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:
Investing in Coastal Infrastructure
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has been signed into law. This bill is one of the largest investments in coastal infrastructure in history and secures significant investments in coastal restoration and resilience.

Two out of every five people in the U.S. lives in a coastal area. With coastal hazards threatening the lives and livelihoods of people in coastal communities, CSO applauds Congress for recognizing that the time is now to invest in coastal infrastructure!

CSO and the coastal States and Territories look forward to working with with the federal agencies to implement the provisions of the legislation to promote pre-hazard prevention and mitigation, advance on the ground habitat restoration and infrastructure investments to promote coastal resilience, to support and lead regional planning efforts, and much more! Learn more about the coastal infrastructure provisions in the new law here.
In the States and Regions
Gulf Coast
'Absolutely Historic': Morganza Hurricane-Protection System to Receive $500M Allocation
A levee system that protects about 200,000 residents in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes from Gulf of Mexico storms will receive $500 million as the result of a measure Congress passed in September. Local and state officials have lobbied for federal money since planning for the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection system began in 1992. Louisiana officials helped break the logjam in January in winning so-called "new start' designation from the Office of Management and Budget. The long-awaited action cleared the way for the federal government to spend money on the system's construction. Since then, Louisiana lawmakers have steered $31.5 million to the Army Corps of Engineers for construction work on Morganza. Read more

This Program to Restore Alabama’s Coastal Environment and Economy Is Expanding
A $7 million restoration project spawned in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill is expanding. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the RESTORE Council (Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revised Economies of the Gulf Coast States) has announced they will spend an additional $11.9 million to continue the work of the GulfCorps program through 2025. The program, created in 2017 originally as a four-year joint project of The Nature Conservancy and NOAA, aims to restore the natural features and habitats on critical conservation lands in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Read more
East Coast and Caribbean
Miami-Dade Coastal Study On Display
USACE has released the Draft Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Assessment for the Miami-Dade County, Florida, Coastal Storm Risk Management Study. The four-year, $3 million study considers the feasibility of implementing engineering alternatives to manage coastal storm risks along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline in Miami-Dade County, Florida, over a 50-year period. Federal participation in the existing federal beach nourishment project, initially constructed between 1975 and 1982, will expire in 2025. The study’s tentatively selected plan proposes periodic beach nourishment in certain locations between Baker’s Haulover Inlet and Government Cut, a series of groins in Bal Harbour, and a reinforced dune with tieback walls in Key Biscayne. Read more

NY Begins Construction On $107 Million ‘Living’ Barriers To Fight The City’s Rising Seas
On the southern tip of Staten Island, New York City’s latest project to address climate change is now slowly rising from the sea. This September, the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery began work on the Living Breakwaters, a series of eight enormous rock piles that are being installed off the coast of Tottenville. When complete, this $107 million project will stretch along a mile of shoreline, blunting the impacts of waves, erosion, storm surges and sea level rise — while also providing an important habitat for marine species. Read more
Great Lakes
Corps Completes Beach Work on Duluth's Park Point, Authorizes Federal Erosion Study
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it has completed a summer's worth of work to temporarily bolster part of Park Point's eroding shoreline. But the potentially bigger news is that the Corps has authorized a congressionally approved federal study to examine the cause of the ongoing land loss and to explore possible long-term solutions. The investigation is expected to take 18-24 months to complete, and is officially called a Continuing Authorities Program (CAP) Section 11 study. Mayor Emily Larson formally requested the federal study in March. Read more

As Lake Michigan's Shoreline Vanishes, Wisconsinites Fight Waves With Walls
High waters have sped erosion along Lake Michigan's shoreline, swallowing beaches, damaging public lands and draining homeowners' savings. Wisconsin cities from Milwaukee to Green Bay and small communities in Door County are confronting erosion — a key portion of climate impacts that Wisconsin's shoreline communities expect to cost at least $245 million over the next five years. Scientists expect erosion to worsen as climate change brings more volatility to Great Lakes water levels, particularly as warm temperatures interplay with more frequent, intense storms. While that may yield extremely low waters in some years, experts also expect dramatic shifts to high waters — with heavy rains and wind adding power to waves that punish shorelines. Between record-low waters in January 2013 and a record-high in July 2020, Lakes Michigan and Huron collectively swung more than 6 feet. That has sent lakefront homeowners scrambling to protect property by adding seawalls or riprap — slopes of rock or concrete that absorb force from waves. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is seeing a surge in applications to construct such barriers in Door County. Read more
West Coast and Pacific
New Plan Being Developed to Control Waikiki Flooding, Public Invited to Attend Meetings
Officials plan to hold the first of a series of virtual public meetings to develop a new plan to control flooding in Waikiki and other parts of the Ala Wai watershed. The Army Corps of Engineers has estimated that a major flood in the watershed could damage 3,000 structures and cost more than $1.14 billion. Mayor Rick Blangiardi told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the virtual meetings will start a general evaluation study, which offers participants a chance to identify a plan that will minimize potential flooding. Read more

