Contact: Eliot Hurwitz, NOAA PA           FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
               Dan Dewell, NOAA NOS       June 3, 1997     
               Jim Lynch, Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources

A new comprehensive coastal zone management program developed by Ohio will provide improved public access to the state's Lake Erie shoreline and environmentally safe development of waterfront areas, said the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today. Governor George V. Voinovich and NOAA Administrator D. James Baker will formally adopt the program at a lakeside ceremony in Cleveland on Thursday, June 5.

Ohio's program opens the way for federal matching funds for coastal management projects, closer, coordinated assistance from NOAA and other federal agencies, and a stronger state voice concerning federal shoreline activities. "This is the way government is supposed to work," Baker said as he prepared for his trip to Cleveland. "This program was drawn up by the state of Ohio and addresses the state's needs and priorities. In the process, the state worked with the federal government. Through the National Coastal Zone Management program, the state will become a partner in a larger, national effort that recognizes the economic, environmental, and esthetic value of all our ocean and Great Lakes coastal areas."

Improvements in public access to some of Ohio's 262 miles of Great Lakes shoreline and environmentally sound development along the coast are just two in a wide array of areas covered by the management program. Other areas include water quality, fish and wildlife, coastal flooding and erosion, recreation, historic preservation and port development. Adoption of the program not only means federal assistance in coastal management, but also requires all federal agencies operating in Ohio to comply with state coastal zone regulations and initiatives.

The national coastal management program is an outgrowth of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and subsequent re-authorizations of the law, which asks states to work with NOAA to identify, solve, and prevent problems in the nation's coastal areas through planning and management.

All 35 states and U.S. territories with ocean or Great Lakes shorelines can participate in the coastal management program. Ohio is the 31st to do so and joins three other states with Lake Erie shorelines -- New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan -- to complete coastal management planning for the U.S. side of the lake.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The June 5 event is slated for 9:30 a.m. at the Great Lakes Science Center, 601 Lakeside Avenue.

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