You are here:
IMPROVING ESTUARINE EVALUATION THROUGH OUTREACH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO STATES, TRIBES AND OTHER PARTNERS: EPA'S NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT
Citation:
Harvey, J E., V D. Engle, J M. Macauley, L C. Harwell, AND L M. Smith. IMPROVING ESTUARINE EVALUATION THROUGH OUTREACH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO STATES, TRIBES AND OTHER PARTNERS: EPA'S NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT. Presented at Estuarine Research Federation, Seattle, WA, Sep 14-18, 2003.
Description:
The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) National Coastal Assessment (NCA) is a large-scale, comprehensive environmental monitoring program designed to characterize the ecological condition of the Nation's coastal resources. A key to this successful program is the development of partnerships based on technology transfer from EPA's Office of Research and Development to states, tribes, and other program participants. The NCA monitoring and assessment protocols are adapted from the EPA-Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program. Survey designs are developed using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and probabilistic site selection methods to provide assessments with known confidence of coastal condition at state, regional and national scales. Since 2000, NCA partners participated yearly in coastal sampling activities. Cornerstones of the NCA program are the technology transfer workshops and field training to acquaint participants with NCA standardized methods and protocols. These workshops offer partners the opportunity to learn more about the development of assessment questions, conceptual models, survey and response designs, quality assurance, data analysis and interpretation, information management and reporting. NCA standardized methods, sampling design, and workshop training will be highlighted; integration and comparison of data at local, state, regional, and national levels will be demonstrated.