Ongoing Projects
State-by-State Projects
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Puerto Rico | U.S. Virgin Islands | American Samoa | Guam | Northern Mariana Islands
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Ecological and Socioeconomic Characterization of Kachemak Bay
Located in south-central Alaska, Kachemak Bay, a National Estuarine Research Reserve, is at risk from increasing human use. For this project, partners from various organizations have banded together to gather, integrate, and synthesize information and data on the ecology, socioeconomics, and the management of the Kachemak Bay watershed. The resulting product, a digital characterization that includes GIS, will be a valuable tool for decision makers to rely upon as they manage this region.
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Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) Marine Reserve Process
The Center is providing facilitation services to a multi-stakeholder marine reserve working group established by the Sanctuary Advisory Council of the Channel Islands NMS. This effort, jointly sponsored by the Sanctuary and the California Fish and Game Department, is aimed at developing a consensus agreement regarding the establishment of marine reserves, or "no-take" areas, in the Channel Islands NMS. In addition, the Center is providing technical support in the development of a GIS-based decision support tool for the process. The GIS will help consolidate and integrate the best available ecological and socioeconomic information, as well as local knowledge of the area.
Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center placed a fellow with the California Coastal Commission to develop information and evaluation tools for objective examination of beach nourishment throughout the state. Criteria and a methodology will be established to evaluate and prioritize the suitability of sites for beach nourishment projects.
Kelp Forest Restoration Project
In response to the degradation of once-prolific kelp habitats from human impacts, this project aims to aid in the restoration and protection of kelp forests in southern California. The project is designed to educate and involve residents, businesses, teachers, and students in the restoration of a critical marine habitat that once covered hundreds of acres in this region and provided food and shelter for hundreds of species of marine life.
Specifically, the project will mobilize teams of volunteer divers to survey, map, and begin restoration efforts. Additionally, an educational outreach program on kelp will be developed and introduced into the local school systems. A kelp Web site will be produced and maintained and a permanent educational exhibit will be constructed on Santa Monica Pier. Finally, to increase citizen awareness, an annual kelp festival will be started. This project is funded with a special project grant from the Center; special project grants are advertised via the Federal Register and the Center's Web site.
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Coastal Management Fellowship
The fellow placed with the Connecticut Office of Long Island Sound Program will work on a project entitled "Long Island Sound Sediment Quality Information Database." He will produce a user-friendly sediment quality information database and GIS that will enhance management decisions with regard to sediment testing plans, selection of priority pollutants for testing, and evaluation of the suitability of sediments for open water disposal. The project also will make existing sediment quality and distribution information available to the public, including the academic community, in a usable format.
Coastal Management Outreach, Education, and Training Program
The primary objective of this project is the establishment of a coastal management outreach, education, and training program in Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Now in its 20th year, the DEP wants to reinvigorate local involvement in coastal management implementation, and build upon the successes accomplished to date.
Funding will be used to develop training materials and provide workshops for Connecticut's 36 coastal municipalities' planning and zoning authorities and staffs. Training materials will address such topics as coastal hazard mitigation; protective buffers and setbacks from sensitive resources; the need to increase public access to marine and tidal waters; and the reduction and control of pollution from various nonpoint sources. This project is funded with a special project grant from the Center; special project grants are advertised via the Federal Register and the Center's Web site.
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Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center placed a fellow with the Delaware Coastal Management Program to develop a decision making policy that provides guidance for identifying problems related to dredging operations. In addition, the fellow will develop an information management system to facilitate an expedited, comprehensive review of projects.
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Ecological Landscape Characterization of the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Belle Meade Watershed
This project will provide, in an interactive digital format, a comprehensive interdisciplinary synthesis of current and historical information about this area. The final product, a CD-ROM, will integrate GIS data, human interactions, and key ecological processes, which will in turn help coastal resource managers make informed and ecologically sound decisions regarding long-term watershed and estuarine sustainability.
