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2017 STATE OF NARRAGANSETT BAY AND ITS WATERSHED – MAPPING DRIVERS OF CHANGE AND VARIATION
Citation:
Monroy, E., J. Twichell, A. Kuhn, M. Charpentier, J. Cressman, P. Jordan, P. August, J. Swigor, AND C. Schmidt. 2017 STATE OF NARRAGANSETT BAY AND ITS WATERSHED – MAPPING DRIVERS OF CHANGE AND VARIATION. Esri Users Conference, San Diego, CA, July 09 - 13, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
The National Estuary Program (NEP) is an EPA place-based program to protect and restore the water quality and ecological integrity of estuaries of national significance. Currently, 28 estuaries located along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts and in Puerto Rico are designated as estuaries of national significance. Each NEP focuses within a study area that includes the estuary and surrounding watershed. The Narragansett Bay and its watershed define the identity of Rhode Island and neighboring areas of Massachusetts. The millions of people who live, work, and visit there value the economic, recreational, and tourism benefits provided by the ecosystem. The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program (NBEP) and over 50 partners produced the 2017 State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed report to equip citizens, private-sector groups, scientists, and government agencies with information needed to sustain and enhance the socioeconomic and ecological vitality of the bay and watershed for current and future generations.
Description:
The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program (NBEP) developed 24 environmental indicators for its 2017 State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed report with the collaboration of over 50 bi-state (MA and RI) and regional partners. The report presents and tracks the 24 indicators in order to evaluate key stressors to Narragansett Bay and its watershed; assess the chemical, physical, and biological conditions; describe past and recent trends; look ahead to potential future changes, and to identify data and research needed to advance our understanding of these changes. By fostering a common understanding of historical trends and the present status, the NBEP report supports decision-making to protect, maintain and restore the essential attributes and functions of Narragansett Bay and its watershed, and to sustain ecosystem services that provide benefits for people. A geographical approach was undertaken at different scales using an array of geospatial methodologies to identify, synthesize, and analyze indicators and to report on their status and trends. This poster depicts a map of the watershed and bay, partitioned to showcase some of the most relevant results for a selection of indicators in each area. Mapping watershed stressors and conditions in this way highlights drivers of change as well as localized variation throughout the landscape and bay.This poster showcases and summarizes the most compelling results documented in 2017 State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed report by the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program (NBEP). The Narragansett Bay Watershed is bi-state (MA and RI), which creates inherent challenges for compiling and harmonizing data in a seamless way across political boundaries for which data are not consistent, insufficient, or not comparable in terms of what data is collected, data definition, and temporal and geographic-scale. These challenges are compounded when dealing with an extensive range of environmental indicators, of which 16 of the 24 were GIS driven. It is generally not possible to generate a bi-state report that measures environmental stressor and condition indicators, with stakeholder and scientist acceptance with off the shelf, existing data.