Ensuring and enhancing public access to our coasts is a key component of coastal zone management. But not everyone can get easily get to the coasts. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management tackled these access barriers with online story map tours that make the ecology, history, and culture of Massachusetts' coasts come alive. The tours were initially created during COVID to enable the Massachusetts office to provide vivid, programmatic details for a routine NOAA review of this state program. But it turns out the resulting product was five regional tours that were also beneficial in promoting public access. The five regional tours do a deep dive into the state's ports and harbors, coastal habitat, state parks, communities, recreational beaches, and more.

Learn more about this effort here.

Check out the online story map tours here.

CSO is seeking a full-time Grants Administrator to work with the Coastal States Stewardship Foundation (CSSF). The primary role of the CSSF Grants Administrator is to perform tasks related to the grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements that CSSF manages, including record-keeping, budget tracking, invoice payments, and ensuring reporting requirements are met. The Grants Administrator will work closely with three Regional Ocean Partnerships and the Regional Wildlife Science Collaborative for Offshore wind and their independent contractors and vendors to ensure timely generation and payment of invoices and timely submission of grant and contract reports. Learn more about this position and how to apply here.

‘A Real Threat’: Benton Harbor To Apply for Grant To Study Riverfront Flooding

The City of Benton Harbor has taken the first step in finding a solution to a potentially devastating high water issue. City Commissioners on Monday approved the submission of a grant application to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) for a High Water grant to fund the study and analysis of conditions near Riverview Drive along the St. Joseph River. The project would address impacts and vulnerabilities from high water and severe weather events in Benton Harbor along the St. Joseph River and adjacent areas, according to the resolution. “In speaking with EGLE and looking at the FEMA documentation of potential flooding from the St. Joseph River, there is a real threat,” said Mayor Marcus Muhammad. “It could be catastrophic. There’s [been] a need for years really, but the city has not has the funding and the money available to address a project of this magnitude.” The Michigan Legislature appropriated $14.25 million to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) for a grant program to provide infrastructure and planning grants in 2023 that directly address the impacts and vulnerabilities presented by severe weather events, with a focus on projects that address flooding, coastline erosion, urban heat, and storm water management. Read more

LOOK: Renderings Released for Another Harbor District Riverwalk Segment

The Department of City Development (DCD) has released renderings of a proposed Riverwalk extension in the Harbor District. Work on the nearly three-quarters of a mile extension – mostly along the Kinnickinnic River – alongside the new Komatsu Mining Headquarters building is expected to begin early next year. “A decade ago, the community asked for more equitable access to the waterfront, and this project embodies that. Milwaukee Harbor District incorporated the community's ideas and suggestions into the plans being reviewed by the City Plan Commission,” said Tia Torhorst, CEO of Harbor District and Director of Business Improvement District #51. Construction of the public-private Riverwalk project began in 1993. Originally proposed as part of the Harbor District Water and Land Use Plan in the City of Milwaukee Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2018, the segment will have a restrooms in a container-style building that will also have a shaded stage. It will also include the a 3,000-square-foot aquatic habitat called The Node, that will bring new landscaping and native plants, as well as access to the water for visitors. Read more here about The Node here, which garnered $128,000 in funding from the State of Wisconsin’s Coastal Management Program this summer. Read more.

Carbon Capture Project Proposed for Ocean Waters Off Duck

It was flashback to high school chemistry class for some, but Duck residents were up to the challenge last week at an information session about a carbon capture demonstration project proposed off their beach. Vesta North Carolina is seeking a permit to place about 20,000 cubic yards of ground olivine in the nearshore waters 1,500 feet from the shoreline of this northern Outer Banks town. The intention is to study on a small scale the ability of the material to mitigate the impacts of climate change. But residents wondered about unknown risks inherent in a test project, and if their resort community might be stuck with the consequences if it went awry. The Corps’ Engineering with Nature, or EWN, program is partially funding the Vesta project, and scientists at the pier are collaborating on the project with Vesta. Read more

