Pint-sized with razor-sharp edges, Olympia oysters once flourished along Oregon’s rugged coast. Millions of them formed extensive beds that blanketed the tidal zones of places like Coos Bay and Yaquina bays, where they provided food and income for people and habitat for wildlife. In recent years, over-harvesting, development, sedimentation, pollution, dredging, and forest fires have all played a role in the dramatic decline of this native shellfish that, in many places, has become locally extinct. Bringing the “Oly” back is a priority for natural resource managers, scientists, shellfish farmers, and recreationists.

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.

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.

People have harvested oysters in Mississippi’s Grand Bay for more than 4,000 years. Today, that legacy is at a crossroads. Increased pollution from residential and industrial development and overtaxed wastewater treatment systems is flowing into the Bay with potentially far-reaching effects on ecosystems, human health, and local economies. To protect human health and identify areas at risk for habitat degradation and fisheries loss, local decision-makers need more information about the extent of these impacts on local ecosystems.

People receive numerous benefits from nature, such as water purification, coastal protection, and food production. These ecosystem services are an increasingly important consideration for coastal managers as they design management interventions to protect coastal habitat. This includes National Estuarine Research Reserve managers, who are working to better understand ecosystem services across the reserve system. However, without a standardized approach it has been difficult for coastal managers to consistently incorporate ecosystem services into programs or projects. In response to this need, researchers with Duke University’s National Ecosystem Services Partnership developed Ecosystem Services Conceptual Models (ESCMs) for estuarine habitats that diagram the way a management intervention cascades through an ecological system and provides benefits to people. The Duke team built on previous work that created an ecosystem services modeling approach for salt marsh. In partnership with the Rookery Bay and North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserves and their stakeholders, the team led a series of workshops to produce site-specific and generalized Ecosystem Services Conceptual Models for mangrove and oyster habitat restoration in the southeast United States. 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.

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.

Several reserves collaborated to develop the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Tool for Coastal Habitats. The tool helps decision makers evaluate a habitat’s vulnerability to climate change and prioritize it for conservation or restoration. South Carolina’s North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve and the Chesapeake Bay Virginia Reserve worked with local partners to refine and pilot this tool and share it with the national reserve system.

The project team produces educational outreach materials for audiences throughout Grand Bay. The materials will raise awareness of the positive and negative effects of land-use change for the general public, community organizations, and decisionmakers within the region. The materials will educate audiences about the ways to preserve and protect Grand Bay from waterborne pathogens and excess nutrients. The team will use science-based information to reinforce the importance of reducing stormwater contamination, improving wastewater management, and implementing land-use planning that takes water resources into account. 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.

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.

Restore America's Estuaries is partnering with the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Training Program Initiative and the five research reserves in the Gulf Coast to promote blue carbon projects. Through workshops planned around the Gulf, the project team will facilitate discussions about current needs and opportunities related to blue carbon. The project team will also help to establish local working groups and provide technical assistance through a targeted Gulf Coast blue carbon training workshop. The goal is to support new projects that advance local understanding of blue carbon science and help pilot ways to use emerging carbon markets to fund coastal wetland restoration and conservation. 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.