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:
NOAA's 50th Anniversary!
Congratulations to NOAA on 50 Years of science, service, and stewardship! Over the past 50 years NOAA has worked to accomplish this mission through work to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts; sharing that knowledge and information with others; and conserving and managing coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. CSO is proud to have partnered with NOAA over the course of the past 50 years to advance efforts to promote the effective management, beneficial use, protection, and development of the nation's coastal zone.

Learn more about NOAA's history and 50th Anniversary here. Also check out NOAA's 50th Anniversary flipbook with highlights of the Agency's accomplishments over the past 50 years!
In the States and Regions
Gulf Coast
'Only Way to Describe Them Is Massive': Two BP-Funded Coastal Restoration Projects Get Underway
The state is undertaking two “record-breaking” restoration projects aimed at reviving 7 square miles of coastal habitat and bolstering natural storm defenses east of New Orleans and near Venice in lower Plaquemines Parish. Long planned but now funded with $215 million from money BP set aside after the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the projects amount to the largest marsh restoration and the largest coastal ridge-building effort the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has ever attempted. Read more

Orange County Seals Deal With TX GLO and Army Corps of Engineers for Protective Levee
Orange County leaders gathered with others from the state and federal level Monday at the Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau for a ceremonial signing of a levee project agreement, which aims to protect Orange County from storm surge incidents. “We are pleased to work with the USACE and Orange County leaders on this monumental project,” said Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush. “This signing agreement is an important milestone in our efforts to protect, reinforce and strengthen the Texas coast. Texas citizens trust in their local leaders to ensure that their coastal livelihood is sustained — and the Sabine to Galveston study demonstrates the initiative to do exactly that.” Read more
Great Lakes
Sens. Duckworth, Durbin Announce $3.2 Million in FEMA Reimbursement for Flooding Recovery
U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced that Illinois has been awarded a total of $3,248,722 in federal funding to offset costs related to the historic flooding that occurred from February 24 to July 3, 2019. The funding, awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), will go to the Illinois Department of Transportation to help cover the costs of emergency response and flooding prevention efforts in Springfield. Read more

Beach Nourishment Effort Reverses Erosion's Damage
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has, since August, been dredging sand to ease navigation at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor. Because of that effort, an estimated 45,000 cubic yards of sand is being deposited on the beach at Portage Lakefront Park and Riverwalk. Like elsewhere along the Great Lakes, the Portage park has been battered by erosion in recent years. Now a wide beach stands where just a few weeks ago there were sections of concrete in the water, visible reminders of nature's wrath. Read more
West Coast and Pacific
West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project to Receive $180K Grant
The Shoreline Leadership Academy via the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP) is poised to receive up to $180,000 from the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority. The San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority allocates funds for shoreline restoration projects raised by 2016’s Measure AA parcel tax. The Shoreline Leadership Academy “will educate a cohort of local residents about environmental and social issues along the Oakland shoreline and host a community-led planning process in which the cohort of residents will help to develop shoreline restoration projects in Alameda County.” Read more

Coastal Zone Management Bill Becomes Law, Mitigating Erosion and Rising Sea Level Threats
The Hawai‘i State Senate announced that a bill protecting Hawai‘i’s coastal ecosystems was signed into law by Gov. David Ige. The enacted legislation includes a provision to ban further construction of sea walls and coastal hardening projects. Backers of the bill say “the convergence of dense development along shorelines, increasing landward migration of shoreline due to sea level rise and other human and natural impacts, and extensive beach loss fronting shoreline armoring necessitated the revision of existing policies and regulations.” Read more
East Coast and Caribbean
NC Begins Resilient Communities Program
The N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency, or NCORR, in the Department of Public Safety, N.C. Division of Coastal Management, or DCM, in the Department of Environmental Quality and the N.C. Rural Center established the N.C. Resilient Communities Program to help local governments build capacity for resiliency, provide technical assistance and fund planning and implementation of strategic resilience projects. Read more

MEMA Secures Over $2.5 Million to Reduce Risks of Hazards, Disasters
The Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) announced today that it will receive $2,612,302 in federal Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) grants. MEMA will distribute these funds to local jurisdictions throughout Maryland that are at risk for or have been adversely affected by natural disasters. FMA grants will fund projects like providing advance assistance for the development of flood mitigation strategies for the City of Cambridge, and developing the City of Annapolis flood mitigation plan. Read more
Events & Webinars
Announcements
NOAA Office for Coastal Management Trainings
NOAA's Office for Coastal Management has several upcoming trainings! Check out Seven Best Practices for Risk Communication on October 14, 2020, an interactive webinar introducing participants to seven best practices, numerous techniques, and examples for communicating about coastal hazards. Register here. Also check out Tools and Techniques for Facilitating Virtual Meetings on October 21, 2020 to learn how to facilitate virtual meetings more effectively. Register here.

The application period for FEMA’s fiscal year 2020 Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grants under the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) and new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) programs is now open. Eligible applicants must apply for funding through the FEMA Grants Outcomes (GO) system. All applications must be submitted no later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on January 29, 2021. For FY20, a total of $660 million in funding is available for FMA and BRIC. Visit the FMA and BRIC web pages to find helpful resources.

FEMA finalized the Ecosystem Service Benefits in Benefit-Cost Analysis policy on September. Ecosystem service benefits are positive effects provided to people by nature, such as aesthetic value, air quality, recreation space, and water filtration. This new policy encourages the use of nature-based solutions in mitigation projects. The policy also removes barriers to allow consideration of ecosystem service benefits for a project, regardless of the Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) value. FEMA aligned this policy with other Benefit-Cost Analysis guidance for the Federal government guidance and to reduce the complexity of Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) programs. Learn more about the policy here.

CERF 2021 Design Team Competition
The CERF 2021 Coastal Design Competition is a forward-facing initiative to inspire students and faculty across disciplines to work together in proposing design solutions and innovative strategies to make our coastal environments more resilient in the face of coastal impacts of climate change. The Design Competition is also intended as a complementary way in which CERF can collaborate with local communities to problem solve together around pressing challenges. The 2021 Coastal Design Competition focuses on critical issues of coastal settlement, ecosystem restoration, flood protection and economic development highlighting the capacity of faculty-led, transdisciplinary teams to solve coastal problems and respond to climate change. Submissions are due October 21, 2020. Learn more here.

NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship Applications Are Open!
Are you interested in a scholarship and paid summer internship with NOAA? Consider applying for the Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship or the Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) Undergraduate Scholarship. Applications are open from September 1, 2020, through February 1, 2021. Learn more here.

Coastal GeoTools Call For Abstracts Now Open!
Coastal GeoTools 2021 is going virtual! Submit an abstract, or two, to share your geospatial application story, tool, or resource. Abstracts are due by Friday, October 9, 2020. Learn more and submit your abstracts here.

NOAA RESTORE Science Program Grants
The NOAA RESTORE Science Program is making approximately $2.5 million available for this competition to fund approximately 20 planning projects that will run for one year each. This competition will provide natural resource managers, researchers, and other stakeholders with funding to plan a research project that informs a specific management decision impacting natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico. A second competition for funding to execute and apply actionable science will follow this competition. These two competitions will be independent of one another. The deadline for applications is Dec. 15, 2020. See the full announcement 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.
Coastal States Organization | 50 F Street. NW, Suite 570, Washington, DC 20001 | 202-508-3860 | cso@coastalstates.org | www.coastalstates.org