Projects can be extremely diverse, ranging from dune revegetation projects to citizen water quality monitoring efforts to community-wide waterfront revitalization projects. Through the Coastal Workshop program the FCMP helps local partners provide workshops on coastal issues. The FCMP provides money for the transportation and lodging of speakers and advertising in the FCMP's Coastal Currents newsletter and web site. The effectiveness with which management agencies perform activities, such as regulation, public outreach and funding, is increasingly under scrutiny. Governments at all levels are moving to develop systems to generate feedback with regards to management decisions.
Indicators can be a simple and cost-effective way to evaluate the validity of agencies' actions.
FCMP staff intends for FACT 2000 to not only present indicator data, but also provide valuable discussion of trends and interrelationships. The FCMP is initiating a multi-year project that works with both public and private interests in the Panhandle to design and implement conservation and development strategies and tools that effectively consider secondary and cumulative impacts. In the first year the Program will identify and evaluate current ecological conditions and management structures, and design a strategy for the following two years to develop cooperative relationships and plans for the Panhandle region. While the FCMP will bring a coastal and marine focus to the initiative, upland issues will also be critical to the project, and public and private partners will be asked to contribute time and expertise. A major objective of the project will be to analyze management tools such as local comprehensive planning in order to enhance the capacity of local governments in the region to effectively plan for both economic and conservation goals.