As evidenced by the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy last October, our nation’s coastal resources are at risk.
In addition to facing the effects of hurricanes, coastal resource managers may need to prepare for a wide range of potential technological and natural hazards, such as oil and chemical spills, vessel and plane crashes, flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, landslides, and more.
The time to prepare is before an emergency strikes.
Coastal resource managers in the Gulf of Mexico are taking steps to ensure that they are better prepared for future disasters—and what they are creating may be a template that can be used around the country.
In the cover story of this edition of Coastal Services, we look at how the five Gulf Coast national estuarine research reserves worked together to establish site-specific plans and define appropriate actions for assisting with disaster response.
One of the critical components of the planning process for each of the reserves has been to establish relationships with local, state, and federal emergency managers.
Not only did reserve staff members learn how to work within regimented emergency response protocols, but they also shared resources that reserves have that may be useful during a hazardous event. These include maps and data, sampling and testing capabilities, detailed knowledge of the reserves and their natural resources, and access to boats, personnel, and volunteers.
For 15 years, Coastal Services has provided articles on successful coastal management programs and projects, and how managers are addressing the significant challenges of these times. In 2013, our writers and editors are celebrating this significant anniversary.
If you aren’t already a subscriber, go to www.csc.noaa.gov/magazine and sign up now to get ideas and keep up with successful programs and projects from around the country. You can also search back issues for solutions to your problems.
As this issue heads to the printer, the final preparations are being made for Coastal GeoTools 2013, being held March 25 to 28 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. You can keep up with the conference in real-time by following #CoastalGeoTools on Twitter.
I hope to see you there!
Jeff Payne, Acting Director
