National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS): A Programmatic Overview

Transcription

1 National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS): A Programmatic Overview Marie H. Bundy, Ph.D. National Research Coordinator NOAA

2 NOAA Office for Coastal Management

3 Organizational Chart

4 NOAA Office for Coastal Management

5 28 reserves located in 22 states and Puerto Rico (Hawaii in process of authorization = 29th)

6 Management Established by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended State-federal partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the coastal states Administered by NOAA s Office for Coastal Management, who provides funding, coordination, national guidance for program implementation, and technical assistance

7 Management (cont.) Coastal states are responsible for: managing reserve resources and staff, providing matching funds, and implementing programs locally. Through this partnership, the reserve system addresses local, regional, and national priorities and connects NOAA with on-the-ground projects, needs, and emerging issues.

8 Reserves are protected for: Long-term research and monitoring Education Resource stewardship ~1.3 million acres of estuarine lands and waters are protected in 28 reserves, including the newest Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve on the St. Louis River

9 Strategic planning for NERRS Research and Monitoring NOAA Annual Guidance Memorandum NOS Priorities Roadmap OCM Annual Planning and Budgeting NERRS Priorities NERRS Strategic Plan Reserve Management Plans System-wide Monitoring Plan Reserve Research Programs

10 The NERRS System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) Mission: Develop quantitative measurements of short-term variability and long-term changes in the water quality, biological systems, and land-use and land cover characteristics of estuaries and estuarine ecosystems for the purposes of understanding how human activities and natural events can impact ecosystems and to inform effective coastal zone management. Established in 1995 with periodic enhancements, the program consists of three major program elements: Abiotic indicators of water quality and weather Biological monitoring Watershed, habitat, and land use mapping.

11 Hallmark of the NERRS: Telemetered data and standard protocols and instrumentation plus Research programs aimed at understanding ecological drivers of change at each reserve

12 System-wide Monitoring Program Abiotic Monitoring Water quality Weather parameters Biological Monitoring Habitat Biodiversity Land Use and Habitat Mapping Data Management : Centralized Data Management Office (CDMO)

13 Near-Real Time SWMP Data Flow GOES Wallops Island Command and Data Acquisition Facility DOMSAT DRGS at USC NERRS Central Data Management Office Other Users

14 Data Application Opportunities Example: Support of water based industry Pacific Northwest Commercial Shellfish Growers Provides critical information about water temperature, chlorophyll levels, salinity, turbidity, and DO so that better decisions can be made about managing mariculture operations. 1. Data collection 2. Data integration and fusion 3. Decision support

15 SWMP Applications: NERRS Sentinel Site Initiative Number One: Impacts of Sea Level Rise and Inundation on Coastal Habitat Components: Reserve level vertical control plan Emergent vegetation monitoring Surface elevation Substrate accretion rates Local vertical control network Elevation and change maps Water quality data Weather data

16 NERRS National Product: Sentinel Site Synthesis MARSH SUSTAINABILITY IN THE FACE OF SEA LEVEL RISE Leads: Kenny Raposa, Scott Lerberg, Erik Smith, Kerstin Wasson

17 Questions? Marie H. Bundy, Ph.D. Ecologist, Applied Sciences NOAA (240)