The Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, passed by Congress in 1958, says that the development and implementation of federal projects, including water resources projects, must give equal consideration to fish and wildlife resource use or allocation. Federal agencies subsequently developed coordination mechanisms to abide by the spirit of the act; however, the lead agency would often not include the pertinent federal natural resource agencies in the decision making process until a barrier or obstacle was encountered, such as permit requirements or conflicting policies. Typically the lead agency would be well along in its planning before the opinions and ideas of the others were sought. This often led to controversy, delay, finger pointing, and general public dissatisfaction with project results. Often, many valid alternative solutions were not implemented because the emphasis placed on project schedules and funding limits overrode fish and wildlife resource concerns.
The Assistant Secretaries from the Department of Interior (Fish and Wildlife and Parks), Department of Commerce (Oceans and Atmosphere), the Environmental Protection Agency (Water) and the Department of the Army (Civil Works) began a dialogue in early 1991 on how to achieve a consolidated federal position without jeopardizing timely program implementation. The traditional methods of coordinating agency programs were clearly not working effectively. A working group of senior staff from each of the agencies was assembled and charged with developing a solution. The working group proposed forming an interagency partnership that, with Congressional funding, would jointly develop and implement local projects to address a number of significant national coastal problems. The working group determined the three most significant problem areas facing our coastal resources were habitat loss, the management of contaminated sediments, and nonpoint source pollution. The partnership would promote project implementation through a bottom-up collaborative process. Regional teams, composed of agency representatives, would be responsible for developing and implementing individual projects. A national team, also composed of agency representatives, would develop national guidelines, seek joint funding, and promote the partnership in a manner established by the Assistant Secretaries.
During the summer and fall of 1991, a number of events happened in parallel. The organizational structure was approved and established using existing coastal program funds. Demonstration projects in selected regions were developed, approved and initiated, using existing programmatic funding. Congressional funding was sought for specific Coastal America Partnership activities. The initial four Assistant Secretaries were now formalized into a Principals Group and met under the auspices of the Chairperson of the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The senior staff working group became the National Implementation Team (NIT) responsible for developing the partnership strategy. The NIT, in turn, visited and briefed agency representatives from seven regions and sought the field's opinions on how to structure the Regional Implementation Teams (RITs) which would be composed of individuals selected by their parent agencies. The RITs initiated five regional demonstration projects. The NIT began four national education outreach products and established the Coastal America Office with a Director and administrative staff. To further emphasize the partnership process, the office utilized funds and personnel contributed by the partnership agencies to administer its activities.
Congressional appropriation committees supported "the proposal to initiate an interagency coastal program to maximize the benefits of the various ongoing federal coastal programs" and strongly supported the protection and enhancement of coastal living resources as an important national priority during the Fiscal Year 1992 budget hearings. However, each partner's respective oversight committee cut the proposed Coastal America appropriation - which would have totaled about $23 million for the four agencies. Citing budget constraints, the perception that several existing coastal programs had been deliberately reduced to provide the necessary funding for this unproven program, and that existing coastal programs were adequate to fund activities to be undertaken by the Coastal America initiative, the funding was reduced to zero. Some of the RITs which had embraced the project implementation goals of Coastal America began looking for funding alternatives. The partnership agencies also began to examine their existing authorities to determine how they could be used to support the goals and objectives of Coastal America and what other types of arrangements, such as in-kind and volunteer services, could be developed to implement projects. This type of innovative problem solving attitude among the NIT and RITs kept the Coastal America Partnership moving forward. By early 1992 five federal agencies, the original four plus CEQ, were examining means to overlap their coastal authorities and develop joint projects; seven RIT's were established and began working collaboratively to develop candidate projects for approval; and the Coastal America Office began closely coordinating these partnership activities and seeking new federal partners.
Eight federal agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in April, 1992 after successful Coastal America efforts to advertise its existence and the potential of collaboratively promoting the coastal programs of the federal community. The Departments of Interior, Army, Air Force, Navy, Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency were MOU signatories and the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) signed as the ninth member and as the overall partnership coordinator. The MOU set out the operational framework, goals, and objectives for Coastal America and described the process for coordinating and implementing project activities. The partners pledged: to protect, preserve, and restore the nation's coastal ecosystems through existing federal capabilities and authorities; to facilitate collaboration and cooperation in the stewardship of coastal living resources by working in partnership with other federal programs and to integrate federal actions with state, local, and nongovernmental efforts; and to provide a framework for action that effectively focuses agency expertise and resources on jointly identified problems to produce demonstrable environmental and programmatic results that may serve as models for effective management of coastal living resources. In July of 1994, three more federal agencies joined the Coastal America Partnership, the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Defense, and Energy. At the direction of the Principals, the Coastal America Partnership is now approaching states and nongovernmental organizations in an effort to get them more formally involved in this collaborative partnership. Additionally, Coastal America has recently approached the Department of Education as to its desire to participate and has received a positive reply.