Washington and Oregon Consider Building More Tsunami Refuges Along the Pacific Coast
If you are on the Pacific coast when the next Cascadia megaquake strikes, the standard advice is to run for higher ground as soon as the shaking stops. But in some low-lying places such as Ocean Shores and Long Beach in Washington, or Warrenton and Seaside in Oregon, the closest high ground could be a long walk away over buckled roads. According to a Washington study, dozens of elevated evacuation platforms are needed along the coast to ensure people can escape a tsunami spawned by a major earthquake on the offshore Cascadia fault zone. "There's just no way for a lot of folks to get to high ground within time," said Maximilian Dixon, the geologic hazards supervisor for the Washington Emergency Management Division. "It's not physically possible given the 10 to 15 to 20 minutes before the first wave arrives for that area. So, we're going to have to build vertical evacuation structures. There's just no way around it." Read more
Events & Webinars
Announcements
2021 Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund RFP Now Open
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), announces the 2021 Emergency Coastal Resilience Fund (ECRF) to support projects that increase the resilience of coastal communities impacted by hurricanes and wildfires in 2020 and 2021. The fund supports conservation projects that create and restore natural systems to help protect coastal communities from the impacts of coastal storms, floods, sea-level rise, inundation, coastal erosion, wildfires and associated landslides/debris flows, and enable communities to recover more quickly from these events, all while improving habitats for fish and wildlife species. The ECRF seeks to fund shovel-ready projects to improve wildlife habitat that also improves community resilience and recovery both in and around impacted areas. An Informational webinar will be held ]December 7, 2021 3-4 p.m., register here. Proposals are due February 3, 2022. Learn more and apply here.

FEMA Launches Nature-Based Solution Website
FEMA has launched a new website to help communities get started with nature-based projects with information on solutions, guides for planning, and funding information. As climate change elevates the threats posed by natural hazards, many states, localities, tribes, and territories are exploring nature-based solutions to help keep families, businesses and neighborhoods safe. Check out the website here.

FEMA Webinar on Using Land Use and Building Codes to Increase Resilience
Combining land use planning and development decisions with strong building codes can reduce vulnerabilities to buildings and infrastructure as well as save lives. Learn more by visiting FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Planning and Building Science pages and watching the recorded webinar here.

NOAA Seeking Input on Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful
NOAA announced an opportunity for the public to share input on ways NOAA can advance the goals and recommendations in the report on “Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful through a Federal Register Notice. The public comment period will be open for 60 days, through December 28, 2021. More information on how to comment and registration information for the listening sessions is available here.

Upcoming NOAA Office for Coastal Management Trainings
NOAA's Office for Coastal Management regularly offers on demand and instructor-led trainings through the Digital Coast Academy. Upcoming trainings include:
  • Coastal Adaptation Planning Essentials, November 30-December 2, 2021, 1 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern. Register here.
  • Virtual - Facilitation Basics for Coastal Managers, December 8-9, 2021, 2 to 5 p.m. Eastern. Email Jan Kucklick
  • Economic Guidance for Coastal Management Professionals, January 12, 2022, 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern. Register here

Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship
It’s an exciting two-year fellowship program that will place one graduate student at each of the 29 national estuarine research reserves. Through a research project, fellows address a key reserve management need to help scientists and communities understand coastal challenges that may influence future policy and management strategies. The research reserves represent the apex of estuary science. At these coastal sites, fieldwork, research, and community engagement come together to create the scientific advances that change our communities and our world. Applications are due December 10, 2021. Learn more and apply here.

Coastal Management and Digital Coast Fellowship
Any U.S. citizen who will complete a master’s or other advanced degree at an accredited U.S. university between August 1, 2020, and July 31, 2022, is eligible to apply for the Coastal Management and Digital Coast Fellowships. A variety of degrees are applicable to the fellowship because the projects are new and different each year. Previous fellows have had degrees in environmental studies, natural resource management, marine affairs, marine science, geology, public affairs, communications, social sciences, and regional land management. The most important prerequisite is an interest in coastal issues. Application packages must be submitted to the Sea Grant program office in the state where you earned your degree by January 21, 2022. Learn more about the Fellowships and how to apply here.

NOAA Office of Education 2022 Undergraduate Scholarship Applications Now Open
The Hollings Scholarship Program and the EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship Program are accepting applications until Monday, January 31, 2022. The Hollings Scholarship Program provides successful undergraduate applicants with awards that include academic assistance (up to $9,500 per year) for two years of full-time study and a 10-week, full-time paid ($700/week) internship at a NOAA facility during the summer. The EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship provides funds for two years of undergraduate study to rising junior undergraduate students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields that directly support NOAA's mission. Participants conduct research at a NOAA facility during two paid summer internships. Since 2001, 219 students have completed the program and over 75% go on to graduate school.
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The views expressed in articles referenced here are those of the authors and do not represent or reflect the views of CSO.

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