|
 Since 2004, PCLF’s Central Coastal Watersheds Program has engaged in collaborative action working jointly with hundreds of individuals and over 50 community-based organizations and resource management agencies to initiate a process to define local priorities for coastal watershed in California’s Central Coast region. In its current effort, PCLF successfully initiated key actions in 2008 to support development of the Coast and Ocean Regional Roundtable Project that include:
- Engaged in reframing coastal resource management issues to consider the marine connection and land-based impacts to the marine environment
- Lead efforts to collaborate with key land-based watershed organizations and marine conservation groups to form an ongoing Coast and Ocean Regional Roundtable process
- Provided a mechanism to prioritize local and issues and identify important links to statewide policy goals
- Established a watershed-based approach to managing the Carmel River and effectively engaging local stakeholders in developing a plan for removal of the San Clemente Dam
 PCLF is currently working in three Central Coast counties including Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz to establish a clear understanding of critical links between land use policy, associated impacts to the marine environment, and specific solutions that will require broad-based public support. Goals for 2009 include:
Fostering New Approaches to Coastal Resource Management
Conduct a second year of Coast and Ocean Regional Roundtables to bring coastal watershed groups together with marine conservation groups to actively engage in designing and implementing local level coastal resource management strategies for California’s Central Coast.
Seeking Public/Private Partnerships
Enhancing opportunities for nonprofit organizations to engage directly in key action that includes: strategic planning processes to define coastal marine policy at the local level; and, identifying important opportunities to collaborate formally with other nonprofits and public agencies in project development for coastal resource management.
Building Strategic Alliances for Coastal Resource Stewardship
Link locally-based conservation and watershed restoration groups with resource managers and others engaged in developing and implementing resource management action in order to integrate local needs with statewide policies to improve coastal and marine resources on a regional scale.
The Regional Roundtables are modeled on the California and the World Oceans Forum designed to benefit from local expertise, bringing new perspectives and identifying critical gaps in local and regional policies and programs where innovative solutions will be needed in order to fully implement California’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) and specific elements of the California Ocean Protection Act (COPA) and COPA’s Five-Year Strategic Plan.
The annual Roundtables will harness existing expertise from both marine and land-based conservation groups to generate a new perspective on ocean protection that is strategic, collaborative, and regionally specific. CORRT will also target participation at its annual forum from among staff of local and regional resource agencies and local nonprofit conservation organizations, as well as key individuals representing community-based groups, business and professional groups, agricultural communities, coastal fishing communities, academic institutions, and local government. The following community organizations are involved in the current 2009 project planning process.
CORRT 2009 PLANNING GROUP PARTICIPANTS
Action Pajaro Valley
Carmel River Steelhead Association
Carmel River Watershed Conservancy
Central Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council
Central Coast Salmon Enhancement
Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District
Coastal Watershed Council*
Ecology Action
Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo
Greenspace
Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary*
Monterey Coastkeeper*
Morro Bay National Estuary Program
The Ocean Conservancy*
The Open Space Alliance
Resource Conservation District of Monterey County*
Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County*
Save Our Shores
Sierra Club, Santa Lucia Chapter
San Luis Obispo Coast Alliance
Watsonville Wetlands Watch
Wild Farm Alliance
Surfrider*
*Participating in multiple county CORRT Planning Groups
|
