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Coastal Planning

Federal Coastal Zone Management Act

Over sixty percent of all Americans live within 50 miles of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the five Great Lakes. (In contrast, only 6.5 percent of Oregon's population lives in the coastal zone.) Coastal population is expected to grow by 15 percent during the next two decades. With this rise in population, there has been a tremendous increase in the competing uses of coastal resources.

In an effort to encourage states to better manage coastal areas, Congress enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) in 1972. The CZMA provides grants to states that develop and implement Federally approved coastal zone management plans. It also allows states with approved plans the right to review Federal actions to ensure they are consistent with those plans, and it authorizes the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. A major premise of the CZMA is that such management is best achieved at the state and local level. Participation in the coastal management program by states is voluntary. The CZMA provides approximately $2 million annually in grants to the State of Oregon.

Compiled by John Ame, Science Writer (2008)

Sources

CLAMS: Kennedy, Rebecca S.H.; Spies, Thomas A. Forest cover changes in the Oregon Coast Range from 1939 to 1993. Forest Ecology and Management. 200: 129-147. http://www.fsl.orst.edu/clams/

LCDC A Citizens Guide to the Oregon Coastal Management Program https://www.oregon.gov/lcd/Pages/index.aspx

Oregon Blue Book: https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book

Oregon State University: News and Communication Services; https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2007/dec/coast-range-landslides-historic-reality-pacific-northwest