Coastal Services Center

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Background

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Origin | Environmental Characterizations | Tools and Resources

Origin of Landscape Characterization and Restoration Program

The Landscape Characterization and Restoration (LCR) program was developed at the NOAA Coastal Services Center in response to several observations, including:

• Recognition that resource management requires interdisciplinary approaches that integrate physical, ecological, and socioeconomic knowledge, often at the spatial scale of a watershed or larger unit.
• The importance of spatial analysis as a means for organizing the large amount of information needed to manage coastal resources.

Environmental Characterizations – LCR's Primary Focus Area

Environmental characterizations are a structured approach to developing interdisciplinary information resources for coastal management. LCR fosters two types of environmental characterizations. Geographic characterizations focus on a place, usually a small- to medium-sized watershed, and integrate the physical, ecological, and socioeconomic information needed to better examine options for managing resources within that area. Issue-based characterizations examine how a particular management issue is addressed over a large area, often encompassing several states. Both types of environmental characterizations are interdisciplinary, both extensively use spatial analysis, and both focus upon management issues.

Geographic characterizations typically require two to three years to complete. Projects are selected annually via a competitive process and are funded via cooperative agreements. The call for proposals appears in the Federal Register usually during September or October of each year, with grants awarded the following summer. Issue-based characterizations require less than two years to complete, are done via contracts, and are selected via a competitive process administered through the Commerce and Business Daily during the first quarter of the federal fiscal year.

Tools for Environmental Characterizations, Benthic Mapping, and Habitat Restoration Planning

There is great demand for tools and other resources to improve coastal management. Examples include methods for examining the extent of impervious surfaces, determining the susceptibility of a wetland to degradation from storm water runoff, and examining how landscape position affects the functions of wetlands in a watershed. The long-term goal is to promote the development of resources needed to improve habitat restoration and environmental characterization efforts. Resources include spatial data and analytical tools, watershed-based models, communication tools, and methods for developing public support and funding.

The LCR program has led development of these resources, with partners providing support or guidance on technical approaches and relevance to coastal managers.

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