As was noted in the section on the Partnership History of Coastal America earlier in this chapter, the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act provided the philosophical basis for the equal consideration of fish and wildlife resources in federal activities. Nevertheless, the actual coordination process that evolved was based more on distrust and uncertainty on the part of both the federal and state developmental and natural resource agencies than on mutual cooperation. A common set of federal and/or state environmental/economic objectives were never developed or articulated, to which the combined talents and programs of the involved construction and conservation agencies could work.
Recently, the concept of sustainable development has begun to provide the type of conceptual framework within which the talents and resources of both federal, state, and NGO agencies can collaborate more effectively. The President's Council on Sustainable Development defines "sustainable development" as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Operationally defining sustainable development means restoring and maintaining ecosystems, where appropriate, to ensure a high quality of life for future generations while providing the types of services society demands. In pursuit of sustainable development, activities should be carried out using an ecosystem management approach. An ecosystem is the dynamic and interrelated complex of plant and animal communities, including human communities, and their associated nonliving environment. An ecosystem management approach involves protecting or restoring the function, structure, and species composition of an ecosystem, recognizing that all its components are interrelated. Perhaps the most manageable context in which an ecosystem approach can be pursued is by using a watershed focus, the natural topographic boundary that greatly influences ecosystem structure and function. These concepts are reflected in the various regional strategies and projects developed and implemented by Coastal America's RITs. Thus, Coastal America has operationally defined these concepts through its activities.
The Coastal America partnership process has also been able to overcome the distrust among agencies by bringing together program managers at all levels, having them openly discuss their needs from both developmental and environmental perspectives, and collaboratively defining areas of mutual interest. Further, it has encouraged the collaborative development of local solutions to the national problems of habitat loss, nonpoint source pollution and the management of contaminated sediments. At the regional level, agency representatives examine the real possibilities of combining their talents and resources in a manner that solves real world problems in association with local interests and with the support of their agencies national headquarters.
The ability to combine program talents and resources has led to innovative solutions, a greater focus on collaborative program direction, and timely project implementation. Finally, the desire of many, now over three hundred, non-federal sponsors to actively participate in the collaborative activities of the Coastal America partnership is a strong endorsement of the public's support for this type of approach.
The examination of over 50 projects in this report clarified the value added of Coastal America along five major themes: The Partnership Process; Public Involvement/Education; Technology Transfer; Systems Approach; and, Adaptive Management and Monitoring.
The first theme is that the partnership process really works as it allows the agencies to accomplish a number of important functions. First, it allows for the combination of agency resources and authorities in such a manner as to achieve common objectives and to collectively accomplish more than any single agency would be able to do alone. Secondly, it also leads to the timely resolution of policy conflicts among the partnership agencies.
The second theme identified public involvement/education as a vital component of the partnership process because it provides a number of very important functions. It utilizes the public's knowledge and interest in problem identification. Another area in which great dividends are seen is through the public's volunteer efforts. Finally, the active involvement of the public increases their environmental awareness and leads to positive action.
The third theme addresses technology transfer and how we can improve the regulatory process by considering the results of testing and monitoring required to permit technology in one region and apply that technology to other regions. Coastal America has successfully demonstrated new and proven technologies in various regions of the country.
A fourth theme that emerged is that often a local project, addressing a specific problem, will assume a broader view and can lead to a more systematic approach. Conversely, we've also seen how a broad regional issue can be addressed at a local level.
Finally, our last theme addresses the concept of adaptive management and monitoring and how they can modify agency responses in a manner that allows multiple objectives to be accomplished. Additionally, the value of monitoring and surveys have been demonstrated to positively influence project design.