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Mission Statement
To protect and preserve Narragansett Bay and its watershed through
partnerships that conserve and restore natural resources, enhance
water quality and promote community involvement.
The NBEP accomplishes this by:
- Promoting a holistic perspective of Narragansett Bay and its
watershed that includes social, economic and environmental aspects.
- Coordinating actions to protect and restore coastal ecosystems;
- Initiating and managing restoration plans and projects;
- Using collaboration and partnerships to address common goals;
- Identifying information needs; acquiring, interpreting and disseminating
data to support informed, science-based decision-making;
- Stimulating discussion on Bay issues and bringing expertise
through public workshops, professional forums and scientific symposia
and reporting on the results;
- Effectively keeping the public and policy-makers informed of
Bay and watershed issues;
- Matching resources to management needs through grants and partnerships;
- Supporting local watershed organizations in implementation and
training initiatives;
- Convening and coordinating interagency technical teams and workgroups
such as the Partnership for Narragansett Bay, R.I. Habitat Restoration
Team, and the Dissolved Oxygen Strike Team.
History Of The Program
The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program is part of the National
Estuary Program (NEP), a national network of 28 programs working
for collaborative solutions for estuaries designated by Congress
as of critical importance. Created in 1987 under the Clean Water
Act, the NEPs are charged with protecting and restoring U.S. estuaries
by engaging state and federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations
and local communities in planning and management decisions and actions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides base funding and
federal oversight for each of the NEPs, but program management is
typically the responsibility of an estuary stakeholder-based management
committee. The NBEP is also a member of the Association of National Estuary
Programs (ANEP), a nonprofit organization that supports the NEP network
and promotes implementation of NEP estuary management plans.
Section 320 of the Clean Water Act (National Estuary Program) states
that one of the main purposes of the NEP is to develop a comprehensive
watershed ecosystem plan for conservation and management of natural
resources in NEP estuaries. NEPs are required to have inclusive
stakeholder representation on any management or advisory committee.
Representatives of state and federal agencies (including EPA), interstate
or regional agencies, local governments, industry and business,
public and private educational institutions and the general public
should comprise such a committee. This stakeholder-based decision-making
process ensures that all interests are represented and increases
commitment to joint planning and action.
In 1993, the Governor of Rhode Island and the Administrator of
the Environmental Protection Agency affixed their signatures to
the Narragansett Bay CCMP, committing both entities, with other
partners who developed the plan's recommendations, to implementation
of the Bay plan. Concurrently, the CCMP was accepted as part of
the R.I. State Guide Plan, requiring that State agency and municipal
plans are consistent with the CCMP. The plan specifically recognizes
that it should be a living and dynamic plan and should be periodically
reviewed and revised to address current needs and issues.
In keeping with Congress' mandate, since 1993 the Narragansett
Bay Estuary Program has been implementing the CCMP by coordinating
planning, policy, technical assistance, science and outreach pertaining
to the Bay and watershed ecosystem. The NBEP is affiliated with
the Coastal Institute at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate
School of Oceanography.
NBEP Role in Ecosystem Management
Like the other National Estuary Programs, the NBEP is the only
planning, policy and project initiative with a specific federal
charge to work on a watershed/ecosystem basis and to do this in
a highly collaborative manner, based on an articulation of stakeholder
priorities for the watershed which is the foundation of a CCMP.
NEPs serve as catalysts in their watersheds: working to attract
and direct federal and other resources to local needs, building
needed scientific and watershed information, informing the public
and policy makers, convening collaborative workgroups around key
issues in estuary watersheds, supporting local grassroots-level
organizations to conduct implementation actions, promoting an ecosystem
perspective, and bringing together funding, partners and projects
to implement the defined goals and objectives of estuary management
plans.
The NBEP identifies areas of need where the program can have the
greatest impact, filling data and action gaps. Using its skills
in science, policy, management and communications, the NBEP seeks
to address key issues in the Narragansett Bay watershed, through
program and partnership action.
The program has taken leadership roles in several areas of Bay
and watershed management including the restoration of anadromous
fish to Bay rivers and streams and coastal marsh restoration, enhancing
bi-state connections with stakeholders in the Massachusetts part
of the watershed through grant programs and technical assistance,
tackling data needs by actions such as instituting the first dissolved
oxygen surveys of the Bay and creating the first baseline data sets
on the status of the state's coastal habitats, increasing accountability
and ability to measure environmental progress through development
and use of Bay and watershed indicators, and creating a mechanism
to broadcast information specific to Bay issues to the greatest
possible number of watershed residents and stakeholders through
the publication and distribution of the Narragansett Bay Journal.
Program Priorities in NBEP Workplans
- Bay Planning and Policy on an ecosystem/watershed basis
- Ecosystem Monitoring
- Narragansett Bay and Watershed Water Quality and Living Resources
- Technical & Funding Assistance for Communities and Watershed
Councils
- Habitat Inventory, Restoration & Protection
- Informing the Public and Policy Makers
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