Coastal current : a newsletter of the Georgia Coastal Management Program, 2020 November 1

Coastal Current
A newsletter of the Georgia Coastal Management Program
Vol. I, Iss. IV - Nov. 1, 2020

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Clemson grad welcomed as SeaGrant fellow

CRD STAFF REPORT

Crews with Zulu Marine place bagged oyster shell along Shell Creek on Little Cumberland Island.
Living shoreline completed

By JORDAN DODSON Wetlands Biologist
A multi-partner project to complete a living shoreline on one of Georgia's barrier islands has been completed.
In 2018, CRD, in partnership with Little Cumberland Island Homeowners Association, The Nature Conservancy, the Sapelo Island National Estuarine

Research Reserve, the Caretta Foundation, and Coastal Wildscapes, was awarded a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant for the construction of a living shoreline along Shell Creek, Little Cumberland Island. This living shoreline project will be beneficial through the creation and preservation
See SHORELINE, Page 2

Meghan Angelina will be serving

as the 2020-2021 Georgia Sea Grant

State Fellow at CRD. This program

gives students and recent graduates

the opportunity to gain

direct experience in

coastal management and

marine policy. Angelina

will be leading a flood

literacy project where

she will investigate the scope of flood terms

Angelina

being used by various organizations

within the field and promote efficient

communication of coastal flood hazards

between groups and with the public.

CRD has awarded over $22 million

through their Coastal Incentive Grant

See FELLOW, Page 2

GCMP accepting Coastal Incentive Grant proposals

New application portal will streamline process
By BETH TASCOTTI Grant Specialist
Cycle 24 of CRD's Coastal Incentive Grants is in full swing. In September, a press release was sent to coastal newspapers and posted on our website announcing the opening of the grant cycle with the publishing of the request for proposals. In October,

three virtual CIG workshops were conducted, with a total attendance of 28 people from local governments and educational institutions. CRD has had follow-up calls with people seeking additional information. Preapplications are due on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020, and full applications will be due Feb. 12, 2021.
One major change to this year's CIG process is that we will be using an online submission portal for the entire grant process. This includes

the pre- and full application, as well as reporting. The online portal will allow for a more consistent process and better data collection and analysis. Visit our website for more information: www.CoastalGaDNR. org/CoastalIncentiveGrant
The Cycle 23 Coastal Incentive Grants awarded this year were:
"Sustainable Ecotourism & Shorebird Habitat Protection: Building a Certification See PROJECTS, Page 3

Coastal Current

From SHORELINE of essential fish habitat, the potential to improve water quality through the addition of living organisms, and the ability for the island to become more resilient to shifting sea levels as the shoreline matures and oysters and plants expand to stabilize the bank.
Construction was completed in September 2020. Also associated with the grant is the publication of a children's book on living shorelines, which is expected to be published by 2023. Two workshops will also be held in Camden County to highlight living shorelines as nature-based shoreline management techniques.
From FELLOW program, and Angelina will be working to inventory climate related projects that have been completed over the last 22 years.
Angelina grew up in Newark, Delaware, and spent her summers frequenting Ocean City, Maryland, where she fell in love with the coast. In May 2016, she obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Science-Biology from the University of Tampa with minors in Environmental Science and Chemistry. After graduating, she completed the NOAA-NGI Diversity Internship and held a research technician position in the Fisheries Ecology and Oceanography Laboratory at the University of Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. Most recently, Angelina graduated from Clemson University in August 2020 with her Master's in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. Her thesis focused on the environmental drivers of Southern Flounder growth, condition, and recruitment in Alabama's coastal waters.
Coastal Current is published by the Georgia Coastal Management Program of the Coastal Resources Division (CRD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

Bryan Co. starts disaster recovery plan
The Bryan County Disaster Recovery and Redevelopment Plan kicked off on Tuesday Aug. 25. Due to COVID-19, the meeting was split into two sessions with the county meeting first. Attendees were welcomed by Georgia Emergency Managament and Homeland Security Director Homer Bryson and the cities of Richmond Hill and Pembroke held their meeting in the afternoon as welcomed by Representative Buddy Carter. Bryan County is the ninth county to go through the DRRP process, with Effingham and Long remaining on the coast. CRD has facilitated these planning steps for all coastal counties beginning in 2013 when former Governor Deal signed an executive order. All 11 coastal counties will have DRRPs by the end of 2021.
-- Jennifer Kline, Coastal Hazards Specialist

