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NROC News – May 2014

NROC News – monthly news and updates from NROC, its member agencies and partners.

NROC would like you to know –

  • Mark your calendars! The Spring NROC Meeting will be held Wednesday, June 4th in Gloucester, MA. A briefing packet will be distributed prior to the meeting with agenda and location directions.
  • NROC invites you to join the next webinar in a series developed to share the results of the first Coastal Community Resilience Grant program projects. Each webinar highlights the municipal perspective for developing a coastal resilience initiative in their communities.  The next webinar will take place on June 3rd   from 12-1pm (speaker confirmation pending). Phil Pickering, Superintendent for the Ogunquit Sewer District, and Jane Weidman, Town Planner for New Shoreham, RI will discuss their efforts to plan for impacts of sea level rise to critical coastal infrastructure – wastewater treatment in Ogunquit, Maine and the ferry terminal in New Shoreham (Block Island), RI.  They will outline the process that was used to assess the impacts and develop strategies for mitigating and adapting to impacts, with a particular emphasis on lessons learned for other communities interested in adaptation planning for critical infrastructure. For additional information on the NROC Coastal Community Resilience Grants, please visit http://necca.stormsmart.org/municipal-grants.  To join the webinar – Audio: 877-680-1673, passcode 1993954; Web:  http://www.mymeetings.com/nc/join.php?sigKey=mymeetings&i=744921075&p=4927573&t=c

NROC Partners would like you to know –

  • NE RPB Meetings to be held June 25-26, 2014:  A Northeast Regional Planning Body (NE RPB) Natural Resources Public Workshop will take place on June 25, followed by the fourth NE RPB meeting on June 26. The workshop and meeting will both take place at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Please check the RPB meeting page on the new NE Ocean Planning web site for detailed agendas in the weeks ahead. Register here to indicate your attendance at both the June 25 Natural Resources Workshop and the June 26 NE RPB meeting.  Via Katie Lund (NE RPB)
  • Climate Change Symposium on Sustaining Coastal Cities: MIT Sea Grant College Program is convening a three-day Climate Change Symposium on Sustaining Coastal Cities, which will be held on June 16 – 18, 2014 at MIT.  Leaders in academia, government, and private industry will address concerns for change in sea level, storm surges, extreme precipitation and flooding and options for adapting to these risks.  Noted speakers and experts with vested interests in public health and safety will share the latest scientific, technical and social information in three general thematic areas.  With shared knowledge and increased understanding, we can move forward to wisely use, manage, and protect our coastal areas now and in the future. A draft agenda and registration information can be found at:  http://seagrant.mit.edu/conferences/CCS2014/. Via Joanne McHugh (MIT Sea Grant)
  • Job Opportunity – Extension Associate, Sea Grant Great Lakes Coastal Processes and Hazards Specialist: This Extension Associate position—to be based in the Wayne County Cooperative Extension Office in Newark, New York—will serve as the primary technical resource on coastal erosion processes and hazards (including impacts of climate change), shoreline erosion management and engineering, and coastal flooding and mitigation on the Great Lakes for New York Sea Grant and Cornell Cooperative Extension. Click here for the full job announcement. Applications are due May 31, 2014. Via New York Sea Grant
  • For Researchers – Long Island Sound: New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and Connecticut Sea Grant (CTSG) announce an Environmental Protection Agency/Long Island Sound Study (LISS) program to fund research that will support the management of the Sound and its resources. Preliminary proposals are invited for the funding period of March 1, 2015 to February 28, 2017. Any investigator seeking support for this period (or portion thereof) must submit a preliminary proposal via the “2015-2016 Long Island Sound Research” link at NYSG’s electronic submission Web site, www.nyseagrant.org/proposals, for receipt by 5:00 p.m. EDT on Monday June 9, 2014. Approximately $760,000 in funding is expected to be available.

Last spring, NYSG and CTSG began funding over $708K in the most recent wave of LIS research, which is helping efforts to improve water quality and adapt to climate change. For more, see NYSG’s related news item, “Sea Grant and US EPA Begin New Long Island Sound Research“. Via New York Sea Grant
  • Recent Studies Completed by BOEM’s Environmental Studies Program: BOEM’s Environmental Studies Program gathers and synthesizes environmental, social, and economic science information to support decision-making concerning the offshore renewable energy and oil and gas programs. See below for reports now available. Via Bob LaBelle (BOEM)
    • Environmental Risks, Fate and Effects of Chemicals Associated with Wind Turbines on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf – final report and technical summary
    • Underwater Cultural Heritage Law Study – final report and technical summary
    • Inventory and Analysis of Coastal and Submerged Archaeological Site Occurrence – final report and technical summary
    • Critical Technical Review and Evaluation of Site-Specific Studies Techniques for the MMS Marine Minerals Program – final report and technical summary
    • Compendium of Avian Occurrence Information (Database Section-Seabirds) for the Continental Shelf Waters Along the Atlantic Coast of the United States – technical summary
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