vacation here. With a lot more people we will see more structures being built, a lot more users of the resources, and with that, user conflicts will increase. Coastal managers are going to feel this pressure themselves in trying to meet those challenges and balance all these interests."
Managers note that they also will be facing new challenges as well, such as ocean and watershed management, sea level rise, and climate change. Most predict that closer partnerships of all kinds will be necessary to address future CZMA issues.
The majority of managers say they are hopeful that the creation of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, which was appointed by President George Bush to conduct a two-year study to recommend broad policies for how the U.S. addresses its coastal and ocean areas, will result in improved coastal management.
"I think the ocean commission has our future in their hands," Stevens says. "They are poised to make changes in how we manage the coast so that we can deal with issues in the future... The commission is in the right position to make recommendations that could completely change the way we do business. It could be either good or bad. We need to get involved to make sure it's good."
Peter Douglas adds, "Protecting coasts is like protecting coveted geography everywhere; it's never finished. It's always being done. Coastal zone management is here to stay. Our coasts need it, the public demands it, and future generations deserve it."
CZMA Timeline
1966
Stratton Commission Formed
1972
CZMA Passed
1974
South Slough NERR, Oregon
1976
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1977
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1978
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1979
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1980
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1981
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1982
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1984
Wells NERR, Maine
1985
Chesapeake Bay NERR, Monie Bay, Maryland
1986
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1988
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1989
Great Bay NERR, New Hampshire
1990
Chesapeake Bay NERR, Jug Bay, Otter Point Creek, Maryland
1991
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1992
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1993
Delaware NERR
1997
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1998
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1999
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2002
Indiana Coastal Program
