The Louisiana Office of Coastal Management (OCM) is working with partners to reduce risks from coastal hazards. The efforts are multi-pronged and include a mix of guidance and technical assistance. During high rain events, flooding isolates many coastal communities, making emergency travel difficult and disrupting commutes, lengthening the disruption of daily commerce. OCM and partners worked with St. Tammany Parish to develop a model ordinance regarding base elevation for all new subdivision roads. This § 309 project used historical flood information to set a recommended level for new roads, increasing resilience of the community, improving accessibility for emergency response, and reducing long-term maintenance costs. ^[1] The Parish adopted the ordinance for all new roads. Another § 309 project is developing a method by which to incorporate the Community Rating System (CRS) criteria from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) into local coastal use permit authorizations, utilizing a Local Coastal Management Program (LCMP) as the model for development.

[1] Louisiana Parish Creates a Model Subdivision Ordinance to Enhance Public Safety and Resilience to Coastal Storms and Flood Events , NOAA Digital Coast https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/training/tammany-parish.html

Spring-Summer 2018 Issue of Virginia Coastal Zone Management Magazine Available

Read it here!

Army Corps, NJDEP to host public meetings for flood risk study

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection are hosting public meetings regarding the New Jersey Back Bays Flood Risk Management study on Sept. 12, 2018 in Ventnor City, N.J. and on Sept 13 in Toms River Township, N.J.  Read more.

This coastal town’s battle against sea-level rise could offer lessons for others

A pair of nor’easters in early 1998 and Hurricane Isabel in 2003 woke this low-lying Chesapeake Bay town to the impact of rising waters caused by climate change. A few years later, as Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans, and Hurricane Sandy raked the New Jersey-New York coastline, scientists warned that Hampton and its neighbors could be next.

So this small city, about the size of Alexandria, embarked on studies of what was happening and what it could do. Read more.

Coastal communities rely on full funding for NOAA

We are in the midst of the busy season here on the Washington coast, when we see our biggest influx of visitors eager to experience the breathtaking beauty and natural wealth of towns and beaches from the Columbia River to Neah Bay.

Ocean Shores alone hosted 4.8 million people in 2016, and we expect as many or more this year. That’s a lot for a town with less than 6,000 permanent residents, but as anyone who has visited knows, we have a world-class beach that’s fun and safe for families. Read more.

Florida releases Adaptation Planning Guidebook

The Adaptation Planning Guidebook is a compilation of more than five years of stakeholder involvement and research during the Community Resiliency Initiative (CRI) directed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity as part of the Florida Coastal Management Program. Research started in 2011 and continued through 2017. During that time upwards of 30 documents that focus on aspects of adaptation planning and are specific to Florida were created. The documents are available on line at https://floridadep.gov/fco and many are directly referenced in this document. Access the guidebook here.

Florida estuaries: fragile buffers at ecological front lines

To anyone who has reeled in a prized redfish or plucked an oyster from the water and eaten it straight out of the shell, the value of a healthy Florida estuary needs little explanation.

Created by an earlier period of rising seas, Florida’s estuaries are fragile zones where fresh water flowing from springs and rivers mingles with salt water in a balance that ebbs and flows in a rhythm set by weather and phases of the moon. Read more.

New buoys recording water conditions are 'smartest, smallest' in Lake Michigan

Scientists last month deployed two new buoys in Lake Michigan that have begun recording and publishing lake conditions in real-time — for the first time — near a north suburban harbor and marina.

The buoys, placed about a mile offshore Waukegan Harbor and Winthrop Harbor’s North Point Marina, are taking a variety of measurements, including wind speed, surface current, wave height and water temperatures, giving scientists and the public the first look at conditions at either location. Equipped with webcams, the buoys will also transmit a photo and a short video clip each hour during the day. Read more.

FEMA Announces FY18 PDM and FMA Application Cycle

FEMA has posted the Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announcements for the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grant programs on www.grants.gov . These NOFOs provide an overview of the grant programs and details about the agency's funding priorities and review process. FEMA will offer a series of webinars in August and September on the FY18 NOFOs for prospective applicants and how to use the Mitigation eGrants system that is used to process grant applications. Applicants may attend any session. Upcoming sessions are listed below. View the complete webinar schedule. 

Submit Your Photos to the National Estuaries Week Photo Contest

In celebration of National Estuaries Week, September 15 to 22, 2018, NOAA is hosting its third annual photo contest. Send in your best photos from a national estuary research reserve, pictures that display education, research, recreation, beauty, and smiles within the reserve. NOAA wants to see them all! Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges and will be featured on the NOAA Digital Coast social media campaign during National Estuaries Week. Learn more here . 

