The regional program is central to CZM's mission to balance the impacts of human activity with the protection of coastal and marine resources. The regional coordinators provide key functions including:
- Serving as liaisons between federal and state programs and coastal cities and towns on key initiatives within the coastal zone
- Coordinating with regional initiatives
- Leading CZM’s Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and federal consistency review efforts for projects within their regions, providing comments to ensure that projects effectively implement coastal policies and minimize impacts to coastal resources
- Providing technical assistance to coastal communities
- Facilitating local initiatives that are consistent with CZM program goals, such as resource management, watershed, and port/harbor planning efforts
- Leading the project management teams for the Coastal Resilience Grants and Coastal Habitat and Water Quality Grants in their communities, investing substantial effort to ensure that each project is successfully scoped and completed
Regional Offices
CZM maintains five regional offices that serve 78 coastal communities:
- North Shore: Amesbury, Beverly, Danvers, Essex, Gloucester, Ipswich, Lynn, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Marblehead, Nahant, Newbury, Newburyport, Peabody, Revere, Rockport, Rowley, Salem, Salisbury, Saugus, and Swampscott
- Boston Harbor: Boston, Braintree, Chelsea, Everett, Milton, Quincy, Weymouth, and Winthrop
- South Shore: Cohasset, Duxbury, Hanover, Hingham, Hull, Kingston, Marshfield, Norwell, Pembroke, Plymouth, and Scituate
- Cape Cod and Islands: Aquinnah, Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Chilmark, Dennis, Eastham, Edgartown, Falmouth, Gosnold, Harwich, Mashpee, Nantucket, Oak Bluffs, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Tisbury, Truro, Wellfleet, West Tisbury, and Yarmouth
- South Coastal: Acushnet, Berkley, Dartmouth, Dighton, Fairhaven, Fall River, Freetown, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Somerset, Swansea, Wareham, and Westport
The Massachusetts Coastal Zone map (PDF, 3 MB) shows these regions, the coastal communities covered, and the coastal zone boundary. Story Map Tours of the Massachusetts Coast, which were created for the routine federal review of the Massachusetts coastal program in April 2021, provide an overview of the entire 1,500-mile coastline, along with a story map of each CZM region with some highlights of coastal habitats, state parks and sanctuaries, ports and harbors, recreational beaches and waterfront access, and more.
Inland Communities
Communities outside the coastal zone boundary can also receive technical assistance and other support from either the regional office nearest them or CZM's Boston office. In addition, CZM provides grant funding to all communities within the Massachusetts coastal watershed for efforts to reduce pollution of coastal waters from overland runoff.