Call to Action: Restore our Coasts and Estuaries
Our nation's coasts and estuaries are in serious trouble. The United States has lost 55 million acres of coastal and estuarine habitat along its coastline due to development, pollution, and other human-made and natural causes, and its coastal habitat continues to disappear at a rate of between 1.2 percent and 9 percent a year.
Please tell the new Administration and Congress how important coasts and estuaries are to our economy and wellbeing and urge them to protect and restore our nation's coasts and estuaries for future generations.
Our nation's coasts and estuaries are in serious trouble. The United States has lost 55 million acres of coastal and estuarine habitat along its coastline due to development, pollution, and other human-made and natural causes, and its coastal habitat continues to disappear at a rate of between 1.2 percent and 9 percent a year.
Please tell the new Administration and Congress how important coasts and estuaries are to our economy and wellbeing and urge them to protect and restore our nation's coasts and estuaries for future generations.
Healthy coasts and estuaries are essential to the nation's economy and wellbeing. The aesthetic beauty of coasts and estuaries inspires us, provides opportunities for recreation, and teaches us about the natural environment. Estuaries provide unmistakable economic value to our nation, supporting a disproportionately large share of economic output and population. Coasts and estuaries protect more than $800 billion of trade each year, tens of billions of dollars in recreational opportunities annually, and more than 45 percent of the nation's petroleum refining capacity.
In addition to their economic value, healthy estuaries provide critical ecological functions. They provide habitat for plants, fish and wildlife, support threatened and endangered species, and filter pollutants from water. Healthy estuaries and coasts also enable our shorelines to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change and sea level rise. Restored salt marshes protect communities from storms and floods and may reduce the need to build seawalls to protect developed shoreline areas against sea level rise. Estuaries also help counter climate change by capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it.
Our nation's coasts and estuaries are in serious trouble. Pollution has rendered 44 percent of tested U.S. estuaries and 12 percent of ocean shoreline waters unfit for uses such as swimming, fishing, or supporting aquatic life. An estimated two million U.S. dams block 600,000 miles of passage for thousands of coastal fish that try to reach native spawning grounds. And, the United States has lost 55 million acres of coastal and estuarine habitat along its coastline due to development, pollution, and other human-made and natural causes, and its coastal habitat continues to disappear at a rate of between 1.2 percent and 9 percent a year.
Our Vision for the Future
We envision healthy and abundant coastal and estuarine ecosystems on every coast of the United States, and a shared and common national effort to protect and restore these irreplaceable resources, and the communities and livelihoods that depend on them. We also envision a habitat restoration community that is a vibrant, diverse collection of tens of thousands of individuals, organizations, businesses, and government agencies working together to restore our coasts and vital estuaries. Together, this group of scientists, practitioners, engineers, volunteers, and others will have the capacity, support, knowledge, and expertise necessary to restore the health of our nation's coasts and estuaries.
How Do We Get There?
We the undersigned call on the new Administration and the 111th Congress to strengthen the nation's ability to restore and protect estuarine ecosystems by taking the following critical actions:
1. Increase the Pace and Scale of Restoration
The new Administration and the 111th Congress should provide capacity and funding to significantly increase the pace and scale of coastal and estuarine habitat restoration. The myriad of federal programs aimed at protecting and restoring coasts and estuaries has been underfunded. We urge the new Administration and Congress to show strong federal commitment to adequately invest in habitat restoration programs, and also to create innovative ways to support the management, protection, restoration, and understanding of coastal and ocean resources, such as through a national ocean trust fund.
2. Fulfill the Commitment to make Restoration a National Priority
The new Administration and the 111th Congress should fulfill the commitment to make coastal and estuarine habitat restoration a national priority. When Congress passed the Estuary Restoration Act in 2000, they recognized the importance of addressing the problems plaguing our nation's estuaries and restoring estuary habitat. This commitment, however, has not been fulfilled and the new Administration and Congress should ensure that restoration is a national priority, aggressive restoration goals are established, and funding is committed to achieve those goals. We also urge the new Administration to strengthen interagency coordination with the many federal agencies that play a role in habitat restoration.
3. Increase and Foster Restoration Partnerships
The new Administration and the 111th Congress should identify ways to increase and foster effective restoration partnerships that include diverse public and private organizations and agencies to maximize effectiveness at the federal, state, and local levels. Participation and coordination among diverse public and private groups and community and volunteer involvement are necessary components of successful habitat restoration, and they should be fostered by the new Administration and Congress.
