Links
What you will find on this page...
Virginia CZM Partners
Other Federal and National Programs
Coastal Zone Management Programs in Other States
Virginia Environmental Organizations, Groups and Programs
Virginia CZM Program Partners
The Program is a not a single centralized agency or entity, but a network of state agencies, under 3 secretariats, and 87 localities, regionally represented by 8 planning district commissions. This network of partners administers the enforceable laws, regulations and policies that protect our coastal resources.
State Partners (organized by Secretariat)
Secretariat - Natural Resources
- DCR Grassroots Newsletter
- DCR Public Calendar
- Virginia Marine
Resources Commission:
- Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission - Virginia is a member of this regional commission.
- MRC Public Calendar
- Department of
Conservation and Recreation, Division of Chesapeake Bay Local
Assistance Department:
Secretariat - Agriculture and Forestry
Secretariat - Commerce and Trade
Secretariat - Education
Secretariat - Transportation
Local Partners - Virginia's PDCs, Counties, Cities and Towns
- Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission
- Crater Planning District Commission
- Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (PDC 23)
- Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission (PDC 18)
- Northern Neck Planning District Commission (PDC 17)
- Northern Virginia Regional Commission (PDC 8)
- George Washington Regional Commission (PDC 16)
- Richmond Regional Planning District Commission (PDC 15)
Federal Partner - NOAA
- National Ocean Service
(NOAA's National Ocean Service is one of five major line offices
in NOAA.)
- NOS Office of Ocean and Coastal Resources Management (OCRM)
- Dock and Pier website
--- contains information about all the projects NOS has completed or continues to work on as part of the "Dock and Pier Initiative" including: national science synthesis workshop, national management tools workshop, searchable dock and pier bibliography, searchable dock and pier database, inventory of laws, regulations and policies for four southeastern states, visual impact assessment white paper, and training materials to assist with regional outreach efforts. Other dock and pier related information will be made available when complete. - Outreach and Education Materials available from OCRM
- NOAA National Ocean Service Education Page
- NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
- NEW NOAA WEBSITE ---
NOAA is encouraging all Americans to protect the oceans from the harm caused by marine debris. Promoting individual responsibility, NOAA has partnered with the Advertising Council, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, Environmental Defense, and the Disney Studios to deliver an ocean health message that underscores the cause and effect of human behavior. Featuring scenes and characters from "The Little Mermaid", the new public service announcements drive home the message that "life in the oceans depends on you." Routine activities alone bring 6.4 million tons of debris, mostly plastics, to our oceans each year. You can check out the campaign, and share it with family and friends, at http://wwwkeepoceansclean.org.
- NOAA Expanded World Ocean Database -
NOAA has released a significantly expanded World Ocean Database 2005, the world's largest collection of scientific information about oceans, dating as far back as 1800. This update of the previous 2001 databases contains 900,000 new temperature profiles and captures 29 different categories of scientific information from the oceans, including temperature, salinity, oxygen level, and nutrient content. The new database, compiled by the NOAA’s Ocean Climate Laboratory, also includes information about tritium, freons, noble gases, and other isotopes found in the oceans. Check out the database at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/indprod.html. - Ecosystem Based Management Tools Website -
The Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Tools Network has developed a website that provides a comprehensive source for information and tools for coastal and marine ecosystem-based management. These tools include a searchable online EBM tool database, training and funding opportunities, coastal and marine data sources, and meetings and conferences on EBM tools. See http://www.ebmtools.org/. - Coastal Socioeconomic website
--- NOAA's Management and Budget Special Projects Office website highlighting Spatial Trends in Coastal Socioeconomics (STICS). This website offers time series, geo-referenced data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. It also offers web-based data analysis and display tools to facilitate data retrieval, mapping, analysis, and assessments. Contents on the new website include demographic and housing information as well as personal income and employment data. The data is available for coastal areas and watersheds as well as by state, county and other boundaries used by the Census Bureau. The primary objective of the site is to increase awareness and improve access to socioeconomic information. - NowCOAST
--- Web mapping portal designed to enhance maritime safety and commerce and monitor physical changes in weather, oceanographic, and river conditions. The portal provides users with real-time coastal observation and forecast data for nation's major estuaries and seaports, coastal regions, and Great Lakes. For more information... - National Marine Fisheries
Service
--- featuring the first advisory on conditions across the Northeast Continental Shelf
Large Marine Ecosystem. The Office intends to update the advisory biannually, providing a handy reference on trends in primary productivity, zooplankton biomass and diversity, and sea surface temperatures on the shelf. The current advisory shows trends of relatively stable temperatures and chlorophyll, as well as an increase in zooplankton.- NOAA "Fishing
Industry Homepage"
--- (NOAA Fisheries Service Northeast Region) - access for constituents to regulations by subregions. The website using groundfish as a pilot project and will include other species in the near future.