Apalachicola Bay Benthic Characterization
For this project, comprehensive bottom maps of the Apalachicola NERR site, with shallow water bathymetry, will be created. These up-to-date habitat maps will help the NERR coastal managers as they work to protect and learn about this resource. Ocean Planning Information System
Ocean Planning Information System
This prototype ocean-information system covers the coastal and ocean areas off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This is the first attempt in the U.S. to create a regional information system that integrates pertinent legal information with natural resource data to support ocean governance and planning.
Topo/Bathy Map Series
The Center is working with the NOAA Office of Coast Survey, the National Geodetic Survey, and the U.S. Geological Survey to determine the look, content, and feasibility of topographic and bathymetric data integration. These data are intended to bridge the land-water interface of the coastal region and include appropriate map features from both the NOAA nautical charts and the USGS topographic quads. The pilot project will be in the Tampa Bay Region. For this project a needs assessment for users will be undertaken, and focus groups will be used to evaluate the pilot product.
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Ocean Planning Information System
This prototype ocean-information system covers the coastal and ocean areas off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This is the first attempt in the U.S. to create a regional information system that integrates pertinent legal information with natural resource data to support ocean governance and planning.
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Hawaii Land Cover and Benthic Habitat Assessment
Benthic habitat and adjacent terrestrial landscapes of the Hawaiian Islands will be mapped. This will be conducted in close coordination with the State of Hawaii, NOAA NOS/NCCOS Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, The Pacific Disaster Center, and other federal agencies working in Hawaii.
Hawaiian Shoreline Variability This Century - A Demonstration of Data Capacity Building
This study will address Hawaii's lack of a comprehensive coastal erosion database and resultant difficulties making sound coastal land-use decisions. The primary objective of the project is to demonstrate how to build broader knowledge of coastal dynamics within Hawaii's coastal regulatory community so that permitting and planning agencies can make informed, factually-based land-use decisions.
The project will establish a high-quality, high-density database of shoreline change histories that will improve management efforts. The database will be utilized by regional coastal managers and available to the commercial sector through state and county GIS service agencies. Additionally, the study aims toward improving the understanding of why shoreline change happens, where future changes are likely to have societal impact, and how past and present coastal land use may be related to ongoing shoreline change. This project is funded with a special project grant from the Center; special project grants are advertised via the Federal Register and the Center's Web site.
Hazards Training
This effort identifies and addresses hazard mitigation training needs. The resulting training efforts are pilot projects that can serve as models and visible examples of community-based hazard mitigation planning for others in the region dealing with similar hazards.
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Coastal Louisiana Land Cover Change
This project will provide land cover and change maps and related spatial information to local and state resource managers. In this project, the Center is cooperating with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) to develop and build a comprehensive, standardized GIS to detect and assess changes in terrestrial land cover and habitat within coastal Louisiana. Coastal resource managers will use this information to improve their understanding of the impacts of human-induced change. The NOAA Coastal Ocean Program provided funding for this activity through 1997.
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Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center placed a fellow with the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Division to aid in developing policy response options for sea level rise. The project goals are to determine Maryland's current ability to respond to sea level rise, to increase public awareness of coastal hazard issues related to sea level rise, and to enhance the state's ability to plan for sea level rise
Sensor Testbed
This project will support the initiation of a national testbed program that fosters the development and application of new and improved in situ sensors, platforms, and telemetry systems for coastal and ocean monitoring. Program administration, planning, and some primary technical functions will be conducted at a central facility. Field activities will be carried out among a national network of collaborating institutions, facilities, and sites.
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Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center placed a fellow with the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program to develop an adaptive special area management planning model. A specific project goal is to expand and coordinate current resource management planning and implementation in the Parker River/Essex Bay "coastal area of critical environment control" by developing regional planning strategies and increasing local support through public participation.
