United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development Washington DC 20460 EPA/620/R-00/005L July, 2000 Coastal Communications NATIONAL COASTAL REPORT CARD COASTAL 2000 - NORTH CAROLINA ASSESSMENT OR&/REGION 4/OW/NC&ENR North Carolina Coastal 2000 Design Background The U.S. EPA's National Coastal Report Card (also known as Coastal 2000) is a multi-year partnership among EPA's Office of Research and Development, EPA Region 4, EPA's Office of Water and the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (NCDENR). This joint effort will evaluate the condition of coastal resources in North Carolina as part of a region wide assessment for EPA Region 4. This effort is being coordinated by the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory's Gulf Ecology Division in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Coastal 2000 Strategy The strategy for Coastal 2000 focuses on a strategic partnership with all coastal states within the United States. Using a compatible, probabilistic design and a common set of survey indicators, each state will conduct the survey and assess the condition of their coastal resources independently, yet, these estimates can be aggregated to assess conditions at the EPA Regional, biogeographical, and National levels. The map illustrated here shows the coastal resources included in the survey and the intended number of sampling sites in North Carolina for 2000. * f .i>-9vr,» Water Quality Dissolved oxygen Salinity, temperature, depth PH ' Nutrients Chlorophyll Sediment Quality Grain size Total organic carbon Sediment chemistry Benthic community structure Sediment toxicity Biota Community structure External pathology Tissue analyses Further Information For further information, please contact Kevin Summers at the National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory's Gulf Ecology Division at (850) 934-9244 or summers.kevin@epa.gov. General information on the U.S. EPA EMAP is available at http://www.epa.gov/emap. ------- |