Evaluations of Coastal Zone Management Act Programs: State Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves

This is a request for a revision of an approved information collection. As part of this submission, a few questions will be modified to clarify the information that should be provided as part of the information requests and questionnaires sent to the coastal program and reserve managers. One new question about efforts in racial equity and engagement with underserved communities will be included for coastal management program and reserve managers. A few questions will be revised to clarify and improve the usefulness of responses for the partners and stakeholders’ survey. Given the addition of a designated research reserve since the last renewal of this information collection, the anticipated designation of additional reserves in the coming years, and an increase in Office for Coastal Management staff capacity to conduct evaluations, the number of CZMA programs to be evaluated, on average, in the next three years will increase from 11 to 12 programs per year. This increase in the number of programs to be evaluated will also increase the number of partner and stakeholder respondents to this information collection. The Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended (CZMA; 16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq.) requires that state coastal management programs and national estuarine research reserves developed pursuant to the CZMA and approved by the Secretary of Commerce be evaluated periodically. This request is to collect information to accomplish those evaluations. NOAA's Office for Coastal Management conducts periodic evaluations of the 34 coastal management programs and 30 research reserves and produces written findings for each evaluation. The Office for Coastal Management has access to some documentation regarding each program. However, additional information from each coastal management program and research reserve, as well as information from the program and reserve partners and stakeholders with whom each works, is necessary to evaluate against statutory and regulatory requirements. Different information collection subsets are necessary for 1) coastal management programs, 2) their partners and stakeholders, 3) research reserves, and 4) their partners and stakeholders.

The latest form for Evaluations of Coastal Zone Management Act Programs: State Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves expires 2027-05-31 and can be found here.

Coastal Zone and NERR managers information

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Natural Resources - Conservation, Marine and Land Management

Review document collections for all forms, instructions, and supporting documents - including paper/printable forms.