NOAA Evaluating Rhode Island’s Coastal Regulatory Agency
WAKEFIELD, R.I. – October 7, 2024 – It’s not often one of the state’s environmental agencies gets a report card from the federal government.
This year the Coastal Resources Management Council has been undergoing a routine checkup from the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. When Rhode Island created the CRMC, the state joined the National Coastal Zone Management Program, which allows states along each coast and in the Great Lakes region to take charge managing and developing their shoreline areas.
As part of the program, states are required to be evaluated by NOAA every five to 10 years to ensure the state has remained consistent and compliant with the rules governing the program.
How CRMC has performed since its last evaluation in 2020 depends on whom you ask.
“I would say that it’s been middle of the road,” said Michael Woods, chair of the New England chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. “There were bright spots in CRMC’s performance, and then there are some structural things that we are very concerned about.”
CRMC has done especially well with two programs, in Woods’ estimation. He pointed to what the agency has accomplished with regard to public shoreline access. Since the last NOAA evaluation, the agency has designated nine additional rights of way, with five in Portsmouth and four more combined in North Kingstown and Providence. The agency has also stepped up with signage and informational sessions regarding the public’s right to the shore under the state law that went into effect last year. That law, which took effect in June 2023, clarifies the public’s right to laterally access the shore up to 10 feet landward of the visible high tide line — the line that is recognized by seaweed, shells, or other debris left by the tide.
Woods also pointed to CRMC’s role in funding habitat restoration. The agency awards money from the Coastal and Estuary Habitat Restoration Program and Trust Fund to municipalities, nonprofits, and other organizations with an aim at protecting marine and aquatic life. Projects in recent years have restored or repaired damage to South County marshes, from the Narrow River all the way down to the various salt ponds that line the shorelines of coastal communities.
Topher Hamblett, executive director of Save The Bay, a nonprofit that has long watchdogged CRMC, cited the agency’s promotion of coastal access as a strength, and noting the agency’s small staff.
“The staff has done phenomenal work, just keeping up with the workload that it has,” said Hamblett in an interview with ecoRI News…Click here to read the full article.