Impact/Purpose:

The objective of this project is to work in collaboration with the Canaan Valley Institute to develop and demonstrate an application of the research ongoing under the Regional Vulnerability Assessment Program towards local-scale decision-making and to inform decision-making as to where multiple benefits from stream restoration are most likely to occur. CVi is interested in undertaking regional restoration initiative and will use informaiton from ReVA to determine priority areas in need of restoration. ERD will also work with CVI once a suite of watersheds are selected, to develop models that can be used to guide restoration efforts such that a world-class fishery can be established within the Highlands region.

Description:

This task is designed to respond to 2 Congressional earmarks of $1,000,000 to the Canaan Valley Institute (CVI) to work in close coordination with the Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) initiative to develop research and educational tools using integrative technologies to predict future environmental risk and support informed, proactive decision-making. Through a cooperative agreement with the CVI, data and information assembled under ReVA will be made available to be used in the development of applications designed to support local decision-making. ReVA scientists and support personnel will collaborate in the development of tools that can be used to evaluate potential implications of alternative environmental management decisions. CVI will also develop regional stream curves that can be used for stream restoration. Information available from ReVA regarding where NPS loadings are high, areas prioritized for conservation and areas with high restoration potential for providing needed stopevers for neotropical migratory birds will be used to identify watersheds that are high priority for restoration. This task is linked to tasks 5449, Regional Comparative Risk Assessment, 8877, Integrated Science for Ecosystem Challenges, and 12551, Forecasting for Watersheds.

This task utilizes high performance computing and scientific visualization resources provided by EPA's National Environmental Scientific Computing Center (NESC2).

Record Details:

Record Type:PROJECT

Start Date:01/01/2001

Projected Completion Date:09/30/2005

Record ID: 56218

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Project Information:

Progress :For progress within ReVA see tasks 5449 and 8877. A cooperative agreement proposal was awarded in FY 01 and work under a second earmark was propsed as an extension to the original proposal - expected award date is late FY 02 or early FY 03. An on-site visit was done prior to award and a briefing on ReVA was given to CVI staff. A workshop among ReVA scientists and CVI personnel was held Sept. 19, 2001 in RTP.NC to further delineate the scope of the cooperative agreement. A follow-up workshop was held in early Dec. 2001 to review decision-support applications that are currently under development. ReVA has been developing spatial coverages that represent the different benefits that might be afforded if restoration was to be applied to specific watersheds. These spatial coverages are being incorporated into ReVA's web-based decision support application and a user-specified weighting option is also being added. Additional data, spatial coverages have been provided to CVI once these have peer reviewed. A briefing is planned for CVI Oct. 3, and CVI is partnering with ReVA in planning the upcoming ReVA/MAIA conference in May of 2003.

Relevance :ReVA's clients are many and include regional decision-makers (EPA regional offices), advocacy groups (such as CVI), and community-level decision makers (local governments, watershed groups, planners). Work under this task provides the opportunity to work directly with a client organization to ensure that the research we are doing under ReVA is useful and that it is effectively transferred. Periodic meetings between ReVA scientists and CVI personnel will clarify research questions, approaches, and the communication of results. The high visibility of this project (as it is the result of a Congressional earmark) will afford a unique opportunity to demonstrate the application of assessment research towards improved environmental decison-making and will illustrate the importance of considering the regional scale when considering cumulative impacts and forecasting impacts associated with alternative environmental management options.



Clients :Region 3, Canaan Valley Institute, ReVA, Congress, stakeholders in the mid-Atlantic highlands

Project IDs:

ID Code :9783

Project type :OMIS