NOAA Awards Nearly $3 Million to New Jersey Coastal Zone Management Program

NOAA AWARDS NEARLY $3 MILLION TO NEW JERSEY
COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded more than $2.87 million to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. NOAA is an agency of the Commerce Department.

This grant award will provide funding to the New Jersey Coastal Zone Management Program to ensure effective management of coastal habitat resources. It will fund activities that manage development to protect coastal resources and water quality, as well as develop and revise policies that better manage resources, particularly in the fields of public access, open space preservation, smart growth regional watershed planning and ocean resources.

“This grant enables NOAA and the Bush Administration to actively support and help create programs that reinforce our commitment to the environment in New Jersey and throughout the United States,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “We are proud to sponsor Coastal Zone Management, which allow states to manage their coastal resources.”

NOAA’s Coastal Management Program is a federal-state partnership dedicated to comprehensive management of the nation’s coastal resources, ensuring their protection for future generations, while balancing competing national economic, cultural and environmental interests. The Coastal Zone Management Program (CZMP) is authorized by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and administered at the federal level by the Coastal Programs Division (CPD) within NOAA.

Each year, NOAA awards approximately $900 million in grants to members of the academic, scientific and business communities to assist the agency in fulfilling its mission to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for the past 33 years.

The Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.