Coastal Management Fellowship

1998-2000 Fellowship Project Summaries

California: Melanie Coyne, nominated by Hawaii Sea Grant, was placed with the California Coastal Commission. Her project involved the development of a geographic information system (GIS)-based decision-support model to help prioritize sites for beach renourishment. She developed evaluation criteria for beach site selection though research and meeting with a small technical review committee. Melanie decided to use four filters (technical, access, environmental, and logistical), each of which is supported by a number of criteria. Army Corp of Engineer reports were her primary data source. She digitized them so that the data would be useful and then tested the GIS-based model using a pilot study area in Orange County. She also developed an application package to be used by agencies when seeking state financial support for beach nourishment projects. Melanie's final product is a user-friendly decision-support model that doesn't require the user to know ArcView to operate it.

Delaware: The fellow from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science-College of William and Mary, was placed with the Delaware Coastal Management Program. She edited and prepared, "The Delaware Statewide Dredging Policy Framework," a document designed to improve consistency and coordination in the design and review process for dredging projects in Delaware. Jen worked with a group of stakeholders representing project applicants, permit review agencies, environmental groups, and public citizens to develop this document. She led stakeholder meetings and also organized a one-day symposium to engage and inform a broader representation of the stakeholders. The final document contains background information about dredging in general, existing regulations and guidance from federal and state agencies, and supporting information for many key dredging issues.

Maryland: Zoë Johnson, nominated by Washington Sea Grant, was placed with the Maryland Coastal Zone Management Division to develop a sea level rise mitigation response strategy entitled, "A Sea Level Rise Response Strategy for the State of Maryland". Zoe characterized the shoreline by using a classification system combined with an analysis of historical shoreline change. She also utilized existing research to help categorize sea level rise impacts according to shoreline type and jurisdictional boundaries. In addition, she conducted a policy analysis of state resource programs first to assess the state's ability to mitigate adverse impacts and then to identify potential avenues for enhanced planning. And finally she was involved in many outreach and education activities, ranging from organizing a climate change issue forum to participating on an advisory committee for the Maryland Coastal Bays National Estuary Program.

Massachusetts: Katie Lund, nominated by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, was placed with the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program. She developed an adaptive special area management plan for the Parker River/Essex Bay area on the north shore of Boston. This area is part of Massachusetts' Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) program, which identifies regionally significant resources and ecosystems and works for their long-term preservation and stewardship. Katie worked to develop management tools and strategies for the area and to increase local support through public awareness. She wrote a column in a local paper that focused on ACEC management and environmental affairs. She also provided geographic information system (GIS) training and developed GIS data layers to add to the ACEC data set. Her final report, "Parker River/Essex Bay ACEC Resource Inventory," summarizes existing research and includes expert field knowledge about natural resources in the area. Although this area was designated in 1979, this is the first summary of natural resources specific to the ACEC.

Oregon: The fellow nominated by Connecticut Sea Grant, was placed with the Oregon Ocean-Coastal Management Program. Her project involved the second phase of the Dynamic Estuary Management Information System (DEMIS), a project first begun by a former fellow, Chad Nelsen. DEMIS provides a framework for data collection, storage, and use that is transferable and specific to local users. While Chad developed the prototype using Coos Bay estuary, Tanya expanded it to include four other estuaries along the coast. Before starting work on each of the new estuaries, Tanya first met with the estuary's local watershed council to tailor the database to its priority issues. Through this process, Tanya developed a list of estuary-specific priority data layers. Each estuary usually had up to 60 different data types including wetland information, soils, elevation, geology, land use, and hydrology.