Habitat Conservation and Restoration

Gulf Regional Sediment Management Master Plan (GRSSMP)

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

Habitat conservation and restoration are critical needs throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea region in all of the territories of the United States. Unfortunately, habitat restoration is not keeping pace with the loss and degradation of coastal habitats. Is it currently insufficient to sustain critical ecological services such as storm surge reduction and fisheries production.  It is recognized that sediments are an integral element of a regional system involving natural processes which must be considered when planning and managing restoration activities. The Habitat Conservation and Restoration Priority Issue Team (HCRT) has acknowledged that sediment resources are integral to accomplishing many Alliance restoration initiatives. There is a need for a better understanding of regional sediment systems and processes to inform decisions about projects and actions that  require sediment resources.   Developing a sediment management plan will provide guidelines for more effective management of sediment resources, recognizing they are a part of a regional system involving natural processes and dredging activities.

PROBLEMS

The effects of managing sediment on regional ecological processes are not well understood.  Around the Gulf, sediment, energy and ecological systems are integrated and connected. It is important to find the synergies between sediment management and restoration needs.  The main focuses are typically geared towards dredging and filling operations, however, this in not the only potential source of sediment.  There exists a basic need to understand how sediment flows through the natural systems in relation to regional ecological processes.  With this understanding, we can begin to balance available sediment resources with needs in the context of habitat conservation and restoration.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The Regional Sediment Management (RSM) approach provides the ability to coordinate and collaborate; integrate numerous tools, technology, and data; leverage funding; and enhance partnerships.  When considering conservation and restoration opportunities it is essential to continually be examining how the RSM approach can be implemented and extended into other projects and shared with other stakeholders.  Implementing RSM as part of normal business practice is critical towards improving sediment management planning, design, and maintenance in a regional context.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES
The Alliance, through the HCRT and partners, initiated the creation of a Gulf Regional Sediment Management Master Plan (GRSMMP) for managing sediment resources on a regional scale. It will emphasize the need for a comprehensive understanding of regional sediment systems and processes.  The plan will be beneficial to provide guidelines using the understanding of sediment dynamics (inputs, outputs, movement) to manage sediment resources towards accomplishing environmental restoration, conservation, and preservation, while reducing coastal erosion, storm damages, and associated costs of sediment management.  The Plan will also provide an inventory of potential sediment sources in connection with sediment needs.  This information will provide a basis for assessing competing needs for sediment, enhance abilities to make informed cooperative management decisions, and develop regional strategies.  These focus areas include:

• Ecological Considerations - Examines the relationship between sediment and ecology in the context of RSM to aid in understanding how managing sediment affect regional ecological processes. 
• Sediment Resources - Addresses sediment transport processes, sediment budget issues, and evaluates studies that have been done in terms of how it might support RSM.  Also included are efforts to identify and summarize existing programs, studies, and databases that have been developed that can provide information concerning sediment resources throughout the Gulf.  Focus areas include sediment inventories, sediment budgets, and dredging activities.
• Data Information Management.  Examine ways and opportunities to collaborate and share data throughout all levels of government and the numerous interested stakeholders.
• Policies, Authorities, and Funding.  Identify and examine existing authorities and policies and present recommendations on how they can provide flexibility to facilitate the RSM approach.

CONTACT

Larry Parson
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Mobile District

Ryan Fikes, M.S.
Project Director, HCRT
Gulf of Mexico Foundation
ryan@gulfmex.org

James Pahl, Ph.D.
Louisiana State Lead, HCRT
Office of Coastal Protection & Restoration
james.pahl@la.gov

Greg DuCote
Louisiana Co-Lead, HCRT
LA Dept of Natural Resources
Gregory.Ducote@la.gov

