Project Description: To plan for inevitable future changes to coastal marshes and guided
by the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) and other planning frameworks, park managers need to draw upon the best available scientific information in order to identify potential interventions for marshes themselves as well as likely impacts to other natural and cultural resources and infrastructure as a result of marsh and coastal system changes, and how to prepare for and possibly mitigate those impacts. This project will provide
guidance to park managers to make informed, science-based, decisions regarding marsh conservation, restoration and migration planning with input from federal, state and local agencies, Tribal Nations, universities, non-government organizations, community partners and other collaborators (hereafter referred to as Collaborators), using available data, tools and other information for nine Northeast National Park Service (NPS) units. Existing science products and foundational climate and monitoring data will be synthesized and applied in the process, along with inputs from Collaborators and qualitative judgements captured through workshops. The synthesis, including options for pro-active adaptation planning and management, along with planning and implementation insights, will be shared across the project team and with the broader community and public.
The overarching purpose of this project is to inform planning and
decision-making at nine NPS units to assist with the prioritization, implementation and evaluation of salt marsh management actions. For each of the nine units, engagement, interactions and information sharing will be conducted to: 1) identify coastal marsh areas and their key ecological and socio-economic benefits, 2) assess vulnerabilities of coastal
marshes and other natural and cultural resources and infrastructure given climate change projections and develop potential options for pro-active management and planning to minimize and/or mitigate potential impacts, 3) summarize other ongoing projects associated with the broader Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Northeast marsh resilience project and, where possible, evaluate ongoing restoration efforts to incorporate results and lessons learned into guidance for future efforts, and 4) broadly communicate and
develop a variety of outreach materials for this project as it progresses.
To reach a broad audience for the nine units, from Virginia to Maine, the project team will employ a multi-faceted approach to manager and Collaborator engagement, and provide continuous interactions to build strong and sustained relationships. Three sub-regional workshops will be held near the beginning and end of the four-year performance period, to bring together managers and Collaborators to share insights, strengths, costs, benefits, and challenges of planned or implemented marsh RAD and other approaches and support NPS managers in developing unit-level plans and actions and encouraging more landscape-level salt-marsh conservation planning. The Recipient will provide wide- reaching, regular communications and information sharing through a combination of email, video conferences, webinars, social media, cloud sharing and a project website, and a comprehensive final report will provide a synthesis of all information gathered and present science-based options to support managers in developing park-level approaches for achieving both region-wide and individual unit goals, share related research and
workshops, highlight new insights, discuss lessons learned and develop informed guidance for future projects.
Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. John Walsh, University of Rhode Island
Partner Institution: University of Rhode Island
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Federal Agency Technical Contact: Brian Mitchell
Start Year: 2024
End Year: 2028
Initial Funding Amount: $323,943.34
Federal Grant Number: P24AC02112
Amendments
- Amendment Number: 01, Year: 2024, Amount: $349,876.58
Products Associated with this Project:
- No products found.