Coastal Plain Watershed Network: Effective Tools to Protect Coastal Plain Watersheds

New Jersey to Texas coastal plains

Coastal communities seeking to make more effective land use and watershed decisions can take advantage of a range of Internet-based tools, models, policies, and other guidance to assist them in their efforts. Unfortunately, many of these resources are based on inland landscapes and are not designed to meet the unique physical constraints, development conditions, and water quality concerns of communities along the coast.

With this grant from CICEET, a team from the Center for Watershed Protection is evaluating existing technology to develop an improved and simplified land use planning toolkit, customized to work effectively in coastal plain watersheds. The research revolves around the Center’s eight-tools framework (8TF), which supports watershed planning, land conservation, aquatic health, better site design, erosion and sediment control, stormwater management, non-stormwater discharges, and watershed stewardship.

Investigators are focusing on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plain region, which comprises nearly 250,000 square miles in 15 states. They are surveying 100 coastal communities to determine the socio-economic and technical factors that promote/impede the adoption of land use planning tools. Using that data they will work with five pilot coastal communities to apply, test, and refine the adapted 8TF. The goal is to train planners and watershed managers in these regions and then make appropriate resources available to those who need them.

Researchers plan to disseminate the tool through a collaborative network of land use planning experts around the country. Already applied in more than 40 local watershed plans across the country, the 8TF has the potential to support coastal communities from New Jersey to Texas.