The National Shoreline Erosion Control Development and Demonstration Program of the US Army Corps of Engineers was established by Section 227 of the US Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA) of 1996 with initial funding appropriated in FY00. Section 227 provides a means by which the Corps can evaluate the functional performance of innovative or non-traditional approaches for abating coastal erosion and improving shoreline sediment retention at prototype-scale. A wide array of shore protection devices and methods will be constructed, monitored and evaluated at sites that represent varying energy conditions and shoreline morphologies. This program builds upon the experience and lessons of the "Low Cost Shore Protection Demonstration Program (Section 54)" of the 1970's. The Section 54 Program, authorized by WRDA 1974, focused on testing technologies for survivability in "low-wave energy" environments (USAE 1981). Objectives of Section 227 are to assess and advance the state of the art of shoreline erosion control technology, encourage the development of innovative solutions to the shoreline erosion control challenge and to communicate finding's to the public. Through an extensive technical transfer effort the Program will provide a means for furthering the use of well- engineered alternative approaches to shoreline erosion control. Emphasis will be placed on the evaluation of technologies from both functional and structural perspectives and will include bioengineered approaches.