- NOAA "Fishing
Industry Homepage"
- NOAA Education Resources
- NOAA Photo Library
- NOAA Office of Education and Sustainable Development
- NOAA Ocean Explorer: NOAA Ocean Exploration Offices
- Coral Reef Information System
- NOAA Restoration Portal
website
- provides centralized access to information about NOAA restoration programs, projects, and activities through a single point-of-entry. It is organized according to four thematic areas: Collaborating with Communities, Restoring Injured Habitats and Natural Resources, Advancing Restoration Science, and the Estuary Restoration Act. - US Marine Protected Areas website (NOAA/Dept. of the Interior)
--- the U.S. site on marine protected areas (updates on Presidential Executive Order 13158 on marine protected areas) - contains improved and expanded information on topics such as MPA definitions; federal MPA legislation and programs; the marine managed areas inventory; the MPA Federal Advisory Committee; online regional information centers; frequently asked questions about MPAs; a glossary of terms related to U.S. MPAs; and, an online library with more than 1,000 resources on MPAs.- MPA
Center Launches Online Regional Information Centers
--- The National Marine Protected Areas Center is launching a series of web-based regional information centers. The information centers are designed to provide comprehensive information on ongoing federal, state, and tribal MPA planning processes, given that each has its own unique purpose, timeline of meetings, review documents, and other official events. Stakeholders can search the information centers for MPA planning processes by region of the US or by state. The regional information centers are comprised of eight regions in the U.S., including the Caribbean, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii and U.S. Pacific Islands, Mid Atlantic, New England, Pacific Coast, and South Atlantic. While the information centers are a work in progress and not all regions are completely populated, the Pacific Coast and New England regions are either complete or include a significant amount of information. - Webbsite on MPAs
in Puerto Rico and the Wider Caribbean
--- A new website has been launched that serves as a clearinghouse of information on planning and management of Marine Protected Areas in Puerto Rico and the rest of the Caribbean region. The site, Áreas Marinas Protegidas de Puerto Rico y el Gran Caribe (Marine Protected Areas in Puerto Rico and the Wider Caribbean), provides links to relevant sources of information in fisheries management, fisheries biology, ecology, anthropology, sociology, and economics. New links are accompanied by brief descriptions in Spanish, with some translated to English. The site is managed by the Interdisciplinary Center for Coastal Studies of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagúez.
- MPA
Center Launches Online Regional Information Centers
- Coastal Services Center -
NOAA
- Coastal Resource Management Funding Opportunities Page
- Beach
Nourishment: A Guide for Local Governments website
--- offers information on all aspects of beach nourishment. Includes descriptions of coastal geological and ecological processes, discussions of legal and regulatory requirements, information on federal project cost sharing, and a professional dialogue about the pros and cons of nourishment. - Social Science
For MPAs website
--- gives marine protected areas (MPAs) and other programs an overview of research techniques for examining the “human dimensions” of coastal resource management. Topics include surveys, non-market valuation, social assessment and a collection of case studies. In collaboration with the National MPA Center.
- National
Undersea Research Program website
--- NOAA's National Undersea Research Program (NURP) has launched a new website that features array of NURP's scientific and research discoveries in simple and easy to understand language. The site also contains a searchable database of underwater video and photos that are all public domain. NURP operates the nation's only manned underwater observatory and supports studies of coral reef health and research into past and present climate change.
