Contacts:
Victoria Pebbles, Great Lakes Commission, vpebbles@glc.org
Tricia Ryan, NOAA Coastal Services Center, Tricia.Ryan@noaa.gov.
NOAA Sharpening Its
Focus on the Great Lakes Region
The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coastal Services
Center
helps local and state coastal resource managers across the
nation’s coastal zone use remote sensing, social science, training
programs,
and geographic information systems to address coastal management
issues. While the
NOAA Coastal
Services Center
has undertaken many projects in the Great Lakes
states, the organization is working with the Great Lakes Commission to
expand
these efforts. The first step is a needs assessment, which will
identify common
regional needs, as well as ways to leverage existing and new resources,
and
build partnerships within this coastal area.
Desotelle
Consulting, PLC, based in Duluth,
Minnesota,
will conduct the bulk of the planning, data collection and analysis,
and
reporting for the regional needs assessment. The evaluation will focus
on ports
and navigation, coastal community development, and information
integration and distribution,
and will identify where the NOAA Coastal
Services Center can have the
greatest impact.
“Together,
these three broad issue
areas touch on virtually every one of the dozens of singular issues of
importance to the region,” noted Victoria Pebbles of the Commission
staff, who
is managing the project.
Dave Knight of
the Great Lakes Commission, a regional expert
on ports and navigation issues, will be leading the needs assessment
work for
the ports and navigation issue area.
Dozens of
experts throughout the Great Lakes
region will be asked to participate on planning teams and
provide guidance and feedback. Future activities and work under the
Coastal
Services Center–Great Lakes Commission partnership will be driven by
the outcomes
of the assessment.
“This collaborative
approach maximizes the use of
organizational and professional capabilities to ensure high-quality
outcomes,” said
Margaret Davidson, director of the NOAA Coastal
Services Center.
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Contacts:
Victoria Pebbles
Great Lakes
Commission
2805 S. Industrial, Suite 100
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-6791
734-474-9135
vpebbles@glc.org
Tricia Ryan
NOAA Coastal Services Center
2234 South Hobson Ave.
Charleston, SC 29405
843-740-1145
tricia.yan@noaa.gov