National Academies Gulf Research Program

The National Academies Gulf Research Program seeks to help bridge the gap between the knowledge and practice of community resilience. We seek approaches that will advance information exchange between resilience researchers and those that seek to implement policies and practices to enhance the resilience and well-being of their communities. This is a broad call for projects that combine high-quality research and practice components to produce a stronger evidence-base for strategies and approaches that can enhance community resilience and well-being.

The Gulf Research Program welcomes proposals from all types of U.S. organizations, excluding federal agencies, on behalf of qualified individuals. 

Letter of Intent deadline due: Sept 19, 2018

Learn more:

NAS Thriving Communities Grants

11th National Monitoring Conference

The National Water Quality Monitoring Council's  11th National Monitoring  Conference is scheduled to be held in Denver, Colorado, from  March 25 - 29, 2019 . This conference provides many opportunities for water stakeholders – federal, state, tribal and local water professionals, non-profits, academia, and volunteer citizen scientists – to network, develop new skills and partnerships, and exchange information.

Abstracts are requested for oral presentations, posters, and extended sessions covering topics related to rivers and streams, lakes, wetlands, coastal waters and estuaries, groundwater, and drinking water. Abstracts are due August 15, 2018 . Details about submitting abstracts for any of these can be found on the conference web site , including information about the types of presentations or discussions suitable for Extended Sessions. 

Coastal GeoTools

Call for Abstracts Now Open 

Abstracts due September 28, 2018

It's time to start pulling together the program for Coastal GeoTools 2019, and we need your help! Submit an abstract, or two, to share your geospatial application story, tool, or resource. Click on the button below and follow the directions for the online submission. Abstracts are due by Friday, September 28. 

Apply for a CITGO Gulf Region Grant

Restore America’s Estuaries is excited to partner with CITGO to provide grants to organizations and groups interested in hosting National Estuaries Week events in the Gulf of Mexico region. These grants are intended to provide groups with funding to host new events, or to increase the impact of existing events, in celebration of National Estuaries Week.

In 2017, this program awarded grants to eight organizations who together engaged more than 3,400 volunteers, collected 146,000 pounds of trash, cleaned 450 miles of shorelines, restored 65 acres of coastal land, and planted more than 2,100 trees.

Read more.

Tips and Stories for Coastal Managers, Delivered to Your Inbox

Have the latest technical topics, professional tips, and stories from your peers emailed to you each month. Subscribe to NOAA Office for Coastal Management’s recently redesigned Digital Coast Connections newsletter . Stay in the know about new data, tools, and resources from NOAA’s Digital Coast, as well as announcements from the research reserves, the Coastal Zone Management Program, and the Coral Reef Conservation Program. Email the office for more information. 

September 10 - 13, 2018

September 17 -19, 2018

October 13 - 18, 2018

October 15 - 19, 2018

October 17 - 18, 2018

October 22 - 25, 2018

October 30 - Nov 2 , 2018

December 8 - 13, 2018

February 11-14, 2019

March 25 - 29, 2019

The NOAA Digital Coast: Turning Coastal Data and Tools into Actionable Information by Josh Murphy, Doug Marcy, and Nate Herold of NOAA.

NOAA’s Digital Coast is a website and partnership that provides public access to coastal data, tools, training, and resources in order to meet the unique needs of coastal communities. Coastal resource managers can access collections of high quality, authoritative geospatial data (e.g., topography, coastal land cover change, socioeconomic information), tools, and trainings to address coastal and ocean management challenges. More than just a website, the Digital Coast provides the framework and information needed to save organizations time and money and allows groups that might not otherwise work together to join forces. Content on the Digital Coast comes from many sources, all of which are vetted by NOAA. This webinar will provide an overview of the Digital Coast and demonstrate two geospatial tools that turn data into actionable information: 1) Sea Level Rise Viewer ( https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/slr), which visualizes coastal flooding scenarios and social vulnerability due to sea level rise; and 2) Land Cover Atlas ( https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/lca ), an online data viewer that provides user-friendly access to coastal land cover and land cover change information developed through NOAA’s Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP). Visit NOAA’s Digital Coast at https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast. Webinar hosted by the EBM Tools Network (co-coordinated by OCTO and NatureServe). Register for the webinar at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WzBSJVBbRlSezGWIljjqDQ .

Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership

Oceana - Ocean Advocate

Lynker Technologies - Outreach Specialist/Coastal Scientist – Tuscaloosa, AL

Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve - Coastal Training Program Coordinator

Oceana: Marine Scientist 

Job Boards

The Nature Conservancy

International Association for Great Lakes Research