Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

As Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands recover from Typhoon Mawar – one of the strongest storms in a generation to hit these islands – we reflect and celebrate the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander Heritage in Coastal Management. Our thoughts are with our Pacific Island colleagues in this difficult time, and we’ll be working with them in recovery and resilience.

- Derek Brockbank, CSO Executive Director

Podcast: From Legislation to Action: Nicole LeBouef on NOAA's Funding Boost for Coastal Communities

On The Capitol Beach, Derek Brockbank speaks with Nicole LeBouef, the assistant administrator for NOAA’s National Ocean Service, about NOAA’s recent announcement of $562 million investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to make coastal communities resilient to climate impacts. Listen here: https://www.coastalnewstoday.com/all-podcasts

American Samoa Receives $200K for Wetlands Delineation Work

This investment will benefit ecosystems and communities by completing an effort to verify and map wetlands, as well as conducting wetland monitoring, partner training, and community outreach workshops on their ecosystem benefits. The effort will also support the update of land use permitting policies and regulations to help ensure the protection of these wetlands and the services they provide, including the mitigation of flooding, and will help identify and inform prioritization of future nature-based restoration projects in each wetland village. Read more here.

Utilizing LiDAR to Support Nature-Based Resilience Solutions in American Samoa

American Samoa received $1.6 million from the National Coastal Resilience Fund to collect topographical-bathymetric LiDAR and plane-based photographic imagery for all of American Samoa’s islands and atolls to form the foundation for resilience projects that

address sea-level rise in American Samoa. The project will acquire the foundational water level, geodetic observations, and inundation modeling needed to build capacity to implement coastal resilience projects. Read more here and here.

Shared Knowledge Is Power in the Northern Mariana Islands

As Indigenous groups seek to comanage the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, elders help the next generation find opportunity on the islands in science and conservation...Indigenous people have been stewards of this corner of the Pacific Ocean for thousands of years. Despite colonial powers carrying out forced relocations and significant disruptions to their ways of life over the past 400 years, the islands’ two largest Indigenous groups—the Chamorros and the Carolinians—have passed down many of their maritime customs, such as traditional ways of fishing and canoe building, from generation to generation. Today, that relationship to the water is as important as ever as climate change threatens their shores and as the people of the Marianas face socioeconomic challenges, including sparse job opportunities and climbing costs of living. Read more here.

Division of Coastal Resources Management Launches Eco-Tour Operator Best Practices Certification Program

DCRM launched a Eco-tour Operator Best Practices Course for marine sports operators and tour guide operators inJanuary 2023. During the peak of tourism in the late 2010s, DCRM observed poor visitor behaviors degrading our nearshore waters, beaches, and coral reefs. DCRM and other government agencies believe that marine sports operators and tour guide operators have a important role in the conservation of our coastal resources. They can greatly minimize tourism’s impact by having a strong awareness of their environment and commitment to adopting sustainable best practices. Read more here.

Guam Coastal Management Program Hosts Submerged Lands Partnership Conference for Cable Landings and Marine Management

The Submerged Lands Partnership conference discussed sustainable management of submerged lands related to cable landings development through interdisciplinary plenary sessions, participatory geospatial marine mapping exercises of coastal site suitability, and robust stakeholder engagement... Edwin Reyes, Administrator of GCMP, opened the conference and spoke of the significance of GCMP’s role in fostering discussion on best practices and policy improvements with the permitting and construction of cable landing sites on Guam. Read more here.

Guam Restoration of Watersheds Initiative Continues Reforestation Efforts

Volunteers and community members alike joined the Guam Restoration of Watersheds (GROW) Initiative for the second GROW in Malojloj event earlier this month at the Ugum Watershed in Inalahan.  The watershed provides water for the entire southern region of the island and has seen severe erosion in recent years, which is also proving an issue for coral preservation efforts in nearby reefs. “What we are trying to do here is restore our badland areas,” explained Austin Shelton, Director of University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant. “Poor land use and development practices are causing erosion on our lands up above and degrading and killing our coral reefs down below.” According to Shelton planting trees helps to keep dirt and soil in place and prevents them from flowing into rivers and ultimately our oceans. Over forty volunteers and supporters took the hills of the watershed and planted over 1000 trees during the event. Read more here.

