The Coastal Program integrates all Service activities in high
priority coastal ecosystems to:
- Identify the most important natural resource problems and solutions;
- Influence the planning and decision-making processes of other agencies and organizations with the
Service's living resource capabilities;
- Implement solutions on-the-ground in
partnership with others; and
- Instill a stewardship ethic, and catalyze the
public to help solve problems, change behaviors, and promote
ecologically sound decisions.
Since the great majority of the Nation's coastal areas are in private
hands, conservation of these ecologically important habitats is vital to protecting coastal natural
resources. The key is to find solutions that ensure self-sustaining natural systems despite
conflicting demands on our natural resources.
The Coastal Program provides incentives for voluntary protection of threatened, endangered and
other species on private and public lands alike. The program's protection and restoration
successes to date give hope that, through the cooperative efforts of many public and private
partners, adequate coastal habitat for fish and wildlife will exist for future generations.
|