As population growth expands along U.S. coasts, coastal ecosystems are impacted by urban, industrial, and agricultural development. The U.S.’s coastal region, while only 17% of the area of the contiguous states, includes more than 53% of our population. Between 2009 and 2015 the population in this region will grow by 27 million people and attract 180 visitors annually. But issues that affect the coast – such as shoreline erosion, chemical contamination, algal blooms, habitat loss, and resource exploitation – threaten to diminish the health and economic utility of the coast. North Carolina for example has already lost 34% of its costal wetlands including habitats critical to a fishery industry which contributes more than $1 billion annually to the state’s economy.