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Methodology
Overview
To assess the availability of beach health indicator information we take the
perspective of the concerned citizen and spend considerable time surfing the
Web for readily-available information. We also examine information availability
from the perspective of the coastal zone manager. A survey was developed in consultation
with Coastal Zone Management staff in several states. This survey was sent
to the coastal zone management agencies in the 27 coastal states and territories
covered by this report. We have also solicited input directly from state CZM staff by asking them to provide updates to our information as new programs, policies and data sources become available.
We examined the responses we did receive, reviewed existing literature, phoned
coastal zone management agencies and, together with the results of our Web-based
search for information, compiled the state reports. This report should be regarded as a "living document" since it is frequently updated as new information becomes available.
For the State of the Beach report each state was evaluated on the public
availability of the information in the areas of beach access, surf zone water
quality, beach erosion, beach fill projects, shoreline structures, beach ecology,
surfing areas, and website. Each state was also evaluated on the status of beach
access, surf zone water quality, the extent of shoreline armoring, erosion response,
and surfing areas. For beach erosion each state was only evaluated on the public
availability of information because erosion is partly the result of natural processes
that cannot be controlled. Erosion response is a status indicator that is intended to be a measure of how well state policies and
procedures limit the extent of shoreline armoring. It is a corollary to the extent
of armoring, which is evaluated in the shoreline structures indicator. Beach
ecology is an information indicator that is meant
to focus attention on beaches as extremely important ecological niches as habitats,
breeding grounds and transitional zones between marine and terrestrial animals.
Each state is given a 1 through 10 score for each indicator, with 1 through 3 representing poor information or status, 4 through 6 representing fair information or status, and 7 through 10 representing good to excellent information or status.
The state and regional summary pages include a short overview discussion of some of the beach
health indicators that received a high or low ranking in each state, examples of factors that influenced the indicator scores, and a listing of Surfrider "Chapter Victories" that relate to one or more of the Beach Health Indicators.
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