Florida Beaches Were Already Running Low On Sand, Then Ian and Nicole Hit

In the days since Hurricane Nicole lashed this stretch of Florida coast with punishing winds and powerful storm surge, contractor A.J. Rockwell has found himself on an urgent mission. He has to find sand — tons of it — and fast. Property owners in a picturesque beachside community just south of Daytona Beach hired him to buttress their homes with new sand after the Category 1 storm — the second cyclone to hit the state in the span of six weeks. Swimming pools, porches and even entire houses crashed into the ocean below when the sand beneath them eroded. But these days the usual sources for sand — nearby underwater mounds and healthy beaches in other parts of the Sunshine State — are running low. What can be found is pricey. Rockwell estimates each house needs at least 275 dump truckloads pushed underneath to be saved — which at the current price of $1,200 a load comes out to $330,000 per home. Read more

New Version 1.0 of Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) launched version 1.0 of the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), an essential step in implementing President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative and ensuring that the benefits of Federal programs are reaching communities that are overburdened by pollution and historic underinvestment. Learn more here.

New Voluntary Community-Driven Relocation Program for Tribal Communities Affected by Climate Change

The Department of the Interior launched a new Voluntary Community-Driven Relocation program to assist Tribal communities severely impacted by climate-related environmental threats. Through investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the Department is committing $115 million for 11 severely impacted Tribes to advance relocation efforts and adaptation planning. Additional support for relocation will be provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Denali Commission. 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.

NFWF, Federal Agencies and Private Partners Announce $91 Million in Grants from America the Beautiful Challenge

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) joined its public- and private-sector partners in announcing nearly $91 million in grants through the new America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC). The 55 new grants will support landscape-scale conservation projects in 42 states and three U.S. territories, leveraging $50.7 million in matching contributions to generate a total conservation impact of about $141.7 million.

ATBC grants support projects that conserve, restore and connect habitats for wildlife while improving community resilience and access to nature. The America the Beautiful Challenge is a partnership between NFWF and the U.S. Department of the Interior through the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Defense, and Native Americans in Philanthropy. Learn more here.

Call for Nominations to New Marine and Coastal Area-based Management Advisory Committee

NOAA has announced the establishment of a new Marine and Coastal Area-based Management Advisory Committee to advise the agency on science-based approaches to area-based protection, conservation, restoration, and management in coastal and marine areas, including the Great Lakes. The scope of the Committee’s advice will include, but not be limited to, efforts consistent with the America the Beautiful initiative. Nominations and applications for the inaugural membership can be submitted until January 17, 2023. Learn more here.

New Hampshire DEIJA Request for Proposals

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Coastal Program (NHCP), Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (GBNERR), and Great Bay Stewards (GBS) are seeking proposals from qualified consultants to help meaningfully center Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility (DEIJA) into our respective programs, procedures, and relationships. Proposals are due December 21, 2022. Learn more here.

FEMA Announces FY22 BRIC and FMA Notice of Funding Opportunities.

FEMA announced the FY22 Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) and Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) programs. The funding level for BRIC has increased to $2.3 billion for FY22, with FMA funding increasing to $800 million. BRIC’s non-financial Direct Technical Assistance program will also increase to at least 40 communities (from 20) for the FY22 cycle. The application period closes on January 27, 2023. Learn more here.

NOAA Adaptation Sciences (AdSci) Program FY2023 Funding Competition: Island Resilience

The NOAA Climate Program Office Adaptation Sciences (AdSci) Program is now accepting proposals for research projects beginning in Fiscal Year 2023. Through the FY2023 competition, NOAA’s AdSci Program is soliciting proposals for interdisciplinary and participatory research activities that address island-identified resilience needs in the Caribbean and Pacific; with an emphasis on projects that result in: (1) contextually relevant and usable information about climate impacts, vulnerabilities and solutions; (2) the evaluation, identification and strengthening of the adaptive capacities of institutions, communities, sectors and islands; (3) and/or the integration of climate information in adaptation planning, action and long-term resilience strategies. Full Applications are due by January 31, 2023. Learn more here.