CSO Newsletter
The Coastal States Organization represents the nation’s Coastal States, Territories, and Commonwealths on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resource issues.
Spotlight on Coastal Management:
#EstuariesLove

Some fast facts about estuaries:
  • Esturaries are home to abundant wildlife and provide natural beauty for recreation and tourism. More than 180 million Americans visit estuary and coastal waters each year for recreation and tourism.
  • They provide habitat for 68% of the U.S. commercial fish and 80% of recreational catch.
  • 22 of the 32 largest cities in the world are located on estuaries.
  • Coastal counties produce more than $8.3 trillion in goods and services, employ 55.8 million people, and pay $3.4 trillion in wages.

Learn more about estuaries and share your love for your local estuary on social media with #EstuariesLove!
2020 National Coastal and Estuarine Summit
Restore America’s Estuaries and the Coastal States Organization co-host  The National Coastal and Estuarine Summit . We bring together the coastal restoration and management communities for integrated discussions to explore issues, solutions, and lessons learned in their work. The Summit explores cutting-edge issues in coastal restoration and management and highlights the latest research through interactive sessions, plenary speakers, and poster presentations.  Learn more .

We are now accepting program proposals for the 2020 Summit!

The Summit program emphasizes lessons learned and best practices in every aspect of coastal and estuarine restoration and management. By presenting at the Summit, you have the chance to showcase your research, strategies, and innovations to a wide audience of practitioners.

We encourage you to submit a proposal in one of the following categories:
  • Dedicated session
  • Alternative format session
  • Single presentation
  • Poster

Download our Call for Proposals to learn more.
In the States and Regions
East Coast and Caribbean
Tough Choices Loom for Shore Communities
At this point, most of Cape May County’s ocean beaches have been rebuilt from erosion at some point in recent decades, some several times. Spending on restoring beaches in New Jersey topped the $1 billion mark some years ago, with much of that funding provided by the federal government in projects overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers. Now, Corps engineers are looking at the other side of the barrier islands, weighing possibilities for protecting beach towns on the bayside. A March 2019 Army Corps report projected damages averaging over $1.57 billion a year, over the next 50 years, if steps are not taken.  Read more

On the Job with Florida’s First Chief Resilience Officer, Julia Nesheiwat
Kristin Hayes  talks with Julia Nesheiwat, a former professor and State Department official who is currently serving as Florida’s first chief resilience officer. Nesheiwat elaborates on the unique challenges Florida faces, as a sprawling, populous state with many coastal communities potentially imperiled by climate change. Discussing the diverse responsibilities of her role, Nesheiwat explains how she works alongside leaders from government, academia, and the private sector to devise proactive solutions to climate challenges and encourage collaboration across the whole state. Read more and listen to podcast
Great Lakes
Ohio Added 8 Lake Erie Public Access Sites In Last Five Uears
About 20 percent of Ohio’s 312 miles of Lake Erie shoreline is publicly accessible, according to the most recent Ohio Department of Natural Resources survey. That’s up 1 percent from the last assessment in 2015. Ohio has 195 beach and other Lake Erie access sites, according a  draft of the Coastal Management Assessment for 2021-2025. Read more

Residents Try To Tame Hoover Beach: 'We just Cannot Sit Around and Wait'
Angry waves from Lake Erie have slammed Hoover Beach over the years, but something different happened after last Halloween's storm: Residents came up with a new plan to fight back. It involves a little-known federal program and an ambitious plan to build a structure in the lake that could protect the shoreline. Read more
West Coast and Pacific
Major New Oceanfront Campground To Be Built Along Monterey Bay
For 77 years, Fort Ord near Monterey was a sprawling Army base thick with artillery pieces, wooden barracks and infantrymen taking target practice with rifles and machine guns. But this year, the oceanfront portion of the former base — four miles of majestic sand dunes hugging Monterey Bay — will begin a new transformation: It will become the first new state park campground of its size built anywhere on the California coast in more than 30 years. Read more

University of Guam Secures Grant for Innovative Coral Restoration Work
Coral restoration efforts on Guam received a funding boost of $856,000 for the next three years. The funds were awarded to the University of Guam on Nov. 18 by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation through its National Coastal Resilience Fund and will be matched with $596,000 raised by the university, bringing the total to $1.4 million. Read more
Gulf
TAMUCC Receives Funds To Enhance Oyster Reef Restoration Efforts
Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researchers have been awarded nearly $2 million in Texas Coastal Management Plan grants to study issues affecting the water quality of Baffin Bay, Texas; to continue a popular oyster reef restoration, outreach, and citizen science project; and to model the impacts of sea level rise and storm surge on the Texas Coast. Read more

$130M In BP Spill Money To Help Reconnect Big Swamp To River
Louisiana will get $130 million in BP oil spill money to link its second-largest coastal swamp back up to the Mississippi River. Louisiana's grant will go toward a system designed to deliver fresh water and sediment from the Mississippi River into the Maurepas Swamp about 30 miles (49 kilometers) west-northwest of New Orleans. Because levees cut it off from the Mississippi River and salt sometimes gets in through canals and nearby Lake Pontchartrain, the baldcypress and tupelo gum trees that make it a swamp have been dying for decades. Marsh grasses have taken over some areas and others have become open water. Read more
Events & Webinars
Announcements
Environmental Literacy Funding Opportunities - NOAA Office of Education
The NOAA Office of Education has issued a competitive funding opportunity for projects designed to build environmental literacy of K-12 students and the public so they are knowledgeable of the ways in which their community can become more resilient to extreme weather and/or other environmental hazards, and become involved in achieving that resilience. This funding opportunity is soliciting two types of projects through separate competitive priorities. For Priority 1, pre-applications are required and will be used to determine which institutions are invited to submit full applications to this priority. The deadline for Priority 1 full applications is March 26, 2020 . Learn more  here.

Training for Your Community: Facilitation Basics for Coastal Managers
You know you’ve been there—one of those meetings where you can’t help but cringe at the dynamics. Joe is dominating the conversation, Helen is off topic, and your usually fearless leader seems, well, flustered. It happens, but you can turn things around! Host this   popular training   from NOAA’s Digital Coast to help everyone get the skills needed to run fruitful, harmonious meetings. Our trainers come to your location to teach tried-and-true techniques, while helping participants identify disruptive behaviors and practice strategies for getting things back on track. Return on investment is definitely high for this course!

Host This Training: Planning Effective Projects for Coastal Communities
Help your community build the capacity to conduct an assessment, use a logic model to plan a new project or reassess a current one, and prepare for a meaningful evaluation. Contact NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management to host the Planning Effective Projects for Coastal Communities training course. NOAA brings the expertise and the trainers—you provide the attendees and the meeting space

Coastal & Estuarine Research Federation Regional Workshops
CERF announces the availability of funding to support regional workshops in collaboration with CERF’s Affiliate Societies on high priority scientific and management issues of regional importance. These pilot workshops are intended to explore ways in which the Affiliate Societies and CERF can work together to translate and apply coastal and estuarine science to important regional issues. Workshops should take place between August 2020 and June 2021. Proposals are due May 1, 2020 . Learn more here .
Job Openings
The views expressed in articles referenced here are those of the authors and do not represent or reflect the views of CSO.  

If you have a news item or job posting to include in future CSO Newsletters, please send an email to: rkeylon@coastalstates.org with a subject line: "Newsletter Content". Please include the information to be considered in the body of the email. 
 
Please note: CSO reserves final decision regarding published newsletter content and may not use all information submitted.
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