The American Shore & Beach Preservation Association and Coastal States Organization, with support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources, are pleased to share the new report Sediment Placement Regulations of U.S. Coastal States and Territories: Towards Regional Sediment Management Implementation.

The demand for finite sediment resources to respond to climate change and restore eroding shorelines is increasing. Meanwhile, confined disposal areas for the placement of dredged coastal sediment are at or near maximum capacity. Beneficial Use of Dredged Material (BUDM) is an effective strategy to reuse clean, valuable sediment which would otherwise be treated as waste, while meeting ecological restoration and hazard mitigation needs. However, BUDM projects are complex, and sediment placement regulations and policies are not always designed with these uses in mind.

This new report provides a comparative analysis of federal- and state-level regulations on placing sediment in the coastal zone with state-by-state profiles, with best practices, success stories, and recommendations. This report's findings will help inform coastal managers seeking to better manage coastal sediment in their jurisdictions, increase BUDM, and catalyze systemic changes that promote comprehensive regional sediment management.

Learn more and read the report here.

Project to Slow Erosion at Illinois Beach State Park to Cost $74 Million

About $74 million in taxpayer dollars aims to slow down the impact of erosion at Illinois Beach State Park. The project is the largest capital project in the Department of Natural Resources history. The park in Lake County at the state’s northern border is Illinois’ last beach-ridge shoreline along Lake Michigan. Swales sustain marshlands where migrating birds return year after year. The wetlands are home to plants and animals, many of them threatened species. Some of the older beach ridges at Illinois Beach State Park date back 3,000 years. “It is a very unique ecosystem, especially in Illinois where so much of our lakefront is fully developed,” coastal geologist Robin Mattheus told The Center Square. The trouble is that the beach’s shoreline is eroding. In some spots the sand is disappearing at a rate of 100 feet a year. From 2012-2020, the park lost the equivalent of 50,000 dump trucks full of sand, Mattheus said. Read more

Dow Chemical, General Motors Settlement Funds Could Fund $4.7M In Proposed Restoration Projects

The public is invited to give their input on a proposal that sets the stage for environmental cleanup and restoration in the Saginaw Bay watershed. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, or EGLE, announced that a draft of the plan to restore areas along the Titabawassee and Saginaw rivers as well as the Saginaw Bay is now available for public review and comment through March 27. According to EGLE, the draft gives an overview of the Saginaw Bay watershed, the process used to solicit restoration ideas from stakeholders, and the subsequent development of a preferred restoration alternative for submitted projects. Funding for these projects is being sourced from two settlements regarding damage to the natural resources in the watershed: a 2020 settlement with The Dow Chemical Company and a 1998 settlement with General Motors. Read more

Solutions Are Few for Imperiled Oceanfront Homes: Panel

It’s been more than a year since the first oceanfront house, standing on an eroded beach within Cape Hatteras National Seashore, collapsed into the ocean in the early morning on Feb. 9. Two more nearby houses fell in May. Each time, tons of construction debris — jagged, sharp, toxic, ugly — were carried for miles by wind and surf into the sea and along the beach. Although the privately owned houses in Rodanthe, a small Hatteras Island village, were left by erosion teetering on the public beach, local, state and federal officials have been stymied by gaps in laws and a lack of funding options to prevent other houses from being swallowed by the Atlantic. “I don’t believe that anyone really wants to see structures end up all the way out on the public beach, including the property owners,” Braxton Davis, director of the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, told 46 attendees during a virtual workshop held Monday to share information and discuss solutions on threatened oceanfront houses, some of which obstruct the surf zone with their damaged decks and exposed septic tanks. Read more

After 15 Years of Trying, Daytona Beach Getting $3 Million for Flood Mitigation Study

Imagine living in a low-lying neighborhood so flood-prone that you have to worry about barricading your home with sandbags and fleeing for higher ground every time there's a tropical storm – or even just really heavy rainfall – headed your way. For many decades, that's been the anxiety-filled reality for thousands of people who live between Nova Road and the Halifax River. On Wednesday night, just five months after dozens of those urban core residents had to be rescued out of their homes as Tropical Storm Ian blasted through the city, some of the best possible news was announced. Congress has approved spending $3 million to fully fund a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works study that will jumpstart planning and design for critical stormwater and flood protection projects in Daytona Beach. Read more

CSO RFP for Great Lakes Coastal and Nearshore Habitat Engineering & Design

CSO has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a design team to address coastal and nearshore habitat restoration engineering and design needs in the Great Lakes. To carry out this project, the design team will work with three Great Lakes states to complete engineering and design work on the projects selected. Proposals are due March 31, 2023. To learn more here. Register for a pre-bid webinar here.

