Our Programs | CPD
Coastal Programs: Partnering with States to Manage Our Coastline
The National Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program is a voluntary partnership between the federal government and U.S. coastal states and territories authorized by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972. The Coastal Programs Division, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, administers the program at the federal level and works with state coastal zone management partners to:
- Preserve, protect, develop, and, where possible, restore and enhance the resources of the nation's coastal zone for this and succeeding generations;
- Encourage and assist the states to exercise effectively their responsibilities in the coastal zone to achieve wise use of land and water resources, giving full consideration to ecological, cultural, historic, and aesthetic values, as well as the need for compatible economic development;
- Encourage the preparation of special area management plans to provide increased specificity in protecting significant natural resources, reasonable coastal-dependent economic growth, improved protection of life and property in hazardous areas and improved predictability in governmental decision-making; and
- Encourage the participation, cooperation, and coordination of the public, federal, state, local, interstate and regional agencies, and governments affecting the coastal zone.
The Coastal Programs Division is also responsible for advancing national coastal management objectives and maintaining and strengthening state and territorial coastal management capabilities. It supports states through financial assistance, mediation, technical services, and participation in priority state, regional, and local forums.
Working with State Coastal Management Program Partners
Thirty-four coastal and Great Lakes states, territories and commonwealths have approved coastal management programs. Together, these programs protect more than 99 percent of the nation's 95,331 miles of ocean and Great Lakes coastline.
To comprehensively manage our coastal resources and balance often competing land and water uses while protecting sensitive resources, state coastal zone management programs are expected to:
- Protect natural resources;
- Manage development in high hazard areas;
- Manage development to achieve quality coastal waters;
- Give development priority to coastal-dependent uses;
- Have orderly processes for the siting of major facilities;
- Locate new commercial and industrial development in, or adjacent to, existing developed areas;
- Provide public access for recreation;
- Redevelop urban waterfronts and ports, and preserve and restore historic, cultural, and aesthetic coastal features;
- Simplify and expedite governmental decision-making actions;
- Coordinate state and federal actions;
- Give adequate consideration to the views of federal agencies;
- Assure that the public and local governments have a say in coastal decision-making; and
- Comprehensively plan for and manage living marine resources.
A unique aspect of coastal zone management is "Federal Consistency" which ensures that federal actions that are reasonably likely to affect any land or water use or natural resource of the coastal zone will be consistent with the enforceable policies of a coastal state's or territory's federally approved Coastal Zone Management Program.
In 1990, Congress created a new program under the Coastal Zone Management Act, called the Coastal Zone Enhancement Program. The program provides incentives for states and territories to make changes in any of eight areas of national significance.
Another important component of coastal zone management programs is the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program. Authorized by Section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990, this amendment requires states and territories with approved coastal zone management programs to develop and implement programs to control nonpoint source pollution from six main sources: agricultural, forestry, urban development, marinas, hydromodifications (such as dams or stream channel modifications), and the loss of wetland and riparian areas.