To restore the ecosystem services lost through coastal habitat degradation, restoration projects have been conducted but most lack monitoring or evaluations. Limited monitoring and evaluation prevents comparisons across designs to determine which are the most functional sustainable, and cost-effective. Additionally, information about the advantages of and how to perform restoration projects is currently limited. Limited comparisons across restoration designs and the sparse information on how to conduct restoration projects significantly hinders the implementation of projects. This project team engaged researchers, environmental managers, stakeholders, and end-users to address some of these issues. The team quantified the functionality, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness of several coastal restoration designs at the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The designs compared plots planted with nursery grown plugs with plots comprised of standing natural marsh both with and without offshore breakwaters. The study found that offshore breakwaters enhanced natural plant growth, but not nursery grown plants. However, it is possible that this effect is time dependent as the positive effect on natural plant growth was seen beginning six years after breakwater installation while the nursery plants had only been planted two and a half years ago. Information gained from this research and the regulatory knowledge of the collaborative team have been combined with pre-existing literature to create user friendly outreach materials and workshop for consultants, landscapers, and marine contractors. This research and outreach will improve the effectiveness and ease of implementation of coastal restoration projects.

In South Carolina, the Eastern oyster is an ecosystem “all-star.” It filters huge volumes of water, creates habitat for commercial and recreational fisheries, and is a local delicacy. Thriving oyster reefs serve as natural breakwaters protecting South Carolina’s fringing marshes from wave action and erosion. The loss of oyster reefs—whether caused by development, pollution, overharvest, disease, or sea level rise—accelerates coastal erosion and causes ecosystem health to decline. These impacts are especially apparent along the state’s heavily trafficked Intracoastal Waterway and its barrier islands, which historically have protected the mainland from the Atlantic’s waves and storms.

Through this project, four southeast National Estuarine Research Reserves created a region-wide student-driven program for teachers that furthered understanding of estuarine habitat restoration. The project built on the successes of previous efforts that engaged students in smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) restoration. Students at 18 participating schools in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida grew and transplanted smooth cordgrass to eroded marsh and/or floating cordgrass islands near their school, learned about estuarine habitat, and built scientific and technical skills. Reserves supported teachers through each stage of the project by providing professional development opportunities, standards-based lesson plans, and an online interactive resource center. The project grew a community of practice among educators and reserves, expanded the use of salt marsh focused curriculum, increased plant growth in degraded ecosystems, and gave students the tools to be effective ecological stewards in their communities. This science transfer project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to promote the use of science. It did not produce any new data.

A new tool has been developed, the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Tool for Coastal Habitats (CCVATCH), to help land managers, decision makers, and researchers develop conservation, management, and restoration plans for coastal habitats. This assessment tool identifies primary sources of vulnerability to assist with prioritizing coastal habitat management actions. As part of this project, four estuarine reserves in New England will conduct assessments of their areas, demonstrating the utility of the tool to support adaptive management in response to climate change. This science transfer project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to promote the use of science. It did not produce any new data.

The National Estuarine Research Reserve System has a proven track record of successfully transferring and translating reserve science to a broad suite of educators through teacher workshops. In recent years, teachers expressed a need for curriculum, data sets, and professional development related to climate change.

In this project, National Estuarine Research Reserves in North and South Carolina worked to improve local understanding of climate change effects on southeastern salt marsh and provide decision makers with the information and skills they need to address these vulnerabilities. North Carolina Reserve staff members were trained in the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Tool for Coastal Habitats (CCVATCH) by their colleagues from North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve. This decision support tool incorporates existing information on climate change impacts with knowledge of local conditions to help users develop vulnerability scores for specific areas. The project team used CCVATCH to conduct habitat vulnerability assessments for seven estuaries in North and South Carolina, summarized regional findings to help managers in the Southeast improve salt marsh resilience, and developed guidance and outreach products. This science transfer project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to promote the use of science. It did not produce any new data.

This project provided support for local governments to obtain necessary information to modernize and revise the Coos Bay estuary management plan. Through an integrative assessment, the project team leveraged knowledge from community members, synthesized and compiled existing information, and applied a triple bottom line lens (economic, social, and environmental) to portray current conditions and uses in the estuary, and generate options and recommendations for local governments to improve their estuarine and shoreland management. This integrated assessment project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to evaluate options for action. It did not produce any new data.

In this project, the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve and Rutgers University, who have collaborated for more than a decade to develop coastal resilience tools, streamlined and enhanced existing mapping and decision-support tools for New Jersey coastal communities. The result was New Jersey Flood Mapper, an interactive, user-centered web tool that enables decision-makers to visualize exposure from coastal flooding hazards. The tool operationalizes a total water level concept developed by Rutgers climate resilience experts to allow planners to evaluate a range of flood conditions and time horizons. Enhanced map overlaps and data layers that show physical infrastructure, evacuation routes, and socio-demographic information are integrated into the tool to give a fuller picture of community vulnerability. New Jersey Flood Mapper offers coastal decision makers a go-to resource to assess and plan for potential risks to people and property from future storms and flooding. This catalyst project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to advance collaborative science. It did not produce any new data.

From 2010 to 2018, the National Estuarine Research Reserve System’s Science Collaborative supported the Hudson River Sustainable Shorelines Project, which engages a regional research team to quantify the ecological functions and physical stresses on the full range of Hudson River, New York shorelines. This research is the basis for development of information and tools to identify the best settings and approaches for sustainable shoreline protection in the Hudson River Estuary. Work has included the establishment of a sustainable shoreline demonstration network of seven sites with varying modes of construction distributed along the Hudson. The most recent project-- the focus of this InPort entry-- expanded that effort by working closely with regulators, engineers, and land managers to 1) develop and field-validate a rapid assessment protocol manual for physical and ecological functions of ecologically enhanced shorelines and 2) train local land managers in the protocols. This work helps to solidify confidence in the suitability of novel shoreline techniques in the Hudson River Estuary and has enabled local managers to track performance into the future. The project also produced a dataset comprised of a suite of measures of ecological and physical functions of built sustainable shorelines along the Hudson River.

The Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve is leveraging approaches and lessons learned from the first "Bringing Wetlands to Market" project, which was developed by the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and supported by the Science Collaborative from the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. Using the original project's successful "Roadshow Dialogues" model, the Mission-Aransas Reserve team will provide outreach in order to communicate blue carbon concepts and highlight relevant scientific research to currently engaged blue carbon end users. Outreach efforts not only will identify ways to incorporate blue carbon benefits into wetlands conservation and restoration activities but also will identify carbon finance opportunities. The project will boost support for restoration and conservation in several ways: it will connect Gulf Coast blue carbon end users with established blue carbon networks; provide long-term and sustained technical assistance opportunities and connections to carbon finance markets; and it will engage the public's interest in blue carbon education through tours, videos or other media, and two "Bay Talks" lectures. This science transfer project was funded by NOAA through the National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative to promote the use of science. It did not produce any new data.