CSO Newsletter
The Coastal States Organization represents the nation’s Coastal States, Territories, and Commonwealths on ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resource issues.
Save the Date! September 29 - October 1, 2020
2020 National Coastal and Estuarine Summit Goes Virtual!
Join CSO and Restore America's Estuaries for a highly-interactive,  virtual 2020 Summit September 29 - October 1, 2020 ! We will  provide additional information  once we work through the logistics of going to a Virtual format.
Spotlight on Coastal Management:
Texas Coastal Zone Management Program
Spanish Fact Sheet
CSO is working to make our resources accessible to more people! To do this we are working on translating several of our fact sheets into Spanish.

Check out our Texas Coastal Zone Management Program fact sheet here.

Coastal zone management balances development and protection of the vital natural resources that support thriving coastal communities and economies. The Texas Coastal Management Program has been helping communities plan for an uncertain future since program approval in 1996. Projects such as the Texas Coastal Study, and Texas Coastal Resiliency Master Plan help keep people, property, and resources safe while planning for future recreational and economic development. In addition to the technical assistance, the Texas CMP provides approximately $2.2 M in grants to local governments and others to help address these issues.
In the States and Regions
East Coast and Caribbean
Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership Partners With NC Commission of Indian Affairs to Strengthen Climate Resilience in Coastal Region Tribal Communities
The  Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership  (APNEP) has partnered with the  North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs  (NCCIA) and others to support Tribal communities in the Albemarle-Pamlico region in considering climate resilience during community planning. The project, developed by APNEP in partnership with representatives from Tribal organizations in  the Albemarle-Pamlico watershed  and coastal plain, is designed to increase engagement among Tribal communities, government agencies, and universities, as well as to acknowledge the unique knowledge and cultural perspectives of these communities surrounding impacts associated with climate change.  Read more

Dominion Energy Installs 2 Turbines for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind
Dominion Energy installed two 12-megawatt turbines for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.This the first offshore wind farm to be approved by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and installed in federal waters. It is only the second constructed in the United States. Read more
Great Lakes
Gov. Evers Announces $1.5 Million for Wisconsin’s Coastal Communities
Gov. Tony Evers announced $1.5 million in grants to local, state and tribal governments, regional planning commissions, universities and nonprofit organizations through the Department of Administration’s (DOA) W isconsin Coastal Management Program.  In its forty-second year, the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program aims to protect and improve the Great Lakes resources across Wisconsin’s coastal communities. The thirty-nine grants awarded this year will be used by grantees to assist with projects totaling over $3.4 million. Read more

As Coasts Flood, Michigan Towns Must Choose What to Save and What Can Wait
To understand how waterlogged South Haven has become, look no further than Dunkley Avenue, where a man was spotted fishing for carp in the middle of the street this spring. Dunkley “has been underwater for the better part of a year,” noted City Manager Brian Dissette, the result of record-high water levels in Lake Michigan that have backed up into the Black River that flows through his 4,300-person community. And although the city council has approved a temporary fix involving sand bags and water-filled barriers, it may be quite some time before money frees up for a permanent solution. Read more
West Coast and Pacific
Puget Sound Eelgrass Beds Create A ‘Halo’ With Fewer Harmful Algae, New Method Shows
Eelgrass, a species of seagrass named for its long slippery texture, is one of nature’s superheroes. It offers shade and camouflage for young fish, helps anchor shorelines, and provides food and habitat for many marine species. A University of Washington study adds one more superpower to the list of eelgrass abilities: warding off the toxin-producing algae that regularly close beaches to shellfish harvests. Read more

See How Your Favorite Beach Ranks In The Latest Pollution Report Card
In an  annual survey  of more than 500 beaches, Heal the Bay reported Tuesday that 92% of California beaches had logged good water-quality marks between April and October of 2019 — a notable improvement from  prior years , when heavy winter rains washed trash, pesticides, dog poop, bacteria and automotive fluids, as well as  microplastics , into storm drains and out to the ocean. Read more
Gulf
Dauphin Island Sea Lab restoring aquatic grass along Alabama coast
Researchers at  Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL)  are planting underwater grasses in coastal areas of Alabama to improve marine habitats for fish and wildlife.The work is part of a 5-year project funded by the  Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council . The council, in connection with the  Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ,  tasked DISL with completing a submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) restoration program  in upper and lower Perdido Bay, and lower Mobile/Tensaw River Delta. The lab is also undertaking a comprehensive SAV mapping and monitoring program for coastal Alabama. Read more