4. Counter Climate Change Impacts through Restoration
The new Administration and the 111th Congress should actively pursue strategies to increase coastal and estuarine habitat restoration to strengthen the resilience of our coastlines to withstand and recover from climate change impacts and to increase carbon sequestration. Healthy estuaries help counter climate change by capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it. Additionally, communities that adequately protect the health of their natural coastal environment will be more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
5. Increase Support for Restoration Science, Monitoring, and Adaptive Management
The new Administration and the 111th Congress should increase support for restoration science, monitoring, and adaptive management. The habitat restoration community has the scientific knowledge to undertake complex restoration projects, but with a better understanding we will restore the health of our estuaries and coasts more effectively. The new Administration and Congress should provide support for restoration science and monitoring, which is critical to assessing restoration progress and success. An adaptive management approach should be encouraged and results should be communicated so that the restoration community can gain from collective experience.
I teach 4th graders about the importance of wetlands and their impact on Galveston Bay. The loss of wetlands impacts loss of habitat, nursery areas, flood control, and pollutants in our water. In the long run, the impact of the above rolls over into our fishing and oystering industry, contact recreation and the list continues as the loss of wetlands continues.
I have spent most of my adult life fighting for rivers and estuaries. We need to do everything possible to protect and restore estuaries...they protect us from hurricanes and flood, provide nursuries for our food, and filter pollutants from runoff.
As a board member of Houston Audubon Society I know firsthand the devastation of hurricanes on our coastal estuaries. America needs to face the fact that coastal communities need help to restore their coasts.
The health of our coastal areas and estuaries have a direct economic impact on any and all coastal communities - fishing, private landowners, tourism/recreational, cost of mitigating issues. The impact is both short and long-term. Non-action enables further deteriorization and destruction. This legislative body has the opportunity to positively impact the economics and quality of life for habitat and individuals living and visitng our coastal areas and waterways. Thank you ahead of time for taking responsible actions to make a positive difference.
We need to continue to increase awareness about the value of our natural resources. The economic value can be used as a carrot to support the protection of coasts and estuaries. Thousands of visitors come from around the world to the Gulf Coast during bird migration times as well as many during summer to enjoy the Gulf, pumping money into the local economy. Let's keep our Coast attractive to birds and humans!!!
Thank you for your consideration and help. If you could see first hand the damage incurred by hurricane Ike, you would want to do all you could to stop further ruin and help in restoration.
Please place habitat restoration at the top of your priority list. Let's take care of the only place we all have to live, and the only palce that sustains life on this planet not just for us but for every liveing creature. Enough damn development! There are more important concerns than another damn nickel in someone's pocket.
I think it would be a great loss to future generations if we lost our natural habitat. We need to save it now before it's too late. I do my little part by volunteering, please do your's. Thank you.
Please restore the wetlands, this will help stop the loss of our coast line. This will benefit our habitat and create an equal balance. We need to do everything we can to stop the lost of out land. Thank you, Andria Buckmiller
I have confidence that President Obama will take the preservation and restoration of estuaries as an important focus. I hope that Congress will work hand in hand with him in his vision for real change.
Many citizens of Washington are working hard to preserve and restore our salmon runs. Please help us to help them by seeing to it they have healthy streams and shorelines.
H-E-L-P!!!
America's coastlines and estuaries play a vital part in our economic well-being. From recreation to transportation, millions of dollars depend on healthy coastal areas. Please do all you can to protect these important resources. Thank you.
As a Bridgeport, CT resident, I am working hard as a volunteer with CT Audubon and the Trust for Public Land to preserve and protect Bridgeport & Stratford's Pleasure Beach and Long Beach West. These 2 properties are adjacent and form a barrier beach on Long Island Sound and are habitat sanctuaries for the endangered Piping Plover. Preserving and protecting the fragile estuaries and habitats of Long Island Sound is imperative.
I have spent a life time on the coast growing up in the valley and moving north to Freeport. I witnessed the loss of habitat through development and modernization. It would be a shame to our children and the environment to allow the loss of such valuable coastal habitat. We need your help and commitment to preserve this vital resouce.
As an environmental professional, I understand the need for estuaries for a sustainable habitat.
I lived in the Houston, Texas area for over 30 years and anyone who has lived on or near the coast knows the importance of our estuaries and coast lines; not only for storm / erosion protection but also for the health of our fishing industries and wildlife.
Improving water quality and restoring our wetlands is a good investment in our future and in our present!
Save Puget Sound to save orcas, salmon & our civilization!
Please refocus EPA to help clean up our waters and restore our fisheries. It would be a tragedy if the Orcas of Puget Sound continue on their path to extinction!
As part of your economic recovery plan, please dedicate some resources to retoring our coasts and estuaries for recreation, safety from storm damage and for local economies relying on fragile fisheries.
Two salient benefits of functioning wetlands: (1)Supporting natural run fisheries such as Pacific & Atlantic salmon, lobster,crayfish, and flatfish species; and (2)Storm surge reduction, particularly with ocean levels rising.
