Lauren Wenzel, Acting Director, NOAA Marine Protected Areas Center.
Lauren Wenzel, Acting Director, NOAA Marine Protected Areas Center, talks about a unique partnership coordinated through the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) to promote marine conservation, protect habitat, restore fisheries and sustain coastal communities across Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Through a series of videos produced in collaboration with the 24 aquariums of Coastal America’s Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center Network, marine conservation officials and other partners, this work will help connect and protect the ecologically and economically important marine protected areas of North America’s oceans and the Great Lakes. To find out more, please visit http://www.cec.org/marine
Watch the interview here.
To learn more about the Coastal America Partnership, please visit www.coastalamerica.gov.
Inspiring ocean stewardship through art, photography and film! One World One Ocean is hosting a special video contest for 7-12 grade students to be highlighted on World Oceans Day. Click the link below to learn more: http://www.oneworldoneocean.org/pages/world-oceans-day-video-contest
Stay posted for more updates about Coastal America’s special events during Capitol Hill Ocean Week and World Ocean Day with CA at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History with very special guests and ocean experts. To find out more, visit www.coastalamerica.gov.
On June 29, the Peconic Estuary Restoration Team received a Coastal America Partnership Award for their work in restoring fish passage on the Peconic River in Riverhead, NY. Thanks to a collaborative effort from the NY CWRP, EPA, NOAA and other important partners at the national, state and local levels, a dam was replaced with a rock ramp fishway in Grangebel Park in Riverhead in hopes to help return alewife and American eels to their historic habitat and spawning areas on the Peconic River.
In the spring of 2011, Seatuck installed a video-based system in the Peconic River to monitor alewife migrating up the Grangebel Park “rock ramp”. See how this CA partnership effort has paid off! Watch the video by following the link: http://bit.ly/HvczqL
Photo courtesy of www,seatuck.org
For more information about the CA Partnership, please visit www.coastalamerica.gov.
All of us here at the Coastal America National Coordinating Office want to wish you a Happy Spring! We look forward to upcoming Spring and Summer special CA events. Stay posted for updates. Learn more about Coastal America at www.coastalamerica.gov
Coastal America received over 1,450 submissions for the 2011-2012 Coastal America Ocean Art Contest from participating Coastal America Coastal Ecosystem Learning Centers from across North America. Students were asked to create a piece of artwork and an accompanying narrative that expressed one of the seven Principles of Ocean Literacy. Regional judges had the difficult task of choosing a winner and up to two honorable mentions from each age group per CELC. Read interviews with several of the CELC’s regional judges and find out how they selected their winners and why they think participation in the CA Ocean Art Contest is important.
Congratulations to all of our Regional winners and honorable mentions in the Coastal America 2011-2012 Ocean Art Contest! Winning entries will now be submitted to the National contest. National winners will be announced in May.
Entries at the National level will be selected by very special guest judges: world-renowned ocean explorer Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry, cartoonist Jim Toomey and marine life artist Wyland. National winners will be honored at a special awards ceremony at National Geographic Headquarters in Washington D.C. on June 7. Winning artwork will also be displayed at prominent locations around the city during Capitol Hill Oceans Week.
To see exclusive photos of the winning artwork at the regional level from our participating CELCs, be sure to check out the Coastal America Facebook page. For more information about the Coastal America 2011-2012 Ocean Art Contest, please visit www.coastalamerica.gov.
Do you want to know more about what the Coastal America Partnership has been up to in your area? Check out our regional updates.
We invite you to enjoy the new electronic version of Coastal America’s 2012 Winter newsletter! Please share freely. We welcome requests from anyone who wishes to be added to our email subscription list. Please contact CoastalAmerica@usda.gov.
For more information about the Partnership, visit www.coastalamerica.gov.
Read the newsletter here.
These students are working in the digital lab, editing their images in Photoshop from what they shot at the Florida Aquarium.
The 2011-2012 Coastal America Ocean Art Contest is inspiring ocean education among teachers and students across the nation! Lauren Tylera and Debbie Stone, liaisons for Coastal America at the Florida Aquarium partnered with art educators Molly Dressel and Linda Galgani from Howard W. Blake High School in Tampa, FL to develop a curriculum that taught students to understand Ocean Literacy from a ‘beyond the classroom’ perspective.
The Florida Aquarium provided free after school access to all Blake High School visual art students enrolled in 2-D Medium classes. The students were encouraged to draw and take photos of the exhibits to help inspire ideas for their art contest submissions. The students provided a weekly journal, research notes and sketches to their teachers as a development process for their final submissions.
