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About Coastal Management
It was in 1992 that Georgia embarked on a landmark project in conservation by starting the Georgia Coastal Management Program (GCMP). Five years later, in April of 1997, the state’s General Assembly authorized the program with the passage of the Georgia Coastal Management Act (O.C.G.A. 12-5-320 et. seq.). At that time, the Assembly designated the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Coastal Resources Division as the lead agency for administering the GCMP.
Shortly after this, in January of 1998, the Program passed another milestone with approval by the NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Georgia thus became the 32nd state to participate in the national Coastal Zone Management Program. Our state is now proudly entering its fourteenth year in this important federal-state partnership program.
It is the mission of the Georgia Coastal Management Program to balance economic development in Georgia’s coastal zone with preservation of natural, environmental, historic, archaeological, and recreational resources for the benefit of Georgia’s present and future generations.
The GCMP strives to balance economic development with the protection and preservation of invaluable coastal resources within its eleven-county coastal service area. Counties directly along the ocean are considered “first tier” counties and include Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, McIntosh, Glynn, and Camden. Immediately inland are the “second tier” counties: Effingham, Long, Wayne, Brantley, and Charlton. The core functions of the Program include:
• Coastal non-point source pollution management
Other activities of the Coastal Management Program include:
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