Does building a road through a wetland mar its beauty? Does a house that can be seen from a public trail add or detract from the view? Does one dock change the aesthetics of a cove? How about five? While we might feel strongly about the answers to these questions, someone else may argue just as strongly a differing opinion.
Many coastal resource managers have the regulatory authority to protect scenic and aesthetic values, but they often find themselves being challenged in court because visual impacts are difficult to define, and decisions can seem subjective.
In this edition of Coastal Services, we look at a regulatory rule coastal managers in Maine have developed for assessing and mitigating impacts to scenic and aesthetic resources.
The broadly applicable rule, which helps managers make objective decisions, may be a useful model for other states whose regulations address visual impacts.
We here at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coastal Services Center also are developing tools that may help coastal managers address the visual and aesthetic impacts of proposed projects.
One tool that can help build consensus on these difficult decisions is visualization. The Center recently released the "Visualizing Dock Growth" Web site, which is available at www.csc.noaa.gov/dock_growth. This site helps managers visualize growing numbers of docks and piers in waterways—a major issue in many coastal areas.
Soon, the Center will offer Web-based resources and guidance for visualizing additional issues and decisions.
One issue that most of us probably don’t need help visualizing is the impact Hurricane Katrina had on the Gulf Coast. In this edition of the magazine, we will also learn how Mississippi coastal managers used NOAA funding after the storm to develop a program that provided financial assistance to oyster harvesters and collected valuable data.
We will also learn about an Oregon city’s Tsunami Awareness Program, which could possibly serve as a model community outreach effort, not only for tsunamis, but also for other coastal hazards.
These are just a couple of examples of how we can make our coastal communities more resilient to coastal hazards.As always, we hope it is helpful to learn about some of the challenges and successes of your colleagues around the country. We hope you find the articles in this edition of Coastal Services interesting and useful.
-- Margaret A. Davidson
