New York's waterfronts are extensive and diverse, and the Division of Coastal Resources is responsive to an array of conditions and issues that are as diverse as the waterfront. Different regions are in need of a different array of planning and technical assistance. Our regional and local initiatives are geared to the specific environmental, economic, and cultural characteristics of each region and locality.

Regional Initiatives
Thinking and acting regionally often provides the most effective framework for planning and implementing waterfront revitalization initiatives. The regional context helps clarify critical issues and set priorities for action. Many important waterfront issues, such as non-point pollution and waterbody management, require regional and intermunicipal cooperation for effective solution. Many communities have worked across municipal boundaries, pooling their resources and expertise to develop effective watershed plans and revitalization programs.

The first regional program developed by the Division was the Long Island Sound Coastal Management Program. The Long Island Sound encompasses 304 miles of shoreline in Westchester, Bronx, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties, and nearly one and a half million people. The regional analysis refined the New York State Coastal Management Program, including its coastal policies, to reflect the circumstances and needs of the Long Island Sound region.

The Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve is one of New York’s unique estuaries. Its 326-square-mile watershed is home to 1.5 million people, and supports critical tourism, seafood and recreation industries. The Comprehensive Management Plan for the Reserve is a regional initiative designed to deal with increasing development pressure and restore and preserve water quality and natural resources.

The Division of Coastal Resources is working with municipalities in the Finger Lakes region to foster cooperation on waterbody management. Watershed Management Plans for Cayuga, Canandaigua, and Conesus Lakes have already been completed.

New York’s Great Lakes watersheds are essential to sustaining clean water for fish and wildlife, drinking water supplies, agriculture, and a broad range of recreational activities. The Division, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Conservation, is administering New York's federally funded Great Lakes Coastal Watershed Restoration Program.

The Lake George Watershed Conference represents the nine municipalities and three counties around the lake, as well as five state agencies and eight non-profit organizations. This diverse partnership has completed a long term plan for protecting and improving water quality in Lake George, and continues to collaborate on plan implementation.

New York City is one of the world’s premier waterfront destinations. The Division of Coastal Resources has a long history of working with the City, the Boroughs, and a variety of community-based organizations to implement the original New York City Local Waterfront Revitalization Program. After 14 years of LWRP experience, the City updated the program to reflect changing conditions along its bustling, 578-mile waterfront, and the New Waterfront Revitalization Program was completed and approved in 2003.

Local Initiatives
The Division of Coastal Resources has long worked with individual communities to assist them in developing a vision and strategy to guide waterfront activities. Local initiatives cumulatively shape New York's waterfronts, and are a priority focus for the Division. It is the local decisions to develop, protect, restore, redevelop, or preserve the waterfront that will determine its characteristics far into the future.

Examples of local initiatives statewide provide evidence that communities play a major role in waterfront revitalization. Important initiatives designed to advance community goals for their waterfront include the Division's work in support of ongoing Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) planning and implementation, and the New York State Coastal Resources Interpretive Program (NYSCRIP).