Notes
Slide Show
Outline
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Coastal Program
  • Panama City Field Office
  • Melody Ray-Culp
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Mission Statement
  • The mission of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.
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Coastal Areas Support
  • 40% of National Wildlife Refuges
  • 40% of Federal endangered species
    •     75% of listed mammals and birds
  • 50% of FWS fisheries
  • 25% nation’s wetlands
  • 30%+ of North American wintering waterfowl
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Coastal Program
  •  Pro-active
  •  Non-regulatory
  •  Voluntary
  •  Watershed-based
  •  Citizen and community-based stewardship
  •  Bridge between Federal and non-Federal lands
  •  Partnership-building
  •  Catalyst
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On-the-Ground-Restoration
  • Affordable
  • Feasible
  • Effective


  • Acres and miles


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Florida Focus Areas
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Living Shorelines –
 a Panhandle Initiative
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Panhandle Coastal Program Projects
  • Within focus areas
  • On-the-ground
  • Scientifically-sound, technically feasible, cost-effective
  • Not mitigation
  • Improve habitat for protected species
  • Multiple partners
  • Leverage funding
  • Federal, state, local, private lands
  • Catalyze large-scale and long-term protection or restoration led  by community
  • Grant or cooperative agreements
  • Reporting requirements


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How do we get there?
  • To establish living shorelines as the primary means for protecting eroding shorelines in the coastal areas of northwest Florida where appropriate, thereby steering coastal protection towards soft alternatives and away from hardening.


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Living Shorelines 101
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Contractors
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Regulatory and Permitting
  • Easy living shoreline creation
  • =
  • Easy permitting


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Incentives
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Plant Supply
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Community Involvement
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Partners
  • Apalachicola Riverkeeper
  • Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance
  • Florida Department of Environmental Protection
  • Ecosystem Restoration Section
  • Office of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas
  • Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Northwest Florida Water Management District
  • PBS&J
  • Pensacola Gulf Coast Keepers
  • St. Andrew Bay Environmental Study Team
  • St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association
  • Sea Grant Extension
  • University of Florida
  • University of West Florida
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  • West Florida Regional Planning Council
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"Melody_Ray-Culp@fws.gov"
  • Melody_Ray-Culp@fws.gov
  • 850-769-0552 ext. 232
  • http://ecos.fws.gov/coastal