ESG MassBays Case Study
Citation:
Yee, S., B. Branoff, G. Cicchetti, S. Jackson, M. Pryor, L. Sharpe, AND E. Shuchenia. ESG MassBays Case Study. ACES (A Community on Ecosystem Services), Washington, DC, DC, December 12 - 15, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
This research describes historic losses or gains of coastal habitats and their benefits using an Ecosystem Services Gradient, an analog to the Biological Condition Gradient, the describes current condition within the context of fully degraded to fully functioning. This research is helping to support restoration target setting for Mass Bays National Estuary Partnership to restore seagrass, prevent further losses of salt marsh and tidal flats, and maintain and restore valuable ecosystem services.
Description:
Ecosystem restoration aims to recover the ecological integrity and biodiversity of degraded ecosystems while providing the ecosystem services that humans want and need. To effectively achieve this, resource managers need methods to assess what levels of restored biological condition are needed to achieve desired beneficial uses; identify ecosystems of high potential value where restoration might be targeted; and communicate the potential benefits of restoration to inspire action and gain public support. The Ecosystem Services Gradient (ESG) framework parallels the Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) as a way of visualizing current conditions within the context of the full range of potential condition, from highest quality to highly degraded. The steps to building and using an ESG include: i) identifying the relevant ecosystem services for the specific environmental management problem, ii) identifying metrics and indicators for describing ecosystem services provisioning, iii) using monitoring data and ecosystem service production function models to quantitatively describe levels of ecosystem services production from highest potential production to severely altered production along a gradient of changing environmental condition, and iv) evaluating the potential co-occuring benefits or tradeoffs among ecosystem services under different levels of biological condition. An understanding of historical changes in biological condition, as well as associated loss or gain in ecosystem services, can help to identify restoration targets that are reasonable within the context of what might be possible, and that achieve desired levels of benefit. A BCG and complementary ESG were developed for Massachusetts Bay embayments to help support setting restoration targets and form a foundation for future local implementation of restoration projects toward achieving those targets. Historical trends in habitat acres and associated ecosystem services provisioning were used to understand the range of potential condition and benefits. Discussions about historic losses of coastal habitats and their benefits, described by the BCG and ESG, are helping to support restoration target setting for Massachusetts Bays embayments to restore seagrass, prevent further losses of salt marsh and tidal flats, and maintain and restore valuable ecosystem services. A paired BCG and ESG approach can be used to help support an understanding of local loss or gain in habitats and associated beneficial uses to communities, prioritize and compare alternative restoration options, and to communicate and track the potential benefits of restoration.
