History, Vision, and Mission of The Coastal Trust
History
The Coastal Trust, Inc. was started to address environmental, resilience, and quality of life issues on America's coasts and coastal plains. Even with historic federal investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, many communities do not have the capacity to access needed funds. With strained state and local budgets, many communities cannot cover the capital costs of maintaining drinking water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure. A significant amount of time and resources have gone into developing infrastructure capital improvement plans, watershed management plans, coastal resilience plans, and fish and wildlife habitat protection plans. Too often these plans sit on the shelf. An organization was needed for implementation, to address the inequities facing many rural and coastal communities and protect critical fish and wildlife habitat.
Vision
In 2014, the US Congress created the Regional Conservation Partnership Program through USDA and also authorized development and implementation of watershed finance partnerships through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, an EPA revolving loan fund managed by EPA in partnership with state finance authorities. This signaled a new era in partnership, where traditional silos within government agencies were broken down so that funds could be leveraged and resources effectively allocated for water quality. This process is ongoing. TCT is working to help make the connections between agencies and at times within agencies, with a vision of integrating water quality and fish habitat funding where the beneficiary of each program pays. This follows previous successful efforts by TCT staff to integrate water quality programs for conservation and infrastructure.
Mission
TCT offers equitable and affordable access to conservation and infrastructure program management and support services, including technical and financial assistance for governments and non-profits within the following disciplines:
Coastal Conservation - Aquifer, Forest, Wetland, Shoreline, and Sandhill Restoration and Preservation. Carbon and Biodiversity Credit Development
Water Resources - Hydrological Restoration, Coastal Resilience, Flood Mitigation, Surface and Groundwater Protection and Governance
Infrastructure - Drinking Water Treatment and Distribution Asset Management, Source Water Protection, Sewer and Wastewater Treatment Asset Management, Stormwater Asset Management, Septic to Sewer Conversions
Fish and Wildlife Habitat - Forest, Wetland, and Grassland Restoration and Preservation with focus on the expansion of USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System and protection of marine environments.
Fisheries Management - Program Management and project implementation. Habitat protection plan development and implementation. Coordination of habitat protection along length of fish and wildlife migratory routes.
Integrated Watershed Management - Coordination between jurisdictions and disciplines to form and implement watershed partnerships for water quality management and watershed restoration.
Management Services - Socioeconomic Analysis to Identify and Address Environmental Justice issues, Stormwater Utility Development, Management of watershed partnerships. Grant Writing, Funding Coordination and Innovation.