Sea Level Rise

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

There are many activities that cause stress on the coastal zone lands and waters that border the Northern Gulf of Mexico.  Among them, and one of the most damaging if not understood and taken into consideration, is global climate change-related impacts of sea level rise, storm surges, and hurricanes.  Other current stressors such as unsustainable development, shoreline hardening, habitat fragmentation and destruction have placed the whole of the gulf system under threat.   It is fair, then, to anticipate increased stress from the effects of global climate change and therefore a substantial reduction of the system’s capacity to generate the ecological services we have grown accustomed to enjoy (fishing, coastal protection, nutrient removal, etc.).  Current ecosystem services are the result of the present structure and function of the natural system of where the ecosystem service exists.  Any alteration in this structure and function will alter the it.  Not all alterations are bad, but many are.  If no action is taken, global climate change-related effects of sea level rise, storm surges, and hurricanes will shrink and destroy areas in which the natural systems exist. 

PROBLEMS

Population has been growing all along the U.S. coasts and the Gulf of Mexico is not the exception.  This growth comes with people living in larger numbers closer and closer to the water line.  As sea level increases in the coming years, many of these properties will tend to be impacted by regular storms and possibly significantly when periodic hurricanes come through the Gulf.  The natural tendency for this is to protect these properties by hardening of the shoreline, building walls and levies and other “non-natural” structures.  Ultimately, what this will cause for the natural system is it will get squeezed between the hard structure and the rising water levels.  With this squeezing deterioration of the natural protection provided by marshes (freshwater, brackish, salt), mangroves, seagrasses, and other natural systems will also diminish, further enhancing the danger for coastal communities.  Another large economic driver of the region is tourism which depends also on healthy coastal natural systems.  If these continue to deteriorate, the attractiveness of the coast will also diminish.  So understanding the potential effects of sea level rise on this scenario is very important to allow local, state, Federal and private decision makers make more informed decisions about future investments and current protection schemes.  

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The first thing that responsible citizens can do is stay as informed as possible.  Because science is moving forward rather rapidly on the understanding of potential effects of global climate change, including sea level rise, this knowledge needs to be more and more in the hands of the public to ensure policy decisions are made considering as much as possible the available science.  The best policies are usually enacted and implemented when the public is well informed and participates in the spreading of knowledge as well as participating in the process of decision making.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

The Alliance’s Habitat Conservation and Restoration (HCRT) and Coastal Community Resilience (CCR) team's mission is to provide leadership to advance improved and increased stewardship of our coastal natural systems. This is to benefit the citizens of the Northern Gulf of Mexico region, through a joint project with The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Among the activities proposed are the following:

• Create and coordinate a Focus Team to address sea level rise.  This team would be comprised of representatives from all five Gulf of Mexico States, federal, academic, and non-governmental organizations. It will draw on relationships already established by the Gulf of Mexico Alliance.  The Conservancy would function as facilitator for the team, and would provide technical support.
• Through modeling using SLAMM (Sea Level Rise Affecting Marshes Model), the Alliance seeks to gain practical understanding of localized risks to the environment and to human communities that may result from sea level rise and related hazards like storm surge, storm vulnerability, and salt water intrusion. 
• Using this assessment of risk we will develop regional management tools and/or approaches to enhance the resiliency of Gulf Coast communities through adaptation strategies that consider human and natural communities.
• The Team will select one or more focus areas in each state. They will develop a process to assess the impacts of sea level rise on that area and the opportunities for mitigation and community resilience in each.  The sites will be chosen to highlight different scenarios and circumstances so that the range of results and recommendations will present overall strategies for mitigating and adapting to the impacts of sea level rise.    

CONTACT

Rafael Calderon
Director Gulf of Mexico Initiative
The Nature Conservancy

Ryan Fikes, M.S.
Project Director, HCRT
Gulf of Mexico Foundation

James Pahl, Ph.D.
Louisiana State Co-Lead, HCRT
Office of Coastal Protection & Restoration

Greg DuCote
Louisiana Co-Lead, HCRT
LA Dept of Natural Resources