The Southeast region includes coastal watersheds along the Atlantic Ocean from the border of North Carolina - Virginia and extending south to the Florida Keys and including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Estuaries in this region are characterized by two general shoreline formations. The first is a low-lying marshy shoreline with a branching pattern of tributaries flowing to the sea. This formation is most prevalent along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. The second is represented by lagoons bounded by extensive barrier island systems and is found in North Carolina and central Florida.
Wetlands cover over 9,000 square miles of this region's drainage area. Forested wetlands, such as the Great Dismal Swamp and the Okefenokee Swamp, account for three-quarters of the total. Forested lands are the dominant land use in this region, accounting for about one-third of all land in the estuarine drainage areas.
Southeast RIT members are designated by their parent agencies which have a geographical responsibility within the Southeast region. The members generally perform the following functions on behalf of their respective agencies: work together to build collaborative partnerships; communicate Coastal America information and guidance to field offices and other organizational units; encourage multiple agency participation in the formulation of Coastal America projects in partnership with others; advocate and support project proposals to Washington-level counterparts for pertinent approvals and funding for their agency's involvement; and communicate their agency's interests, programs, authorities, and constraints to the other Southeast RIT members.
To facilitate communication, a chairperson is elected by the members of the Southeast RIT for a one year term. The Southeast RIT holds meetings at least quarterly. More frequent meetings of the entire Southeast RIT or its subcommittees, are called as needed. The Southeast RIT continues collaboration: to identify areas along the coast which exhibit the greatest need, consistent with Coastal America's priorities; to maintain a geographical distribution of projects, ensuring the widest possible involvement of Coastal America at all levels; to focus planning efforts on areas where institutional mechanisms are already in place, thus achieving interagency consensus on solutions to environmental problems; and to emphasize relatively straight-forward, low-technology projects that can be implemented in the short term.
Proposals surface to the Southeast RIT through a "proponent" or lead federal agency. Each federal "proponent" ensures that proposals meet applicable Coastal America criteria and are submitted in the appropriate format. The Chairperson of the Southeast RIT serves as a focal point for coordination of proposals with RIT members for comment and/or endorsement. If RIT members from three or more participating federal agencies endorse a proposed project and no RIT members specifically object, the project is entered on the Southeast RIT working list of projects. The working list is formally updated quarterly. The RIT member(s) acting as the lead for a project pursues approval and/or funding for their agency's involvement through normal internal programs and processes. Once the partners obtain necessary approvals and funds, the lead federal agency at the local level coordinates the necessary arrangements with other participants to execute the project. On occasion, proposals may surface to the Southeast RIT Chairperson or other RIT members from a state agency or some other source. In such cases, the chairperson coordinates with other RIT members to ascertain whether there is an appropriate lead federal agency and other interested federal partners sufficient to support a formal proposal. If so, the proposal is handled as described above.
The Southeast RIT monitors the progress of approved projects and reports progress to the NIT and Principals quarterly. The lead agency for each project prepares updates which are compiled and forwarded to the NIT by the RIT chairperson. The Southeast RIT seeks to resolve specific issues and impediments to effective Coastal America implementation in the Southeast region. Where appropriate, the Southeast RIT seeks the assistance and guidance of the NIT. Finally, the Southeast RIT coordinates public outreach efforts and media events associated with Coastal America projects with the NIT to assure maximum opportunity for appropriate Washington-level involvement.
The Southeast RIT's strategy emphasizes three important areas. The first is the evaluation of each project in terms of its impact on biodiversity and the application of sound ecosystem management principles. As part of this issue, the Southeast RIT will also emphasize the incorporation of states and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) into the Coastal America process. The Southeast RIT has formed several committees to help guide the involvement of states and NGOs and the incorporation of sound ecosystem management and biodiversity principles into the Coastal American process.
State governments play a crucial role in the management and rehabilitation of the coastal zone through their regulatory authorities, staffing, and contact with local communities. A number of activities with states to be undertaken by the Southeast RIT include:
Nongovernmental organizations are represented throughout many sectors of society. They can and often do form powerful and effective vehicles for change. Numerous NGOs focus on environmental issues, some specifically on coastal issues. A number of activities with NGOs to be undertaken by the Southeast RIT include:
The second major issue involves the recognition that areas of the Southeast region have experienced tremendous pressures from urban expansion, which represents a continuing threat to species and their habitat. Although urban lands represent only 4 percent of the region's drainage areas, Florida has a heavily developed narrow coastal corridor consisting of a series of suburban, second home, and resort development, extending north from Miami to Jacksonville at the mouth of the St. Johns River. Thus, in large areas of the region, this development pressure has severely affected populations of native species and their habitat. The most densely populated coastal areas in this region are in the Biscayne Bay area of south Florida. The encroachment of urban development and agricultural operations into the Florida Everglades has reduced natural areas down to about half their previous size. Water management projects built for flood control and water supply have disrupted the natural flows essential to many Everglades species by diverting enormous quantities of freshwater away from this wilderness area. According to the Corps of Engineers, all water entering the area is now controlled by levees, canals, water control structures, and pumps. Much of this water is polluted by pesticide and fertilizer runoff from agricultural areas. Consequently, there have been dramatic declines of native species, while at the same time, nonindigenous plant species choke many of the marshes and waterways.
The third important issue facing the southeast region, especially along the Carolina coasts, is the decline of important fisheries, caused in part by obstacles to fish migrations that prevent adult fish from reaching their spawning grounds. Over half of the annual fish harvest landed at southeast ports is composed of estuarine dependent species, including menhaden, croaker, blue crab, and penaeid shrimp. In addition, important recreational and commercial fisheries are supported by other species, such as shad, that spawn in the freshwater reaches of tributaries to southeastern estuaries. Again, intense development pressures throughout the coastal watersheds in this region have caused rivers and streams to become clogged with sediments, debris, and other impediments to migrating fish. Dams, weirs, and other obstacles have also been constructed on many rivers and streams, further blocking fish passage to spawning habitat.
To date, the Southeast RIT has focused its efforts on projects to remove obstructions to anadromous fish migration in several collaborative projects along the North Carolina coast that may have a broad effect on the success of similar interagency efforts in the future. For example, a number of projects are being initiated in the Albermarle-Pamlico Sound system in North Carolina, where the removal of obstructions such as Quaker Neck and Cherry Hospital dams will open approximately 160 river miles of historic striped bass, shad and sturgeon habitat. In addition, the Southeast RIT has undertaken projects to restore seagrass beds and mangroves in Florida, and to protect endangered species such as the right whale off the coasts of Georgia and Florida.