Massachusetts Land Cover Change
In cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the Center is performing a change detection analysis of emergent wetlands and surrounding uplands for coastal Massachusetts. With their recently completed C-CAP seagrass maps, Massachusetts will be the first state to have both benthic habitat and terrestrial land cover change data for the entire state's coastal area. Using the resulting seagrass, land cover change, and related spatial information, local and state natural resource managers can improve their understanding of the impacts of human-induced change on nearshore marine resources, which will facilitate informed coastal planning and decision making.
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Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center has a cooperative agreement with the University of Southern Mississippi to administer the NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship program. The Fellowship program was established to provide professional education and training opportunities for postgraduate students in coastal resource management and policy, and to provide specific technical assistance for state coastal resource management programs. The program matches highly qualified, recently graduated master's, professional, and doctoral degree students with coastal resource management hosts around the coastal United States. States with federally approved coastal zone management programs are eligible to submit one application each year for the fellowship program.
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Great Bay NERR Testbed
Activities in technology development, application, and transfer have been initiated at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in support of the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET) and other NOAA-sponsored research and development. The development of a technology testbed, focused on verification of new and existing technologies for estuarine contamination monitoring and remediation, will enable the resource management community to make decisions and policy based on the latest and most efficient technologies. Centered at UNH, the technology transfer and testbed programs will be networked throughout the NERR system.
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Coastal New Jersey Land Cover Change
The Center is working with Rutgers University to map land cover and examine coastal change in New Jersey. With the resulting land cover and change maps and related spatial information, local and state natural resource managers can improve their understanding of the impacts of human-induced change and facilitate informed coastal planning and decision making. The NOAA Coastal Ocean Program provided funding for this activity through 1997.
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Protecting and Restoring Coastal Areas in New York City
In an attempt to improve the long-term health of New York City's coastal areas, the Council on the Environment carried out this project to motivate youths and adults to become involved in a number of citywide coastal restoration, protection, and improvement projects. The first component of the project trained over 400 students from nine schools to organize 14 coastal restoration projects. In carrying out these projects, the students interacted with over 4,500 citizens. Individual projects included beach and park cleanups and public information campaigns.
The second component trained students throughout the course of the project in such citizenship skills as fundraising, outreach, and public speaking. A third and final project component was aimed at adding to existing water quality monitoring efforts in the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary and urban creeks, Jamaica Bay, and the East and Hudson Rivers by teaching students to both perform and train others in water testing. This project is funded with a special project grant from the Center; special project grants are advertised via the Federal Register and the Center's Web site.
Hudson River Submersed Rooted Vegetation Mapping
The Center, with initial funding support from the NOAA Coastal Ocean Program (COP), is cooperating with the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), and the Cornell Laboratory for Environmental Application of Remote Sensing to map submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in the Hudson River. With this information, coastal resource managers can better determine the characteristics and distribution of SAV within the tidal Hudson River.
Long Island SAV Mapping
The Center is cooperating with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in mapping benthic habitat in southern Long Island. Included in the Center's contribution are technical consultations on image suitability, data rescue, mapping compilation using analytical photogrammetry, and field assessments. This project will help determine the distribution of SAV within the Great South Bay, Peconic Bay, and other south shore bays on Long Island. This will in turn contribute to the national effort to identify and quantify essential fish habitat under the Magnuson/Stevens Act.
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North Carolina Land Cover Change
The Center, the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management (DCM), and the North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NC-CGIA) are cooperating to develop a regional land cover and change detection database for coastal North Carolina. With the resulting land cover and change maps and related spatial information, local and state natural resource managers can improve their understanding of the impacts of human-induced change and facilitate informed coastal planning and decision making.
Natural Hazards Risk Assessment Tool Development: Storm Surge Model
This project will develop a focused risk assessment tool that not only predicts general surge effects but also event-related inland flooding. The prototype risk assessment tool will be applied in the field and evaluated with end users. A final product will be developed based on the field evaluation. A training component will enable private and public sector end users to apply the product.
Ocean Planning Information System
This prototype ocean-information system covers the coastal and ocean areas off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This is the first attempt in the U.S. to create a regional information system that integrates pertinent legal information with natural resource data to support ocean governance and planning.
