News Archive: April - June 2007

CICEET-Sponsored SPARROW Takes Flight

Data from the water quality models known as New England SPARROW (Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes) are now available to the coastal management community through an interactive website and on CD.

SPARROW estimates nutrient levels in freshwater streams, nutrient loading to coastal waters, and nutrient sources. This data is a resource for regional total maximum daily load (TMDL) studies and nutrient criteria development activities in New England. These models operate within a geographic information system (GIS) framework that relates total phosphorus and total nitrogen stream loads to contaminant sources and watershed characteristics. These statistical relations are then used to predict nutrient loads in unmonitored streams.

These tools, along with a series of workshops, were developed with support from the Cooperative Institute of Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), a partnership between NOAA and the University of New Hampshire. The models were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC).
For more information, contact CICEET's NOAA Co-director Dwight Trueblood.

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Mission-Aransas NERR Hosts Human Dimensions Workshop

Preliminary results of the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve’s (NERR) human dimensions regional roundtable workshop are now available online.  Regional partners developed a plan of action for applied social science activities in the Texas "Coastal Bend" region where the Mission-Aransas NERR is located.  Approximately 35 stakeholders from state, county, and local government; business community; TX Sea Grant; academia; non-profit sector; and local coastal protected areas participated. 
The workshop was made possible by a cooperative agreement between the Reserve and NOAA’s Coastal Services Center. The Mission-Aransas NERR is the 27th in the system and was designated on May 3, 2006. 

For more information, contact Zac Hart.

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NERRS Web Site Offers Link to Near-Real-Time Monitoring Data

Visitors to a new National Estuarine Research Reserve System Web page can now view near-real-time weather and water quality data as it is collected and reported by the National Weather Service’s Hydrometerological Automated Data System (HADS). The link takes visitors to a map of the reserve system along with a table of reserves and their monitoring stations. The list of monitoring stations links directly to the most recent data reported by that station.

Reported data are telemetered from System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) stations at the reserves directly to NOAA satellites and then downloaded by HADS for use by weather forecasting offices and other users. The telemetering capability, added to the SWMP stations last year, enables the reserve system to play a crucial role in the development of the Integrated Ocean Observing System.

For more information, contact Whit Saumweber.

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NERRS Social Science GRFs Named

The Estuarine Reserves Division announced the first recipients of NOAA’s new Graduate Research Fellowships in the social sciences, for projects beginning July 1.  The five new social science fellowships complement the 54 fellowships for estuarine research that began in 1997.

ERD is working in partnership with NOAA's Coastal Services Center and NOAA's Climate Program Office, which are sponsoring four fellows and one fellow respectively. Below are the proposals that will be funded - projects begin July 1, 2007. I look forward to sharing results with you and furthering the dialogue about how social science can inform our work.

The new fellows are:

For more information, contact Erica Seiden.

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CRCP Partners With Puerto Rico to Train Rangers

NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), in partnership with the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), held a training workshop on May 15-16, for 40 DNER rangers.  The course on marine species identification including fish, coral, and other invertebrates, was taught in collaboration with DNER staff by Dr. Edwin Hernandez.  This was the third in a series of workshops designed to increase DNER rangers’ capacity to enforce the Puerto Rico Coral Reef Law and Fisheries Regulations. The main instruction tool was a revised version of the Regulated Marine Species Guide- a realistic photo guide of regulated and similar species, shown as they appear out of the water.  The Guide contains all the Fisheries Regulations amendments including the ones approved in March 2007.  The course was implemented with a built-in performance measure in the form of a pre- and post- examination; all rangers demonstrated learning.

For more information, contact Eileen Alicea.

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Coastal Indicator Workshop

In early May, OCRM, EPA, and the Coastal States Organization hosted the National Core Coastal Indicators Workshop which resulted in a thoughtful list of important management questions and indicators to consider in a core suite, along with ideas for improved reporting of coastal conditions.  This workshop gathered input on what a set of core coastal indicators should include in order to tell a coordinated, comprehensive story about the state of our coasts. 
Indicator experts from around the country, representing a variety of audiences, offered insights from their experiences in developing, tracking, and reporting indicator trends. Presentations touched on socio-economic indicators, emerging indicators, Canada’s experience, and communication strategies.  Participants discussed core indicators for topics including pollution, biological and physical, land/water interface, climate change, and social and economic condition.  Specifically, participants discussed the need to (1) expand the existing National Coastal Condition Report, (2) develop a strong communication strategy, and (3) create a practitioners’ network for sharing indicator experiences.  They also discussed the need for improved data sharing among organizations and the desire to better understand how indicators can influence behavior and decision-making.