Texas’ Aransas County to Get $43M More in Harvey Recovery Funds
Aransas County on Texas’ Gulf Coast where Hurricane Harvey made landfall in August 2017 will receive an additional $43 million for its continuing recovery from that devastating storm. The funds will enable Aransas County to conduct extensive infrastructure improvements relating to drainage, street, communication, and public facility systems as well as conducting a fiber optics communications planning study. Read more
Events & Webinars
Announcements
Guam Coastal Management’s Man, Land, and Sea Newsletter
The Guam Coastal Management’s Man, Land, and Sea newsletter is a biannually released publication where GCMP highlights some of the environmental issues, news, and projects going on around the island of Guam. Man, Land, and Sea has covered a wide range of issues spanning subjects such as coral reef bleaching, fires, invasive species, flooding, and much more. Our previous publications can be found via the links below. Read the current issue here .

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Climate Change Report
New Jersey DEP’s released its 2020 Scientific Report on Climate Change which summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding the effects of climate change on New Jersey’s environment to inform state and local decision-makers as they seek to understand and respond to the impacts of climate change. This report identifies and presents the best available science and existing data regarding the current and anticipated environmental effects of climate change globally, nationally, and regionally. Read more here .

New Coastal Restoration Toolkit
The Coastal Restoration Toolkit was developed by  Restore America’s Estuaries, with the support of the NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation/Restoration Center, to provide high‐level, introductory educational information for community members on how to develop a coastal restoration project from concept to proposal. Divided into five topic areas (Flooding, Coastal Erosion, Water Quality, Invasive Species, and Wildlife Habitats), the Toolkit includes project examples, tools and resources, contacts, funding sources, and permitting information. The Toolkit is a launching point for developing solutions to coastal restoration opportunities that community members see in their local communities. Learn more here.

NOAA, BOEM Develop New Tool to Reduce Dredging Impacts to Essential Fish Habitat
NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Office for Coastal Management (OCM) and Quantum Spatial, Inc. recently completed a  2-year study , funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The team developed a cutting-edge decision-support tool, ShoalMATE, to guide wise use and dredging of offshore sand shoals. ShoalMATE provides BOEM with a consistent, science-based framework to streamline Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) consultations with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, to identify, address, and minimize impacts to fish and their habitats. The tool generates a written report which allows for review and assessment of impacts of proposed offshore dredging on EFH in project areas anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico and US Atlantic continental shelf. Learn more here .

American Rivers Releases New Economic Report
American Rivers has release a new report: "Rivers as Economic Engines: Investing in clean water, communities and our future". The report makes the case for transformational federal investment in clean water and healthy rivers -- we're calling for $500 billion over ten years for water infrastructure and river restoration. There is a section on flood management that may be of interest to you. Read more here .

FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance External Stakeholder Working Group Seeking Members
The External Stakeholder Working Group (ESWG) provides an opportunity for FEMA staff to increase engagement and transparency with non-federal partners in the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) programs at the state, federally recognized tribe, territory, regional, and local levels. The HMA programs provide pre- and post-disaster funding to implement mitigation actions in communities across the country. The Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program and the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program are both funded by an annual appropriation. The deadline to submit an Expression of Interest Form is July 10, 2020 . Learn more here .

Request for Proposals: Coordination and Collaboration in the Resilience Ecosystem
The Climate Resilience Fund has issued a  Request for Proposals , seeking applications for its Coordination and Collaboration in the Resilience Ecosystem Program. CRF thinks of these grants as “glue money”; funding that will be used to build upon, strengthen or connect two or more tools or resources within the climate services sector. Rather than funding the creation of new products, the competition is designed to incentivize innovative collaborations to scale existing resources, thus the size of these grants is intentionally small at a maximum request of $50,000. A total of $300,000 will be available. Applications are due July 17, 2020 .

USDA Announces $5 Million in Wetland Mitigation Banking Program Funds
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced the availability of up to $5 million for wetland mitigation banks. This funding through the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program is available to help conservation partners develop or establish mitigation banks to help agricultural producers maintain eligibility for USDA programs. Applications must be submitted through  Grants.gov  by July 6, 2020 . Learn more here .

NEP Coastal Watersheds Grant Program 2020 Request for Proposals
The National Estuary Program (NEP) Coastal Watersheds Grant (CWG) Program is a newly created, nationally competitive grants program designed to support projects that address urgent and challenging issues threatening the well-being of coastal and estuarine areas within determined estuaries of national significance. Restore America’s Estuaries will be administering the NEP CWG Program in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Grantees will be selected based on a two-step process: Letters of Intent, followed by full proposals by invitation only. LOI submittals are due on August 7 . Find the Request for Proposals   here .
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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.

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