Study examines stormwater

management best practices

By KELLY HILL Green Infrastructure Specialist
In 2016, the Georgia Coastal Management Program funded an Inventory of Stormwater Low Impact Development (LID) Best Management Practices (BMPs) located in the 11 coastal counties. The practices inventoried included permeable pavement, cisterns, bioswales, bioretention, stormwater wetlands, green roofs, rain gardens and rain barrels located on civic, public, commercial, and mixed-use properties. The goal of this project was to collect as much data as possible on different types of BMPs and provide that information online in a mapped format - allowing

practitioners to locate on the ground BMPs in their area. The current Inventory can be viewed online at CoastalGaDNR. org/DemoSites. You can view information collected for each site as well as associated photos for each practice. Since the Inventory represented a snapshot in time, GCMP is funding an update to the Inventory. GCMP will partner with UGA Marine Extension/Ga. Sea Grant and Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood to add new sites, update existing sites, and add a more detailed and local construction and maintenance cost pilot study, and conduct an outreach strategy that will provide workshops to local governments and industry practitioners on the findings of the updated Inventory.

Coastal Current

Survey slated to improve GIS user experience
Surveys launched in mid-October

By COLBY PEFFER GIS Specialist

CRD's two geospatial data portals, the Georgia Coastal and Marine Planner (GCAMP), and Georgia Wetlands Restoration Access Portal (G-WRAP), will each be hosting user surveys this fall and winter.
The aim of the surveys is to gain an understanding of each visitor's objectives in visiting the portals and to understand who the users and stakeholders are, how they use the portals, applications, and widgets within each portal, and how the portals can be improved upon in the future to better suit CRD staff's and the stakeholder's needs.
User surveys were launched in midOctober and will be analyzed in the spring and summer of 2021.
The portals are a collaboration with Georgia Tech and can be found at www. geospatial.gatech.edu/GCAMP/ and www. geospatial.gatech.edu/G-WRAP/ .

This screenshot shows the Georgia Wetlands Restoration Access Portal (G-WRAP), which will host a user survey this fall and winter to improve user experience.

From PROJECTS Program for Tour Guides" by UGA Research Foundation, Katie Higgins
"Experiential Learning to Foster Appreciation and Conservation of Coastal Wetlands" by UGA Research Foundation, Katy Smith
"Applicability of HGM to Georgia Salt Marsh Mitigation" by UGA Research Foundation, Lori Sutter
"Artificial Reefs, Habitat, and Bathymetry in Georgia Coastal Waters, PH II," by UGA Research Foundation, Clark Alexander
"Jekyll Island Fortson Pond Restoration - Improve Water Quality and Habitat for Fish, Plants, and Wildlife," by Jekyll Island Authority, Yank Moore

"Rethinking Runoff Plan -

Green Infrastructure Feasibility

Assessment," by City of

Brunswick, Garrow Alberson

"Reducing Non-Point Source

Pollution and Increasing

Resiliency," by UGA Research

Foundation, Leigh Elkins

"Assessing the Utility of eDNA

Techniques to Monitor White

Shrimp Abundance," by Georgia

Southern University, John Carroll

"Evaluating the Use of

Biodegradable

Hardscape

for Oyster Reef Habitat," by

Savannah State University, Dion

Hoskins Brown

"Faces of Resiliency Video

Project," by UGA Research

Foundation, Anne Lindsey

"Coastal Empire Resilience Network," by Metropolitan Planning Commission, Chatham County, Kait Morano
"Evaluating Best Practices for Dune Restoration," by City of Tybee Island, Alan Robertson
"Are Georgia's Salt Marshes Keeping Up With Sea Level?" by UGA Research Foundation, Amanda Spivak
"Estimating the Economic Imparct of Recreational and ForHire Fishing in Georgia," by UGA Research Foundation, Adam Stemle
"Boat Stories: Leveraging Cultural Heritage," by Georgia Southern University, Jennifer Tookes