Texas Coastal Management Program Section 309 Assessment and Strategies Report 2011-2015

Summary

As a condition of receiving grant funds under §309, Texas must submit a 309 Assessment and Strategies Report (Report) to NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) every five years. The Report presents an analysis for each enhancement area, identifies needs, and outlines how the TCMP plans to use §309 funds to address those needs over the next five years. The State of Texas is currently operating under the NOAA approved §309 priority rankings for 2006-2010. Phase 2 of this project focuses on development of the Strategy component of the Report. HRI will coordinate its efforts with researchers associated with the Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve to enhance collaborative opportunities and avoid duplication of study. HRI researchers and graduate students with expertise in marine biology, marine ecology, coastal geology, economics, and coastal policy/law will analyze information from the assessment component to evaluate the physical and management characteristics, status, trends, and needs for each enhancement area. HRI will facilitate discussion among the core group to prioritize the enhancement categories and develop strategies to determine how §309 funds will be used from 2011-2015. HRI will help to identify program improvement goals and implementation activities and develop general outlines demonstrating the approach that the state proposes in order to accomplish these efforts, including general work plans and estimated costs. In addition, HRI will continue to facilitate the public review process as an integrated component as done under the Assessment component. Finally, HRI will work with the core group to develop priorities for the 306/306A grants program to provide a more cohesive TCMP strategy. The priorities will be based on the assessment and will be developed in tandem with the process outlined above.