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Rigs to Reefs Meeting
Note: This event website is for the full GSMRC meeting, but if you are attending only this Rigs to Reefs meeting, select "other" for payment and put the following into the comments/notes section: "Attending GOMA meeting only."
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 March 24-27, 2014
Omni Hotel-Galleria
Houston, Texas
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Annual Gulf of Mexico Climate Community of Practice Meeting
April 7-9, 2014
Orange Beach, AL
Register Here |
SAVE THE DATE
Gulf Coast Land Conservation Annual Mtg.
May 12-13, 2014
Mobile, AL |
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PRIORITY ISSUE TEAM CONFERENCE CALLS:
Ecosystems- March 5th at 10:00am central
Education- March 11th at 10 am central
Resilience - April 1st at 10:00 am central
Team Coordinators have call-in information - see Quick Links, below. |
| MAPPING RESTORATION PROJECTS |
GOMA has been working hard on a map that will allow users to view restoration projects as well as research activities in progress across the Gulf. Click here to see the site!
Currently, the site contains projects from GOMA, GoMRI, NFWF, and early NRDA, with more to be added in the future. Coming soon are projects from states, Sea Grant, and National Academy of Sciences.
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Come See Us!
We love visitors! With our new
sign out front, you can't miss us. Stop by 1151 Robinson Street in Ocean Springs, Mississippi and we'll show you around.
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| Congratulations to our Photo Contest Winner |
 The competition was tight but Sherry Halbrook from Port Aransas, Texas is our official winner of the 2014 GOMA Photo Contest. Her photo will be placed on the new GOMA website in a prominent location. Congratulations to Sherry and a big thank you to all who submitted photos. To see all entries in the photo contest click here. |
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PRIORITY ISSUE TEAM SUCCESS
New Animated Ecosystem Services Videos |
 To increase awareness and understanding of ocean ecosystem services, GOMA's Ecosystems Integration and Assessment and Environmental Education teams joined forces in the development of learning tools easily comprehensible by and accessible to educators and the general public.
View the video in English
View the video in Spanish
View the video in Vietnamese |
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REGISTRATION OPEN
GOMA PIT Meetings and 10 Year Anniversary
May 19-21, 2014
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 Registration is open for this year's GOMA PIT meetings and anniversary celebration. All events will take place May 19-21 in historic downtown Mobile, Alabama at the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel.
Registration, room block, and sponsorship information is available here.
Meeting agendas will be posted as they become available!
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| Marine Planning Meeting Summary |
 Representatives from state and federal government, tribes, non-profit organizations, and academia convened on February 11th in Biloxi to discuss marine planning in the Gulf. Federal agencies held a morning session to discuss how they could support state marine planning efforts. One action item from the meeting is the creation of a federal catalog of resources, data, and tools available to support marine planning efforts. The afternoon session included several informative presentations by state agencies which detailed the work they are conducting and where they are headed with future efforts. Three tribal members attended and expressed their interest in participating, denoting where they can contribute. Plans are underway for follow-up conversations. |
| NASA Chief Scientist Takes Interest in GOMA |
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 During a recent outreach and briefing tour, NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Ellen Stofan and NASA Deputy Chief Scientist, Dr. Gale Allen, met with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance and other cooperative programs at Stennis Space Center. Dr. Stofan and Dr. Allen were interested to learn about how the successful collaborative efforts in the Gulf region work, especially related to federal agencies and their support for regional priorities. Laura Bowie (Executive Director) and Duane Armstrong (GOMA AMT member from NASA), explained how Gulf organizations work well together because they realize the value in collaboration. Specifically, Dr. Stofan and Dr. Allen learned how NASA's data supports Gulf regional initiatives such as habitat mapping and nutrient distribution modeling.
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Department of Defense Legacy Program Funding |
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For fiscal year 2015, the Legacy Program will emphasize the following priority Areas of Emphasis (AOEs), though proposals will be considered against all AOEs:
* Readiness and Range Sustainment (Integrated)
* Species At-Risk, Species of Concern and Declining Species and Habitat (Natural)
* Efficiencies in Historic Preservation (Cultural)
They will evaluate all proposals for benefit and relevance to military mission objectives; anticipated program efficiencies and cost savings; the transferability and applicability of project results; the project's strategy to engage partners and leverage resources; and whether efforts are regional and/or multi-Service in nature.
Program Guidelines and Instructions for Submitting Proposals |
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REGIONAL INITIATIVES
Gulf Restoration Updates
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Did You Know? The new GOMA website has a Gulf Restoration page which outlines the efforts resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. See it here.
RESTORE Council: The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council released the Initial Comprehensive Plan: Restoring the Gulf Coast's Ecosystem and Economy in August 2013 to provide a framework to implement a coordinated, region-wide restoration effort in a way that restores, protects, and revitalizes the Gulf Coast. Download the Plan here.
Alabama: The Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council (AGCRC) is a 10-member council comprised of state and local officials, created with the passage of the RESTORE Act in 2012. The AGCRC adopted a Strategy Map and tapped ADCNR to serve as administrator. For additional information on the AGCRC, visit restorealabama.org. To learn about other state-specific restoration activities, including NRDA, NFWF and AGCRC, visit www.alabamacoastalrestoration.org.
Mississippi: As part of the on-going effort to Make Mississippi Whole, MDEQ recently announced a state-of-the-art online program for submission of project ideas for consideration across all funding sources, including RESTORE, NRDA, and NFWF. Visit www.restore.ms to learn more or to submit project ideas.
Florida: FDEP is the lead agency for responding to impacts and the resulting restoration process. For information about restoration in Florida, including projects funded by RESTORE Act, NRDA and NFWF, visit www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon.
Louisiana: Information on Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan restoration efforts can be found by visiting CPRA's site. Information on Louisiana's NRDA restoration can be found here.
Texas: Coming Soon: a website where people can learn more about the process of restoration along the Texas coast:
www.restorethetexascoast.org. (NOTE: this web page is still under construction and is not yet active.)
NOAA RESTORE Act Science Program: NOAA announced the release of its RESTORE Act Science Program Framework in December. The Framework communicates NOAA's intent, purpose and rationale for how it will execute the Program according to its responsibilities under the RESTORE Act. It will inform the Program's short-term priorities and provide the foundation for a robust Science Plan. Click here for more information on the Framework and recent announcements.
National Academy of Sciences' Gulf Research Program:
The Gulf Research Program recently convened its Advisory Group on February 11-12 in Houston, Texas. The meeting was devoted to synthesizing what they learned during the Gulf listening sessions and virtual meetings and beginning to develop the program's visioning document. They are currently planning three information-gathering workshops to be held in 2014. The first workshop will focus on human health, the second on environmental monitoring, and the third on training. Details will be announced on their website and by e-update. For more information about the program, visit www.nas.edu/gulf.
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| Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Update |
GoMRI just announced the development of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Individual Investigators or Small Collaborative Teams for 2016-2018. The RFP, to be released in mid-November 2014, will select the research activities for GoMRI Years 6-8 (1 January 2016 - 31 December 2018) involving individual investigators or collaborative efforts comprising a principal investigator and up to three co-principal investigators. The total funds available for distribution through the 2016-2018 GoMRI Individual Investigators RFP will be approximately $9 million per year. Please see the GoMRI RFP-V webpage for more detailed save the date information! |
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