New Hampshire’s Seacoast communities will face immense challenges as they adapt to current and predicted effects of climate change. Coastal communities will need to develop knowledge, tools, skills, perspective, and the motivation to plan for a future that sustains healthy ecosystems, economies, and people. To be successful, coastal communities will need coordinated and strategic action from a broad set of federal and state organizations.
New Hampshire has a history of strong partnerships and collaboration among federally funded programs focused on the coast and watershed. These partnerships have been built over time and are based on mutual respect, honest dialogue, and open sharing about current and future organizational directions. Direct and frequent communication among New Hampshire’s federally funded partners has resulted in deep programmatic connections and synergies that leverage each organization’s unique capacities and federal resources.
New Hampshire has an opportunity to document and build on the success of current partnerships to share lessons with the broader regional and national community and to become better prepared to support communities as they address climate change through effective and efficient collaboration.
This report was motivated by an interest in exploring the elements of what works in New Hampshire and areas for improvement within this system so we can continue to build on our success and share what we’ve learned with people working in similar settings and regions, in addition to national leadership of our organizations.
The report summarizes workshops held in the spring and summer of 2021 to explore the ways in which New Hampshire’s federally funded organizations currently partner, and to envision how these partnerships can evolve into the future to improve their ability to effectively work together to meet New Hampshire’s needs. Our hope is that the communities of New Hampshire will benefit from greater coordination, efficiency, and effectiveness among the state and federal entities, and that the lessons learned can inform similar partnerships in other states and regions.
Collaborative Report: Learning from and Strengthening New Hampshire’s Partnerships to Advance Coastal Resilience
Collaborating partners included:
New Hampshire Sea Grant
NOAA/Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and University of New Hampshire
National Sea Grant College Program
Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
NOAA/National Ocean Service and NH Department of Fish and Game
National Estuarine Research Reserve System
Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and University of New Hampshire
National Estuary Program
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Coastal Program
NOAA/National Ocean Service and NH Department of Environmental Services
Coastal Zone Management Program
Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems (NERACOOS)
NOAA/National Ocean Service/IOOS Office
Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS)
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Funded by NOAA Sea Grant, award #NA18OAR4170090, to New Hampshire Sea Grant.
