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Strengthening Resiliency in Coastal Watersheds: An Ecosystem Services and Ecological Integrity Decision Support System
Citation:
Kuhn, A. AND J. Copeland. Strengthening Resiliency in Coastal Watersheds: An Ecosystem Services and Ecological Integrity Decision Support System. NHEERL Senior Management Meeting, Narragansett, RI, May 24, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
A healthy and resilient watershed is one that can withstand and/or recover from harmful environmental impacts, and can sustain its health and the provision of ecosystem services into the future. It is one in which the vulnerability to flooding is minimized, where water quality supports healthy native communities of plants and animals, where water-related uses such as recreation and drinking water are protected and maintained and there is an interconnected network of natural land cover throughout the watershed, especially in the riparian and shoreline zones providing critical habitat areas and supporting natural flow processes. Healthy and resilient watersheds maintain ecosystem services, such as helping to assure availability of water for human consumption and industrial use with less treatment costs. The overarching goal of this research product is to promote the resiliency of coastal watersheds in the face of climate change and development, while considering ecological outcomes as well as economic, social, and environmental justice issues. This product provides an integrated assessment framework linked to a decision support system (DSS) that incorporates the ecological integrity (EI) principles and goals described in detail in the US EPA’s Office of Water’s Healthy Watersheds Program (HWP), with Ecosystem Services (ES) valuations (monetary and non-monetary), connecting threats to resilience (i.e. stressors) with affected ESs. The DSS integrates measures of ecosystem services and ecological integrity to provide scientific support in decision-making to enhance watershed sustainability and resiliency. Watershed managers and coastal communities can use this DSS to identify and prioritize conservation and restoration efforts within coastal watersheds in the face of climate change and development while considering ecological outcomes as well as economic, social and environmental justice issues.
Description:
This product provides an integrated assessment framework linked to a decision support system (DSS) that incorporates the ecological integrity (EI) principles and goals described in detail in the US EPA’s Office of Water’s Healthy Watersheds Program (HWP), with Ecosystem Services (ES) valuations (monetary and non-monetary), connecting threats to resilience (i.e. stressors) with affected ESs. This analytical assessment framework operates entirely within a geospatial platform, allowing for spatially-explicit analysis of individual ecological units and their associated ESs at multiple scales. This spatially-explicit analytical framework allows for the evaluation of both ecological integrity and ESs of key functional processes, components and elements of watershed integrity relative to the location within the watershed (e.g. headwater streams, flood plains, riparian condition, coastal wetlands, etc.). The framework integrates 6 ecosystem services which are considered important in strengthening watershed resiliency: protection against extreme events/floods, water quantity protection, water quality protection, habitat protection, air quality protection and open space conservation. The DSS integrates measures of ecosystem services and ecological integrity to provide scientific support in decision-making to enhance watershed sustainability and resiliency. Watershed managers and coastal communities can use this DSS to identify and prioritize conservation and restoration efforts within coastal watersheds in the face of climate change and development while considering ecological outcomes as well as economic, social and environmental justice issues.