The Partnership Process
Coastal America 2005-2008 Progress Report
What is Coastal America?
The Coastal America Partnership is:
- an action–oriented,
- results-driven collaboration process
- dedicated to restoring and preserving coastal ecosystems, and
- addressing critical environmental problems needing multi-faceted solutions.
Coastal America is a unique partnership of federal agencies, state and local governments, and private organizations. The partners work together to protect, preserve, and restore our nation's coasts. The partnership accomplishes tasks that no one group could accomplish alone.
Coastal America addresses the challenges of our coasts by leveraging the capabilities and expertise of all the partners to solve local and regional coastal problems, and encourage ocean literacy and stewardship. This is accomplished by sharing information, pooling resources, and combining management skills and technical expertise. With federal, state, and local partners working together, there is a wealth of expertise and services available to Coastal America projects. This results in cost-effective, innovative solutions.
Coastal America exemplifies collaborative government. It's all in the partnership.
Coastal America National Coordinating Office
Coastal America's national office supports and coordinates the resources and expertise of federal agencies, Coastal Ecosystem Learning Centers, and corporate partners. The National Office Staff consists of environmental professionals drawn from a variety of federal agencies, including the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency and US Corps of Engineers. They bring a depth of experience and knowledge to the partnership including marine science, marine conservation, public involvement, collaboration, climate change adaptation, training and project management.
Coastal America Regional Teams
Recognizing the need for a strong geographic focus, Coastal America works through multi-agency Regional Implementation Teams in the following regions:
Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Gulf of Mexico, Southwest, Northwest, Pacific Islands, Alaska, and the Great Lakes/Upper Mississippi Focus Area.
Coastal America's nine regional interagency teams identify site-specific, local coastal problems, maintaining a working list of priority projects. Examples of completed Coastal America projects are:
The regional teams have collaborated with nearly 700 non-federal organizations to initiate more than 700 restoration and protection projects in 26 states, two territories and the District of Columbia. Through this partnership, hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands are restored; thousands of miles of streams for anadromous fish are re-opened; and habitat for endangered fish, birds, and mammals is protected.
- Dam removal to allow upstream migration and spawning of anadromous fish
- Restoration of historic tidal circulation channels in a salt marsh to provide expanded breeding habitat for a variety of fish and shellfish
- Shoreline stabilization and aquatic habitat restoration benefiting migratory waterfowl, oysters and fish
The Coastal America Partnership
Federal Partners - Since the birth of the partnership in 1992, the number of Coastal America's federal partners has grown to 16:
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Defense
- Department of Energy
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Department of the Interior
- Department of Justice
- Deparmtne of Labor
- Department of State
- Department of Transportation
- Environmental Protection Agency
- National Aeronautics & Space Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Executive Office of the President
Our Nongovernmental Collaboration Framework
1. COASTAL ECOSYSTEM LEARNING CENTERS: Spanning our coasts, this network was established as an outreach channel to help raise public awareness and increase public stewardship for coastal and marine resources. Currently, over 25 million people a year visit the Learning Center network. Special events such as the Student Summits and Ocean Art Contest bring additional focus to coastal and marine issues. The institutions below make up the Learning Center network:
- Acuario de Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico
- Adventure Aquarium and New Jersey Academy for Aquatic Sciences, Camden, NJ
- Alaska SeaLife Center, Seward, AK
- Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans, LA
- Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, CA
- Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, AL
- The Florida Aquarium, Tampa, FL
- Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta, GA
- Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR
- IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum, Dania Beach, FL
- J.L. Scott Marine Education Center- Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, MS
- John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL
- Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA
- Mystic Aquarium and Institute for Exploration, Mystic, CT
- National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD
- National Museum in Washington, DC
- National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, Dubuque, IA
- New England Aquarium, Boston, MA
- New York Aquarium, New York, NY
- North Carolina Aquarium, Roanoke Island, NC
- North Carolina Aquarium, Forth Fisher, NC
- North Carolina Aquarium, Pine Knoll Shores, NC
- Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR
- Seattle Aquarium, Seattle, WA
- South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC
- Texas State Aquarium, Corpus Christi, TX
- Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Waikiki Aquarium, Honolulu, HI
2. CORPORATE WETLANDS RESTORATION PARTNERSHIP: In 1999 Coastal America established this voluntary public-private partnership to enhance corporate engagement in restoration, protection, and education efforts. Through this program, corporations join forces with federal and state agencies to restore wetlands and other aquatic habitat. This highly successful partnership enables businesses to make valuable contributions leveraging government funds for coastal restoration and protection projects.