Pre-Natural Disaster Mitigation Technology Transfer and Deployment
The Southeast Center for Protection Against Natural Disasters (Southeast CPAND) will focus its efforts on activities and technologies that can reduce the costs associated with natural disasters inherent to the Southeast. The effort will address both disaster prevention and damage mitigation topics, including technologies to reduce the costs associated with natural disasters; management techniques; and the dissemination of information.
Initial activities under this project include a workshop on technology transfer and deployment of established and new technologies to lower the impacts and costs of natural hazards, and development of a regional strategy to link with new federal efforts and develop a mechanism for technology transfer and deployment. This project is funded with a special project grant from the NOAA Coastal Services Center; special project grants are advertised via the Federal Register and the Center's Web site.
Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center placed a fellow with the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management to work on a project entitled "The Development of Coastal Wetland Mitigation Policy and Wetland Management Alternatives." The project goal is to develop alternatives and recommendations that will clarify and improve the division's current wetland mitigation policies. A second goal of the project is to develop wetland policy and management alternatives for the Atlantic White Cedar component of the Buckridge Coastal Reserve site. The fellow will contribute to the formulation and adoption of clear wetland mitigation policies that improve the protection of wetland resources and will contribute to the development of a final restoration plan in the Buckridge Coastal Reserve.
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Coastal Hazards GIS - Tsunami
Efforts from this project will increase the resilience of West Coast ports, harbors, and coastal communities when faced with earthquakes and tsunami hazards. This will be accomplished by developing, testing, and evaluating a planning model using collaborative efforts with private sector interests, government agencies, and educational institutions and a GIS-based information product to assess earthquake-tsunami vulnerability.
Sustainable Development GIS
Project staff will work with an existing local sustainability project in Tillamook County, Oregon, to develop a "real time" GIS-based monitoring capability to track progress and measure success in a multidisciplinary watershed management project. The project is aimed at improving water quality, enhancing fish habitat, reducing environmental and economic damage caused by flooding, and improving general economic conditions in a coastal water-dependent community. The GIS tool to be developed will provide an accountability mechanism for multiple project partners to track progress toward meeting predetermined performance measures and benchmarks.
Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center placed a fellow with the Oregon Ocean-Coastal Management Program to create a computerized database and computerized maps of potential sites for estuarine wetland creation, restoration, and enhancement, and for wetland mitigation banking. This project will also benefit the establishment of the Dynamic Estuary Management Information System (DEMIS) in the targeted estuaries and their watersheds, and create GIS data layers for the DEMIS in each estuary.
Oregon Coastal Shorelands Access Inventory
Oregon, similar to other coastal states, is experiencing an increase in demand for public access to shorelands, coupled with the gradual reduction in the number of access sites. Due to the lack of a comprehensive inventory and gaps in information regarding the status of sites, the state has not been able to quantify this trend. With funding for this project the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development, in conjunction with other state agencies, local governments, and public interest groups, aims to create a database inventory and geographic information system (GIS) of coastal shoreland access points.
The database and GIS products will be used as tools to improve the management of public access sites by state agencies and local governments. Additionally, the database will be available from the Internet as an interactive Web site for the public. The comprehensive inventory will include pedestrian, vehicle, and visual access and incorporate site information on location, ownership, access type, management, facilities, landscape features, and services. This project is funded with a special project grant from the Center; special project grants are advertised via the Federal Register and the Center's Web site.
Oregon Land Cover Change
For this project, the Center, in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is assisting Northwest Habitat Institute staff in the image processing and field validation requirements for generating land cover and change maps for coastal areas of the State of Oregon. With the resulting land cover and change maps and related spatial information, local and state natural resource managers can improve their understanding of the impacts of human-induced change and facilitate informed coastal planning and decision making.
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University of Rhode Island Grant Management
University of Rhode Island (URI) was recently awarded a grant to develop a coastal data and information resource. Deliverables include a search and delivery system for coastal data and electronic access to Sea Grant depository documents. The Center was named the grant manager for this project.