Other Federal and National Programs
- NERRA Announces New Website
The National Estuarine Research Reserve Association (NERRA) recently released a new web site, which includes NERRA's strategic plan, grants and projects, policy statements, Congressional testimony, and budget priorities. The web site has an easy to use map that links the viewer directly to the web sites of all of the National Estuarine Research Reserves, and has a number of other links to partners and coastal and ocean organizations. Please check out www.nerra.org to learn more about NERRA's current projects and efforts to improve the protection, understanding, and science-based management of the nation's estuaries and coasts.
EPA Sites
- EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office (Annual State of the Bay Report on-line)
- Chesapeake Bay Program Partnership Homepage
- Virginia Office of the Chesapeake Bay Program
- EPA Center for Environmental Information and Statistics
- EPA Beaches Web Page
--- (EPA is also planning topic-based sites for water quality standards, cruise ship water discharges, floating debris, private drinking wells, and septic systems.)- EPA Section 319 Success Stories website
--- features successful projects receiving grant funds from the Clean Water Act §319 Nonpoint Source Program. All highlighted projects have documented water quality improvements, achieved water quality standards, and resulted in removal of the affected waterbody from the State's Section 303(d) lists of impaired waters.- Interactive Map Tracks State Progress with BEACHES Act
--- online fact sheet, titled Nationwide Bacteria Standards Protect Swimmers at Beaches, with an interactive map that tracks state progress in complying with the Beaches, Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000. The fact sheet and map provide information on the federal Clean Beaches Plan, bacterial standards, and Clean Beach Plan federal actions.- Chesapeake Bay Environmental Indicators
- Sample Local Water Quality Ordinances
--- from the EPA Office of Water - Nonpoint Source Control Branch - a reference tool for government officials, this site provides tools, sample language, and real-life case studies of local ordinances on water quality.- EPA Office of Water
--- provides links to the EPA Strategic Plan, the draft National Water Program Guidance document, Water Sub-objective Implementation Plans, and regional plans from each EPA region.- EPA Online Growth and Water Resources Training Module
--- explains how changes in land use affect water resources, and presents national data on trends in development patterns and activities on land that have become increasingly significant challenges for achieving water quality standards. The module describes a combination of approaches to accommodate future growth in a way that benefits the economy and the environment and will help meet water resource goals. The module also includes a tools section with links to on-line resources. This training module was developed by EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds Smart Growth Team. For more information, please contact Jamal Kadri at kadri.jamal@epa.gov.
- Coastal America
--- federal interagency partnership for coastal resource management - Federal Web Locator
- USGS Water Quality Data Warehouse
- US
Army Corps Webpage on Related Coastal Initiatives
--- a page on the National Shoreline Management Study website detailing related coastal initiatives - notes the similarities and differences between various shoreline management programs, studies and other reports currently under development - and demonstrates the coordination among partner agencies on this issue (select "Related National Coastal Initiatives icon" on lower-left hand side of the page.) - NASA Oceanography Ocean
Literacy website
--- site to support development of an ocean literate public - designed for students and others to explore and better understand the ocean through links to educational resources; national, regional, and state oceanography programs; selected ocean literacy papers; and other information.
Coastal Zone Management Programs in Other States
- CZM
States and Territories
- Massachusetts
Coastal Program Wetlands Restoration website
--- provides wetland restoration information such as interactive maps, pictures, and summary descriptions of over 70 active and completed restoration projects as well as a list of links to federal, state, and non-profit restoration resources.-
Massachusetts Launches Smart Growth Toolkit Website
--- The Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs has developed a new toolkit dedicated to Smart Growth. The Toolkit, which is accessible via the Internet and on CD, is intended to be both an educational guide and a reference document. It can be used to introduce newcomers to smart growth and also be used by practitioners such as planners, developers and site designers as a reference source for case studies and model bylaws. The Toolkit provides access to information on twelve different planning, zoning and subdivision techniques that is intended to smart growth a reality in your communities. The materials are designed to increase understanding of smart growth tools and how to customize the techniques to local circumstances. It also presents new methods to guide and promote sustainable and environmentally sound development and growth. The site features smart growth techniques, slideshows, model bylaws, and case studies. For more, contact the CZM-EOEA Smart Growth Coordinator at andrea.cooper@state.ma.us.