GLISA Opens 2023 Small Grants Competition

The competition will award several 2-year grants of up to $30,000 each to organizations that will collaborate with GLISA to advance equitable climate adaptation in the Great Lakes region. Successful proposals will increase GLISA’s impact and address and amplify dimensions of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in adaptation action. Letters of intent are due no later than Friday June 23, 2023 at 5 p.m. ET through the online platform, Submittable. GLISA will offer office hours throughout May and June to discuss project ideas. To learn more about this opportunity, please visit GLISA's website and see the Call for Letters of Intent.

National Academy of Sciences Announces Funding for Youth Leadership Training Programs

The National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program (GRP) is seeking proposals for youth leadership training programs that equip youth (ages 15-24) with the knowledge, skills, and expertise necessary to build resilience to climate hazards and associated disasters. The GRP will accept proposals from academic institutions and nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status based in GRP's geographic region including the coastal Gulf of Mexico regions of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas; and the coastal region of the Gulf of Alaska. A total of $2M is available for this funding opportunity, with a maximum request of $500,000. For additional information and to view the full Request For Applications, please visit their website. The application closes Monday July 10, 2023 at 5pm ET.

ASFPM Honors the First Margaret A. Davidson Award Recipient

Margaret A. Davidson has a legacy as a coastal and climate adaptation champion. She founded NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, initiated NOAA’s climate adaptation work, and countless other endeavors. The Association of State Floodplain Managers awarded the first Margaret A. Davidson Award for Excellence in Climate Change Adaptation to a small town mayor and resilience visionary, Janelle Kellman. Janelle’s community of Sausalito, California, experienced severe sunny day flooding for several years due to rising sea levels. However, when she took office, she realized the city had no climate plans, no resources dedicated to these areas, and no flood mitigation plans. She reached out to other elected officials and local decision-makers around the U.S. and found they were in similar situations. So she founded the Center for Sea Rise Solutions, a nonprofit focused on helping these officials develop and implement coastal resilience plans. Janelle is also a strong champion of engaging women and people of color in coastal resilience. 

EPA Launches Interactive Map of Sea Level Rise Around Hazardous Waste Sites Along the U.S. Coastline

EPA launched a new data visualization to show the projected sea level rise around hazardous waste facilities within estimated flood zones along the U.S. coastline, as part of a whole-of-government approach to confronting the climate crisis and protecting communities. Explore the new data visualization which shares projections up to the year 2100 as well as resources for what communities can do.

FEMA Releases Season 3 of Level Up Audio Project

FEMA Region 9 releases Season 3 of the Level Up Audio Project, a podcast series dedicated to highlighting individuals who are making hazard mitigation planning and action a priority in their work and communities. Each episode features a roughly 20-minute conversation with individuals who share stories, best practices and lessons learned. The goal is to inspire mitigation action and strengthen the community of hazard mitigation and climate adaptation professionals working at the local level.

EPA Announces New Funding for Underserved Communities

EPA announced the availability of $30 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for restoration projects that advance environmental justice in underserved and overburdened communities across the Great Lakes. EPA has published a request for applications for the newly created Great Lakes Environmental Justice Grant Program that will fund implementation of environmental protection and restoration projects that will further the goals of GLRI in communities with environmental justice concerns. EPA will host a webinar on the request on Tuesday May 23, 2023. Applications are being accepted through Friday August 11, 2023.

FEMA Publishes Webinar on State and Local Mitigation Policy Guides

The Natural Hazards Center has published a webinar on FEMA's updated State and Local Mitigation Planning Policy Guides, which are in effect as of April 2023. The recent policy changes require a more systematic focus on reducing disaster risk among disadvantaged and underserved communities, calling for greater community engagement in the planning process and more robust use of social vulnerability indicators in risk assessments. The webinar provides an overview of the changes to FEMA's mitigation planning policies, a summary of resources on effective risk communication and partnership-building, and preliminary research results regarding the inclusion of social vulnerability and vulnerable populations in State Hazard Mitigation Plans.