With a new federal budget looming, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is on track to get hit by another wave of cuts, risking critical work that Florida relies on to prepare for hurricanes and protect reefs and fish that fuel its economy.
Understanding those impacts amid complicated science and an alphabet of acronyms can be confusing. But a new interactive map created by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) aims to help.
"People living their day-to-day lives that maybe don't work in this field might not understand why these cuts really matter," said Dawn Shirreffs, the EDF's Florida director. "And so that was the importance of the map. They can do a quick glance and see geographically, how many offices [there are] and where they're located."
The NOAA Footprint map also provides a key with brief summaries of the varied work NOAA oversees, from monitoring deep sea coral and sharks in the Gulf to operating a fleet of saildrones in the Atlantic that aid in hurricane forecasts.
The tool uses data from NOAA's NOAA in Your State and Territory documents and other official sources.
READ MORE: Fears over hurricane forecasting as scientists are laid off at NOAA's Virginia Key offices
"If you've eaten dinner in Florida, you've likely had red snapper," Shirreffs said. "We couldn't have a successful red snapper fishery if not for the work of NOAA in the 1990s. We have to have a long time horizon to do critical habitat restoration that very, very much feeds Florida's economy."
More than three dozen offices or research projects in Florida are included, along with hundreds more across the country and in the Caribbean. The southeast U.S. shows up as the biggest concentration for work, where the nation's fisheries management, reef restoration and hurricane forecasting are mostly centered.
In a statement announcing the project, former NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said the locator map will help explain the "broad portfolio" the agency oversees that helps protect the country.
"Whether it's historical weather patterns, or unique environmental conditions, or critical living marine resources, NOAA's decades of environmental intelligence is there for you," he said. "The 'NOAA in Your State' tool is one of the most useful government products available to us all."
Key local programs eliminated, budget slashed
Under the Trump administration's proposed budget, two key local programs would be eliminated: the Atlantic Ocean and Meteorological Lab on Virginia Key and NOAA's cooperative institutes located in dozens of universities around the country. They include one at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School that dates back to the 1970s that has, among other things, improved models that help forecast hurricanes.
Altogether, the president's budget would slash about a third of NOAA's budget, a move the House has countered with much smaller cuts.
The proposed reductions come after a tumultuous winter for the agency, when President Donald Trump recruited Elon Musk to oversee his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that took aim at offices. Amid sudden rounds of layoffs, more than 800 employees were fired in February. Two months later, more than a thousand more took buyouts or retired early. The Center for Biological Diversity is now suing the agency to disclose more information about the firings after it failed to respond to a records request under the Freedom of Information Act. But that lawsuit will likely extend well into next year. The court has set a deadline for pretrial motions for March 2026.
In January, Trump also paused funding from the Biden administration's Infrastructure and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
"There was about $240 million that was appropriated by Congress for NOAA and it's just not being approved by the Office of Management and Budget," Shirreffs said. "Congress has the responsibility to do appropriations and they need to reinforce their power that once they have made a budget decision, that the administration follow that guidance."
The administration has also been slow to disperse funding, she said, "leading to confusion and lots of folks doing budgets over and over again, which is the opposite of efficiency."
"A leaner NOAA... will help unleash American energy through initiatives supporting the marine mining market, leverage innovation in the weather and space enterprises, and enable and promote economic growth."
Trump has nominated former acting NOAA administrator Neil Jacobs to return to the post. Jacobs oversaw the agency in 2019 during the 'sharpie-gate" incident when Trump held up a map during a press conference on Hurricane Dorian when an altered tracking map. Jacobs was later reprimanded for an ethics violation.
In its 2026 budget proposal, a NOAA executive summary says a "leaner NOAA... ends activities that do not warrant a Federal role."
Furthermore, it says, the new focus "will help unleash American energy through initiatives supporting the marine mining market, leverage innovation in the weather and space enterprises, and enable and promote economic growth."
Among other local agencies or offices potentially affected by the cuts, the EDF said, are ports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, the Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the Miami office for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
By providing highlights on the map, Shirreffs said EDF hopes to connect the dots between funding and the work being done close to home for Floridians.
"They can scroll over them and see why they matter," Sheriffs said, explaining that the EDF also hoped to get lawmakers to pay attention. "Because when you're just looking at numbers on a spreadsheet, it can be dangerous to just start moving money around if you don't understand the impact that those expenditures are having."
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