COAST adaptive management cycle.

The initial version of COAST focuses on the CBP water-quality goal and will be most useful to CBP Federal, State, and non-governmental partners who implement management actions and provide grants to meet the goal. As more information becomes available at local scales, COAST should also become increasingly useful to local governments and watershed groups. COAST will help managers address questions such as:

• Where are the areas in the Bay watershed where management actions have the greatest potential to reduce nutrient and sediment loads to the Bay?
• What are the existing partner activities and resources that can be better aligned in an area?
• What is the optimal suite of actions to provide the greatest reduction of nutrient and sediment loads at the lowest cost?
• What are changes in water quality and progress toward management objectives?
• What are the factors affecting water-quality change?
• How can monitoring and progress results be evaluated to adjust strategies and management actions?

COAST provides information in an adaptive-management framework that emphasizes a structured and iterative decision process. Users are encouraged to follow the cycle of the COAST components (see figure). Most COAST components also have a suggested “decision process” to help users best utilize information to address each component.