2023 National Coastal Resilience Fund RFP Now Open

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Department of Defense, Occidental, Shell, and TransRe is now soliciting Pre-Proposals for the 2023 National Coastal Resilience Fund. NFWF will award up to $140 million in grants to create and restore natural systems in order to increase protection for communities from coastal hazards, such as storms, sea- and lake-level changes, inundation, and coastal erosion, while improving habitats for fish and wildlife species. NFWF prioritizes projects that are community led or incorporate direct community engagement and benefit underserved communities facing disproportionate harm from climate impacts. Pre-proposals must be submitted through NFWF’s Easygrants system no later than Wednesday, April 12, 2023. An informational webinar has been scheduled for Thursday, March 2, 2023 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET to provide an overview the National Coastal Resilience funding opportunity. The Request for Proposals is available here. Applicants are strongly encouraged to participate and can register for the webinar here.

NOAA Releases Map of Indigenous Communities in the Coastal Realm

NOAA has released a web map that provides an overview and visualization of the multiple indigenous communities with a connection to the coast through traditional homelands. It is designed to help partners in identifying indigenous and tribal communities that have a connection to coastal areas across the United States and Territories. Explore the map here.





Request for Proposals: Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program

The Great Lakes Commission today issued a request for proposals for the 2023 Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program (GLSNRP) grant program.

The Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program has provided grants to reduce nutrients and sediments entering the Great Lakes for more than 30 years. This year’s program will continue to help local partners take action to reduce nutrient loads from agricultural watersheds and eroding shorelines and streambanks in the Great Lakes basin. Applications are due April 21, 2023. Learn more and apply here. A webinar will be held March 14, 2023, register here.

NROC Announces Several Contractual Opportunities to Support Implementation of its Work Plan

NROC is seeking qualified candidates for a variety of contract opportunities to support NROC’s implementation of its work plan. We have issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to Support NROC Operations via our website. Through this RFQ, we intend to hire the following contract staff positions: Project Manager, Tribal Engagement Coordinator, Business Manager. They are also using this RFQ to pre-qualify candidates to support the following aspects of NROC’s work: Meeting Management, Facilitation, and Strategic Planning; Organizational Website and IT Support. Submissions are due March 23, 2023. Learn more and apply here.

EPA Announced Availability of $100 Million through Inflation Reduction Act for Environmental Justice Grants

The EPA announced the availability of approximately $100 million for projects that advance environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities across the country. EPA has published two Requests for Applications for this funding through the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program and the Environmental Justice Government-to-Government (EJG2G) Program. Applications for both are due April 10, 2023. Learn more about these programs here.

BOEM Announces Proposed Rule to Increase Protection of Marine Archaeological Resources

In order to better protect shipwrecks and other cultural resources on the seabed from harm due to offshore energy activities, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is proposing regulatory changes to its marine archaeology reporting requirements for activities proposed on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). A notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment was published in the Federal Register for a 60-day comment period ending on April 17, 2023. Learn more and find instructions to comment here.

FEMA Announces NOFO for Safeguarding Tomorrow RLF Program

FEMA has released a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund Program. Applications are due April 28, 2023. Learn more here.

Request for Information: Framing the National Nature Assessment

The US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is seeking input from the public to help inform the framing, development, and use of the National Nature Assessment. The USGCRP welcomes comments on the definition of nature, what questions the assessment can help answer, potential audiences and engagement processes, trends and projections, and relevant information sources. Comments are due March 31, 2023. More information on how to respond to this request, including guiding questions, can be found here.