Along with field trips to the Aquarium, the students studied examples of artwork from artists that worked within environmental and Ocean Literacy concepts. These artists included Clyde Butcher, David Doubilet, Josh Keyes and John James. Geared with a new found understanding of the Seven Principles of Ocean Literacy and access to the use of the computer and photography labs and Drawing and painting studios at their school, the students created their masterpieces.
Winners at the regional level from each aquarium are currently taking place with a fast approaching March 1 deadline. The winning artwork will then be submitted to the National Art Contest level with winners chosen by Coastal America’s special guest judges. Winners will be announced and awarded during a special ceremony hosted at National Geographic Headquarters in Washington DC on June 7, during Capitol Hill’s Ocean Week! To learn more about the CA art contest and CA news, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow @Coastal_America on Twitter.
To view the curriculum created by the educators at the Florida Aquarium and Blake High School, please visit www.coastalamerica.gov. Also, be sure to read CA’s blog post about how several 6th grade students in North Carolina applied in-depth ocean literacy education to creating artwork.
Coastal America recognized its first two Coastal America award recipients in 2012 for outstanding collaborative projects and excellence in leadership for protecting, preserving and restoring the nation’s coastal resources. On Wednesday February 8, 2012 the Middle Watsonville Slough Wetland Protection and Water Quality Partnership Team received the Coastal America Partnership Award at a ceremony on site in Watsonville, California. On February 9, 2012 the Resurrection Bay Conservation Alliance received a Spirit Award during a ceremony hosted at the Alaska Forum on the Environment in Anchorage, Alaska.
The Watsonville project team received the Partnership award for working collaboratively for over four years to acquire 490 acres and initiate numerous restoration projects within the Watsonville slough complex. The team has worked to improve water quality, and habitat for coastal species while maintaining agricultural heritage and economic viability of the community of the Monterey Bay region. The Watsonville Slough system is the largest freshwater wetlands in Santa Cruz County, and one of the largest in coastal California. The system features six interlinked sloughs and covers approximately 800 acres in and around the city. The slough is a haven for threatened red-legged frogs, endangered California pelicans, at least 10 other bird species of special state concern, while providing winter habitat for raptors and migratory waterfowl.
Terry Corwin, executive director of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, shares the history of the project with guests.Hiking tour of the restored site before the ceremony and reception.
The eleven partners in this project team include; The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, California State Coastal Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, California Wildlife Conservation Board, State Water Resources Control Board, Watsonville Wetlands Watch, Fitz Wetland Education Resource Center, The Nature Conservancy and The California Department of Fish and Game. Congratulations team Watsonville!
The Resurrection Bay Conservation Alliance (RBCA), a grass-roots non-profit organization based in Seward, Alaska, received the Spirit award for their efforts on marine debris and beach cleanups over the past several years of removing marine debris from the beaches of Kenai Fjords National Park and adjacent coastline and to better understand marine debris issues. The Park has a long-standing interest in this issue, but has lacked capacity in terms of personnel and an appropriate vessel. Kenai Fjords National Park and RBCA began a partnership five years ago to address marine debris in the park. The RBCA brought the capacity to perform the work in the form of volunteers and, a vessel, and expertise in marine debris protocols. Over the last six years, this partnership has cataloged and removed thousands of pounds of debris from Kenai Fjords National Park beaches, reducing hazards to marine life, while improving visitor experience and giving Kenai Fjords valuable data on marine debris and rate of accumulation. The project has also yielded an educational video about beach cleanup. Congratulations RBCA!
Ressurection Bay Conservation Alliance at a marine debris cleanup event.
The Coastal America Partnership Award is the highest level award for partnership efforts. This award from the President recognizes outstanding collaborative, multi-agency and multi-stakeholder efforts that leverage and combine resources to accomplish coastal restoration, preservation, protection, and education projects. The Coastal America Spirit Award recognizes exceptional projects that demonstrate the ‘spirit’ of teamwork for group efforts that are poised to address our challenging coastal issues. For a complete list of our 2011 winners, check out www.coastalamerica.gov. See exclusive photos and updates from CA award ceremonies by finding us on Facebook or following @Coastal_America on Twitter.
Coastal America’s 2011-2012 Art Contest goal is to inspire ocean stewardship through art and a better understanding of the seven principles of Ocean Literacy. Dr. Howard Ferren of the Alaska SeaLife Center hopes to accomplish a similar focus through his upcoming expedition, The GYRE Project. Check out the interview with Dr. Ferren to learn how both the CA Art Contest and the GYRE Project will help direct the next wave of change in ocean and marine issues. Read more>
