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Call for Virtual Tools
Cafe' Demonstrations
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance is still
accepting submissions for the 2020 Tools Café. The show will go on through a series of virtual cafés that will showcase tools and allow participants an opportunity to ask questions.
The submission deadline is extended to Friday, May 8th, 2020. There is no need to resubmit. For questions regarding your submission, please contact Dave Reed, State Lead for the Data & Monitoring Team, at (727) 502-4876 or
Dave.Reed@MyFWC.com.
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Gulf of Mexico Alliance Receives Guidestar Platinum Seal
Transparency is key. The Alliance recently received the Guidestar Platinum Seal of Transparency for 2020, which is the highest level of recognition offered. GuideStar is the world's largest source of information on nonprofit organizations.
The Platinum Seal allows organizations to tailor specific metrics that track progress and results. The clean and simple report shows more than basic financial information. It illustrates to all partners and our Gulf Star program members the year to year success of the Alliance.
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Understanding Nekton Use of Estuarine Habitats in the Gulf of Mexico
The Alliance's Wildlife & Fisheries Team recently contracted with Abt Associates to produce the guidebook, Understanding Nekton Use of Estuarine Habitats in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. This guidebook targets habitat-specific nekton use and recovery to help natural resource managers plan, implement, and evaluate habitat restoration and protection projects. Work supported could include setting restoration goals, designing projects, monitoring, and communicating project benefits.
With a focus on fish, shrimp, and crab use of restored oyster reefs, the project updated resources, analyzed data and developed this user-friendly guidebook. The guidebook summarizes key factors that affect nekton recovery following coastal habitat restoration projects.
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Silver Award Goes to Resilience to Future Flooding Videos
Congratulations to the Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative (NGOM SSC) on their national award from the National Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals. NGOM SSC won a silver award
in the TV/Video Series category for their "Resilience to Future Flooding" video series.
The video series includes three "101" videos and five case studies. The case studies highlight the Alliance community resilience projects from our NOAA Resilience Coastal Resilience Grant award.
The accolade also recognizes the collaborative partnership of the project team. Those involved include:
Carrie Stevenson, University of Florida; Mikaela Heming, Stephen Deal, and Renee Collini, Mississippi State University; Melissa Daigle, Louisiana State University; Rhonda Price, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources; Christine Buckel, David Kidwell, and Marian Hanisko, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and our own Christina Mohrman (Alliance).
The videos were produced by the Mississippi State University Television Center (David Garraway).
Congratulations to all involved.
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Gulf Coast Communities: Taking Action for a Better Tomorrow
Recognizing that coastal communities are at risk to natural, economic, and technological disasters, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance provided small grants for communities through a series of different funding opportunities in recent years. Documenting the assistance, the recently published Community Impacts Report summarizes the work supported by the Alliance and its partners across the Gulf of Mexico.
The report highlights the impacts these small grants have made in improving resilience, supporting business continuity, increasing capacity, enhancing habitat, and expanding best practices. Twenty-one community project highlights showcase the outcomes, deliverables, and lessons learned from their experiences.
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Embracing the Gulf
The first quarter of the campaign is in the books! Our Instagram followers had a 45% growth rate in March. Our Facebook page surpassed 6000 likes and followers.
Who knew in April this deep ocean meme would reach over 11.4K people?
Thank you for your hard work on this project and keep it up!
The Embrace the Gulf campaign is delivered daily with positive facts and messages about the Gulf of Mexico region. It is working. If you are not connected to the campaign, you should be.
Join us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. |
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Assessment Participation Requested
NOAA Multimedia STEM Needs Assessment
NOAA wants to know what type of STEM multimedia resources and distance learning mechanisms educators want
to use with students, and for their own professional development. The OMB approved survey has 17 questions.
The Lawrence Hall of Science is conducting a survey to help quantify the financial, human, and community impacts of the COVID-19 public health crisis on the Environmental Education Field in the U.S. This information will be shared with organizations who can advocate for financial relief from state and federal governments as well as from philanthropic sources.
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Resources
Longleaf Pine Ecosystem Implementation Strategy
The USDA NRCS in March released this FY20-24
implementation strategy.
10-Year Commemoration Report
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Restoration
To support our varied partner network, we are sharing Deepwater Horizon-related restoration updates on the
restoration page of our website. It is updated with recent announcements.
This month marked the 10th anniversary since the Deepwater Horizon incident. These programs had updates:
- NOAA RESTORE Science Program
- National Academies Gulf Research Program
- Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustee Council
- NRDA Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (TIG)
- NRDA Mississippi Trustee Implementation Group
- Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council
- NFWF Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund in Alabama
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Virtual Events
In the wake of the COVID-19 response, many
events are postponed or cancelled. In lieu of these, we are sharing webinars and virtual sessions. Please
email us with items you think are of value to our partners.
Gulf of Mexico Alliance Wednesday Webinar
Mark your calendars for the Alliance's next bi-monthly Wednesday Webinar on May 27th at 2:00 pm CST. The program,
Stakeholder Resources for Living Shorelines, will be presented by Renee Collini and Sara Martin, with the Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative. The work was funded by a capacity-building grant from the
NAS Gulf Research Program to the Alliance.
Adapting to a Changing Gulf Region: An Online Course
Learn to apply key concepts, science, and tools in climate change adaptation to your regional conservation work through a new interactive course hosted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Nine bi-weekly programs start in June. Limited spots are available and applications for registration will be reviewed on a rolling basis and by geographic location. Review the
course syllabus.
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Funding Opportunities
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance maintains a
Funding Opportunities web page of programs. Below are our selected opportunities this month.
Florida Humanities Council Community Project Grants - Grants provide support for planning and implementation of public humanities programs and resources that meet the needs and interests of local communities. The next deadline is May 15, 2020.
EPA National Environmental Education and Training Program - The purpose of the National Environmental Education and Training Program is to deliver environmental education (EE) training and long-term support to education professionals across the U.S. in the development and delivery of environmental education and training programs and studies. The deadline is May 29, 2020.
USDA NRCS Texas Rural Conservation- The Texas NRCS Rural Conservation Project is an effort to challenge States, political subdivisions, or agency thereof, a public or private agency, organizations, educational institutions and federally recognized Native American tribal governments to establish vegetable and fruit gardens, rainwater harvesting systems, pollinator habitat and high tunnels to extend the growing season across Texas. The deadline is May 29, 2020.
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Comment Periods
Cypremort Point State Park Improvements Project
Mississippi Second Draft Restoration Plan
The Mississippi TIG has released its second draft restoration plan for public review and
comment until May 22, 2020.
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