Case Study: NOAA Marine Debris Program achieves a defensible national marine debris baseline with @Orchard LLC

NOAA Marine Debris Program establishes a national shoreline baseline with @Orchard

The NOAA Marine Debris Program needed to establish a statistically representative baseline of marine debris across diverse U.S. shorelines, a challenge requiring consistent and defensible data collection at a national scale. To solve this operational complexity, the program selected @Orchard LLC to implement its rigorous scientific sampling design through safe and repeatable field operations.

@Orchard designed and managed an integrated program framework that aligned planning, safety, training, and logistics into a single nationwide delivery model. The solution included a train-the-trainer approach and structured quality controls to ensure data reliability. As a result, @Orchard delivered a trusted, foundational dataset that enables NOAA to understand the scope of marine debris, compare conditions across regions, and inform evidence-based decision-making for the public benefit.

NOAA Marine Debris Program