This week, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation announced the Sanctuary Community Fund , which will disperse $2 million in funding over the next two years to communities with plans to “support the discovery, testing, piloting, nurturing, capacity, and spread of the best ideas to protect our ocean[s] and Great Lakes.”
In other words, it’s time to put our surfy heads together and share in some hand-in-hand envisioning of improved coastline protection and access, among other things including “conservation, stewardship, restoration, visitation, recreation, preservation of history, and celebration of cultures.”
Lest you want that call for “recreation” upgrades to manifest a la Florida’s latest round of state-park funding by way of a pickleball court , some dedicated involvement and careful consideration from us beach-traipsing members of the public are in high order.
The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s president and CEO, Joel R. Johnson, made the following proclamation about the missions of marine sanctuaries and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding: “Marine sanctuaries are people-powered, local, and community-driven. The Sanctuary Community Fund will directly strengthen U.S. coastal economies, our natural environment, and maritime heritage. The fund aims to increase access and equity by making capacity-building investments at the community level. This pioneering Fund for marine protected areas makes great use of the Biden-Harris administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funds to amplify community voices on behalf of conserving their marine resources and strengthening sanctuaries.”
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This initial round of funding for the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, which comes through NOAA, is part of broader Biden-Harris Administration’s 2023 investments in coastal climate resilience and marine-resources protection, to the tune of $2.6 billion.
Now, $2 million may be a relatively miniscule sliver of that $2.6-billion pie, but the Foundation plans to leverage the starter package to garner private investment, hopeful that the power of public-private partnership will help bring about collaborative and inclusive solutions to the challenges our sanctuaries and watersheds face.
Self-aware of the vagaries of this funding, and unlike certain state-level proposals taking place in sotto voce behind closed doors, the Foundation’s first grants will encourage proposals dedicated to outreach and public participation of “diverse sectors of the community.” Selection for grant funding will place particular importance on input from Indigenous governments, organizations, and peoples, along with other underrepresented groups. go to community partners advocating and advancing sites “currently in and recently completing” sanctuary designation but lacking the resources to do so, with a request for proposals from said community contingents to be published on October 7, 2024, on the Foundation’s homepage, marinesanctuary.org .
What will come of this? Time will tell as ever and always, but as with any local-level, grassroots community organization, getting involved can only help. Politics, at base level, is the art of controlling one’s own environment, and surfers can’t afford to sit silent in such matters, except if prospects of a pickleball court, or some other such–perhaps worse–effrontery to your local waterfront perturbs not. At the very least, be advised.
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