The study will examine the impacts of shoreline management on sheltered coastal environments (e.g. estuaries, bays, lagoons, mud flats, deltaic coasts) and identify conventional and alternative strategies to minimize potential negative impacts to adjacent or nearby coastal resources. These impacts include: loss of intertidal and shallow water ecosystems, effects on species, and loss of public trust uses. The study will provide a framework for collaboration between different levels of government, conservancies, and property owners to aid in making decisions regarding the most appropriate alternatives for shoreline protection.In particular, the committee will address the following questions:-What engineering techniques, technologies, and land management/planning measures are available to protect sheltered coastlines from erosion or inundation resulting from either natural or anthropogenically-forced processes? When does the design and implementation of these measures require a distinction between natural and anthropogenic causes and how can this be achieved? -What information is needed to determine where and when these measures are reliable and effective both from an engineering and a habitat perspective? What are the likely individual and cumulative impacts of shoreline protection practices or no action on sheltered coastal habitats including public and private property, and public access along the shore, locally and regionally?-Over what time frame are monitoring data needed to document the effectiveness of protective coastal measures? What data are needed to predict when design criteria may be exceeded? -Given current trends in erosion and inundation rates and a possible acceleration of relative sea-level rise, how can design criteria, the mix of technologies employed, and land use plans be implemented for the protection of the environment and property over the long term?This study is funded by EPA, USACE, CICEET (Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology).For more complete information on the status of this study, please go to this link (http://dels.nas.edu/osb/sheltered_coasts.shtml).The approximate starting date for the project is March, 2005.A Final Report will be issued at the end of the project in approximately 18 months.