United States
                      Environmental Protection
                      Agency
Office of Research and
Development
Washington DC 20460
EPA/620/R-01/001J
  December, 2001
>&EPA   Coastal Communications
                     Science  to  Achieve Results  (STAR)
                Estuarine and Great  Lakes (EaGLe)  Program
                          ORD/OW/EPA Regions/States/NASA
                  Background
                  EPA, through its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) competitive grants research program,
                  has established five Estuarine and (Sreat Lakes (EaSLe) programs at major academic
                  research institutions with strong coastal expertise. Additionally, NASA is supporting
                  associated remote sensing research at three of these institutions.  The EaSLe program
                  associated with these universities is an extramural component of the EPA's Office of
                  Research and Development's (ORD) National Center for Environmental Research (NCER)
and ORD's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The researchers at these universities
will be working collaboratively with EPA's Office of Water, EPA Regional Offices, and states to develop the
next generation of environmental indicators for use by states in assessing the biological health of estuaries and
the Sreat Lakes.

Approach
The following five EaSLe grants were awarded in Fiscal Years 2001/2002.
Geographic Area
(Sreat Lakes
Atlantic Coast
Atlantic Coast
Pacific Coast
(Sulf of Mexico
Lead Institution
University of
Minnesota-Duluth
Pennsylvania State
University
University of
North Carolina
University of
California-Davis
University of
S. Mississippi
Co- Institutions
Minnesota Sea Grant College Program; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; University of
Wisconsin, Green Bay; University of Wisconsin, Madison; Cornell University; University of
Windsor, Canada; and John Carroll University
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences;
East Carolina University; and the Environmental Law Institute
University of Maryland; the University of South Carolina; the Marine Biological Laboratory
at Woods Hole, Massachusetts; the NOAA Beaufort Laboratory
University of California- Santa Barbara; University of Georgia; The Bay Institute of San
Francisco; San Francisco Estuary Institute
University of West Florida; Florida State University; the University of Florida; the
University of Alabama; Louisiana State University; Southeastern Louisiana University; The
University of Texas Marine Science Institute; and the University of Washington
Indicators evaluated or developed by the EaSLe Programs are intended to be used by states in their long term
monitoring programs to establish the integrity and sustainability of each state's portion of the nation's coastal
ecosystems.  The university investigators have extensive knowledge and experience in their geographic focus
area, understand the uniqueness of the habitats occurring there (e.g., sea grass beds, coastal wetlands, coral
reefs, etc.), and have a keen understanding of many of the likely stressors affecting their coastal resources.

Further Information
For further information, please contact Barbara Levinson at the National Center for Environmental Science
(NCER), 202-564-6911 or Levinson.barbara@epa.gov ; or Greg Colianni at EPA's Office of Water, 202-260-4025
or colianni.gregory@epa.gov ; or John Schneider at EPA Region 5, 312-886-0880 or  Schneider.john@epa.gov .
Please visit the coastal communications web site at http://www.epa.gov/ged/crc.htm.  For information on
individual grants, visit the NCER web site at http://es.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/grants/00/envind/.

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