-
- Coastal
State Fact Sheets (Coastal States Organization website):
--- CSO site offers a fact sheet for each coastal state - provides an overview of the state's coastal program. Funding fact sheets are also available for some states.
- Massachusetts
Coastal Program Wetlands Restoration website
- Mid-Atlantic
Region Sea Grant Programs:
--- The Mid-Atlantic region of the Sea Grant College Program geographically encompasses the coastal and near-coastal waters between New Jersey and North Carolina. Within this region, the five Sea Grant Colleges actively promote and foster regional research and cooperation.
Virginia Environmental Organizations, Groups and Programs
- Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
- Back Bay Restoration Foundation - Virginia Beach
- Chesapeake Bay Commission
- Chesapeake Bay Foundation
- Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network ("linking the special places of the Bay watershed")
- Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore - Virginia's Delmarva Peninsula
- Clean Virginia Waterways
- Elizabeth River Project
- Friends of the Dragon Run
- Friends of the Potomac
- Friends of the Rappahannock
- Green Infrastructure Center
- Hoffler Creek Wildlife Foundation
- James River Association
- Mattaponi-Pamunkey Rivers Association
- Ocean Conservancy (formerly the Center for Marine Conservation)
- Southern Environmental Law Center
- The Nature Conservancy
- Virginia Center for Stewardship
- Virginia Conservation Network
- Virginia Ecotourism Association
- Virginia Housing and the Environment Network
- Virginia Marine Science Museum
- Virginia Museum of Natural History at UVA
- Virginia Water Resources Research Center - Virginia Tech
- Virginia Wetlands Watch
Other Websites of Interest
- Low Impact Development Center Website
--- The Low Impact Development Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of Low Impact Development technology. Low Impact Development (LID) is a new, comprehensive land planning and engineering design approach with a goal of maintaining and enhancing the pre-development hydrologic regime of urban and developing watersheds. Go to
- Stormwater Manager's Resource Center
--- Created and maintained by the Center for Watershed Protection, the Stormwater Manager's Resource Center is designed specifically for stormwater practitioners, local government officials and others that need technical assistance on stormwater management issues.
--- Check out EPA New England’s Green Building Website, where users can view case studies, including EPA’s own green building—the New England Regional Laboratory in Chelmsford, get links to green building resources, and download a copy of Residential Green Building Guide: A Web Source book for New England.
--- The Metropolitan Planning Council (MAPC) has developed an LID Toolkit—a set of materials designed to help citizens, public officials and developers. LID techniques use an integrated approach to site design, stormwater management, and water conservation to protect the natural terrain and hydrology.
--- works to inspire a closer relationship with the
sea through science, art, and literature.
- Census of Marine Life
--- A worldwide effort is underway to "assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life in the oceans-past, present, and future." Known as the Census of Marine Life, this 10-year project involves researchers from 45 nations, focusing on seven regions, including the Gulf of Maine. - Chesapeake Research Consortium
--- association of six institutions, including the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, each with a long-standing involvement in research on problems affecting the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed.
- Coastal Resource Center - University of Rhode Island
--- promotes worldwide coastal sustainable development - Conservation/Geography
--- identifies hundreds of organizations using GIS to protect nature and promote social justice. - Environmental Law Institute
- Partners in Flight and
North American Bird Conservation Initiative
--- bird conservation - River Network
--- supporting grassroots river and watershed conservation groups - Surfrider Foundation
--- publishes an annual State of the Beach report
--- supporting eco-tourism efforts
As a convenience to our browsers, the Virginia CZM Program and the Commonwealth of Virginia provide links to off-site web pages. The Virginia CZM Program bears no responsibility for the contents of these pages.
Questions? Would you like to share a link with the program? Contact Virginia Witmer at the Virginia CZM Program - (804) 698-4320 or e-mail: Virginia.Witmer@deq.virginia.gov
