NOAA sharpening its focus on the Great Lakes region
New partnership with Great Lakes Commission

Ann Arbor, Mich. – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coastal Services Center helps local and state coastal resource managers across the nation’s coastal zone use remote sensing, social science, training programs, and geographic information systems to address coastal management issues. While the NOAA Coastal Services Center has undertaken many projects in the Great Lakes states, the organization is working with the Great Lakes Commission to expand these efforts. The first step is a coastal needs assessment, which will identify common regional needs, as well as ways to leverage existing and new resources, and build partnerships within this coastal area.

“Desotelle Consulting, PLC, based in Duluth, Minnesota, will conduct the bulk of the planning, data collection and analysis, and reporting for the regional coastal needs assessment,” said Tom Huntley, Commission Chairman, who heads the Minnesota Delegation for the Commission. “The evaluation will focus on ports and navigation, coastal community development, and information integration and distribution, and will identify where the NOAA Coastal Services Center can have the greatest impact,” added Huntley.

“Together, these three broad issue areas touch on virtually every one of the dozens of singular issues of importance to the region,” noted Victoria Pebbles of the Commission staff, who is managing the Commission’s work under this collaborative project.

Dave Knight of the Great Lakes Commission will be leading the needs assessment work for the ports and navigation issue area.

Dozens of experts throughout the Great Lakes region will be asked to participate on planning teams and provide guidance and feedback through the needs assessment process. Future activities and work under the Coastal Services Center–Great Lakes Commission partnership will be driven by the outcomes of the assessment.

“This collaborative approach maximizes the use of organizational and professional capabilities to ensure high-quality outcomes,” said Margaret Davidson, director of the NOAA Coastal Services Center.

The Great Lakes Commission, chaired by Lt. Gov. John Cherry (Mich.), is a nonpartisan, binational compact agency established under state and U.S. federal law and dedicated to promoting a strong economy, healthy environment and high quality of life for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region and its residents. The Commission consists of governors' appointees, state legislators, and agency officials from its eight member states. Associate membership for Ontario and Québec was established through the signing of a "Declaration of Partnership." The Commission maintains a formal Observer program involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, tribal authorities, binational agencies and other regional interests. The Commission offices are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.