Rhode Island Hazards Training
This effort identifies and addresses hazard mitigation training needs. The resulting training efforts are pilot projects that can serve as models and visible examples of community-based hazard mitigation planning for others in the region dealing with similar hazards.
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Characterization of the Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto (ACE) Basin, South Carolina
To assist the state and local governments that manage environmental resources within the ACE Basin, this project will produce a flexible, user-friendly source of information, data, and management tools. The final product will be a CD-ROM that integrates diverse information about the area's physical characteristics, ecology, history, socioeconomics, and management.
Coastal Land-Use Techniques Training Program Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments
Population increases and subsequent development of the coast in this area of South Carolina have highlighted critical coastal issues such as growth management, control of impervious surfaces, siting and maintenance of septic systems, and adequate access to and distribution of recreational activities. With over 200 square miles of coastline and inland waterways, these three counties recognize these and other relevant issues as crucial for local policy makers to both understand and account for in their land-use decisions.
Funding from this project is being utilized to develop and implement a training program for local policy makers in coastal issues, tools, and techniques available to address these issues, and the legal aspects of using local government power. Additionally, the program intends to spawn a continuing educational program for policy makers and spur regional discussion on significant coastal issues and potential solutions. This project is funded with a special project grant from the Center; special project grants are advertised via the Federal Register and the Center's Web site.
Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center placed a fellow with the South Carolina Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management to work on a project entitled "Establishment of the SCDHEC-OCRM Information Management System: Interfacing Information and Local Governments." Project goals are to assess the technical capabilities and information needs of local governments within the coastal zone and establish an information distribution mechanism to serve effectively the needs of local governments by providing recommendations and findings from agency-generated research. Additional goals are to establish a planning information management system to aid staff in understanding and using information about new and innovative coastal research; and to develop a procedure and mechanism for integrating information into the agency's policy development and permit review processes.
Digital Shoreline of South Carolina
This CD-ROM is part of a national effort to bring shoreline location information into a digital format. The high-resolution shoreline data found on this CD is suitable for use in a GIS. A digitized shoreline, both past and current, provides the base of many of the GIS efforts of coastal resource managers.
Ocean Planning Information System
This prototype ocean-information system covers the coastal and ocean areas off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This is the first attempt in the U.S. to create a regional information system that integrates pertinent legal information with natural resource data to support ocean governance and planning.
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Virginia Land Cover Change
For this project, the Center is providing technical assistance to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which has obtained funds from other NOAA sources to update a previous C-CAP land cover change detection effort for the York River area of the Chesapeake Bay. This prototype study will create a third-date land cover change/trend data set for one of four Chesapeake Bay Landsat scene areas.
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Virgin Islands Coral Reef Methods Development
The Center is working with the NOAA NOS/NCCOS Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment to test new methods of mapping tropical coral reefs. The outcomes are expected to be methodologies, classifications, and protocols for application to Pacific mapping efforts. This testing will include digital processing of aerial photography and comparisons made to hyperspectral scanner data.
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Coastal Hazards GIS - Tsunami
Efforts from this project will increase the resilience of West Coast ports, harbors, and coastal communities in the face of earthquakes and tsunami hazards. This will be accomplished by developing, testing, and evaluating a planning model using collaborative efforts with private sector interests, government agencies, and educational institutions and a GIS-based information product to assess earthquake-tsunami vulnerability.
Coastal Management Fellowship
The Center placed a fellow with the Washington Department of Ecology to work on a project entitled "Washington State Coastal Atlas: A Digital Tool for Improved Shoreline Management." The primary goal of the project is to assure that decision makers and the general public have convenient access to high quality coastal information through the development of a coastal atlas. The fellow will evaluate potential models for a statewide coastal information system, assess the data needs of the coastal community, and assist in designing a coastal atlas. The atlas will effectively use GIS and Internet technologies and will be able to accommodate new or updated shoreline data easily.
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