2012 LAND GRANT AND SEA GRANT NATIONAL WATER CONFERENCE Portland, OR Wed May 23 rd , Session: D4. Watershed Success Stories Waterways and Waterfronts: Communities Partnering with NOAA Sea Grant to Find Management Solutions

As populations swell in coastal communities, conflicts among diverse waterfront stakeholders mount. This session is geared to coastal communities, and the coastal resource professionals working with them, that are seeking to: address the needs of public, private, and commercial interests in their waterfronts; and to retain working waterfronts as critical components of the local economy and culture. Participants will increase their knowledge of partnerships, strategies/policies, and tools to: balance demands and reduce conflict; and plan their waterfront's future. Across the US, communities, water-dependent industries, recreational users, private land owners, and other stakeholders face conflicts over access to shorelines and waterways. Demographic, socio-economic, and cultural shifts have resulted in heightened coastal conflicts and significant loss of working waterfronts that seriously impact coastal communities. But creative solutions and tools are being implemented at all levels. This session will focus on three models facilitated by NOAA Sea Grant Programs. The web site, www.accessingthemainecoast.com provides information on coastal access rights and responsibilities and shares cooperative, community-based legal tools. The Maine site has been adapted in five states and the template is available free to qualified applicants for replication elsewhere. A 2007 Newport, RI visioning workshop resulted in an inventory of Newport's port infrastructure, an economic baseline for the diversity of land and water uses in the harbor, and a public access initiative to establish a more recognizable & user-friendly 'Harbor Walk. ' Florida's Regional Waterway Management System provides unbiased information for balancing recreational boating demands, with natural resource conservation. The system allows local decision-makers to assign regional priorities, that has resulted in streamlined permitting, environmental mitigation, and saved millions of tax dollars.