For more information, visit http://coastalindicators.noaa.gov/events/welcome.html for workshop materials and presentations.  The workshop summary report will also be posted soon.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Lee.

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CICEET to Release $1.5 Million Funding Opportunity (May 2007)

In July 2007, the UNH/NOAA Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET) will release a Request For Proposals (RFP) focused on understanding the ecosystem tradeoffs associated with different erosion control strategies for sheltered shorelines. This RFP will likely also require proposals to involve an economic cost/benefit analysis of currently available erosion control strategies. The RFP will mandate a collaborative research process that engages a large investigator team composed of researchers and end-users who participate at various levels of the decision-making process, including homeowners, contractors, permitters, and outreach organizations.

CICEET will make approximately $1.5 million available to two or more projects. Applicants from any coastal state, including the Great Lakes region, are encouraged to apply. Proposals to are due in mid-September. Given the complicated nature of such projects and the extensive research teams they require, CICEET urges potential applicants to plan proposal development accordingly. This RFP is the result of a multi-stage gap analysis that builds on the recently published National Research Council's (NRC) report Mitigating Shore Erosion along Sheltered Coasts. CICEET was a co-sponsor of this study. 

For more information, visit CICEET online, or contact CICEET's NOAA co-director Dwight Trueblood 603-862-3580

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UNESCO and Integrated Coastal Area Management

On May 31 and June 1, Bill O’Beirne (NOAA/Ocean & Coastal Resource Management) and Dr. David Green (NOAA/National Weather Service) met in Paris with the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Expert Group (IEG) to develop guidance on “Mainstreaming Awareness and Mitigation of Marine Related Hazards and Risks in Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM).” The IEG is composed of 11 members from seven countries as well as five IOC Staff. Final guidance from this expert group should be complete in the summer of 2008. It is intended to help coastal communities adopt and integrate hazard awareness, emergency preparedness, and mitigation and adaptation practices into coastal development planning and management.

NOAA raised and will continue to promote the idea of hazards resilience as an organizing principle for the proposed document and is working to use this activity to integrate IOC work in a number of areas through Dr. Green's work on other IOC venues. NOAA will assist in drafting several sections of the report and will work with other NOAA offices to identify staff to provide input to, or review, various chapters of the report. For more information, contact Bill O'Beirne.

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North Carolina CMP Manager Retires

On May 31, 2007, Charles Jones, North Carolina’s Coastal Program Manager, retired from the Division of Coastal Management. Charles completed almost 30 years of state service with North Carolina’s Coastal Management Program.  A ceremony was held thanking Charles for his many years of stewardship protecting and managing the North Carolina coast. The state hired Jim Gregson as the new Coastal Program Manger. Jim comes to the position with nearly 20 years of experience working for the NC’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, including 10 years with the Division of Coastal Management. For more information, contact Sarah van der Schalie.

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Federal Register Notice Solicits Comments on the CRCP External Program Review

To evaluate and improve the success of its efforts to understand and conserve coral reefs, NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) is undertaking a comprehensive external review of the Program. As part of this review, CRCP is seeking input from stakeholders and partners through July 19, 2007 via a Federal Register Notice. The purpose of the review is to: 1) evaluate the success of CRCP in meeting the purposes of the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 (Section 202) and the National Coral Reef Action Strategy during the period 2002-2006, and 2) provide recommendations that CRCP may use to improve the Program. The review will take place in September 2007 and will be conducted by a seven-member Blue Ribbon Panel of experts in natural resource science and management. For more information, contact Roger.B.Griffis@noaa.gov or Cecilia.Torres@noaa.gov.

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Visioning: The Results Are In

Results from visioning meetings around the country are coming in and being posted online.  We looked to participants to offer new ideas, strategies, and solutions for improving coastal management. Participants offered ideas on a variety of topics including Energy, Habitat, Hazards and Climate Change, Boating, Commerce, Land Use, Water Quality, Intergovernmental and Interagency Coordination, Waterfront Revitalization, and Public Access among other things.  For more information, contact Joelle.Gore@noaa.gov.

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Waquoit Bay NERR Featured in Prominent Planning Journal

The Spring 2007 cover of the Journal of the American Planning Association—a prominent planning journal—features a full color illustration of the Waquoit Bay estuary ecosystem provided by the Waquoit Bay NERR.  The special spring issue focuses on “Planning for Water,” and briefly discusses the eutrophication problem that is causing widespread damage to coastal ecosystems. 

For more information, contact Doris Grimm.

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