The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with others, is embarking on the new Healthy Watersheds Initiative to protect our remaining healthy watersheds, prevent them from becoming impaired, and accelerate our restoration successes. In November 2010, a Healthy Wate...

Although defined hydrologically as a drainage basin, watersheds are systems that physically link the individual social and ecological attributes that comprise them. Hence the structure, function, and feedback systems of watersheds are dependent on interactions between these soci...

Population growth, urban expansion, and the warming climate have and will continue to stress our coastal ecosystems. Decisions on how and when to respond with stewardship, adaptation, and mitigation are made by individuals, municipalities, states, and agencies. These decisions ...

The goal of this study is to advance the understanding of how the effects of climate variability and change on stream ecosystems depend on land-use choices in surrounding areas. Global changes affect aquatic ecosystems through changes in water quality, hydrology, temperature, sea...

Background/Question/MethodsLake acidification can strongly impact the structure and function of lake ecosystems, causing extirpation of some species while other organisms are able adapt to changing pH. We followed the genetics of a population of white sucker (Catostomus commerso...

Many of the environmental issues which we face today are ecosystem in scope and do not correspond to jurisdictional or administrative boundaries. Adopting an ecosystem approach to environmental resource management and risk assessment requires an understanding of the spatial natu...

ORD's Regional Vulnerability Assessment (REVA) Program is developing and demonstrating approaches to assess current and future environmental vulnerabilities so that risk management activities can be targeted. The sister program to EMA.P (Environmental Monitoring Assessment Progr...

Since the XIX century, the agricultural sector has experienced an accelerated industrialization progression pursuing its intensification and satisfy the demand for food production and agricultural products, i.e., increasing the agricultural production per unit of input resources ...

On July 19, 2010, the President signed an Executive Order establishing the nation’s first comprehensive National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and Great Lakes and adopted the Final Recommendations of the Ocean Policy Task Force (OPTF 2010). The Final Recom...

This sub-product is intended to synthesize existing research and datasets for assessing the blue carbon characteristics of natural infrastructure currently in Chesapeake Bay, with a focus on the blue carbon habitats and natural infrastructure relevant for the Crisfield, MD commun...

Summary: Please join us for talks and discussion previewing tools and innovative approaches to enhancing resilience and sustainability in Brownfields. Attendees will leave this session with actionable takeaway messages including Brownfields applications of cutting-edge tools rece...

Developing Precipitation-Intensity-Duration-Frequency (Onsite-PIDF) and design discharge estimates using onsite long-term datasets to accommodate ongoing effects of climate change, is crucial in the design and planning of climate-resilient forest road-stream crossing structures (...

As salt marshes attempt to migrate upland due to sea level rise, they will encounter many kinds of land development and infrastructure in highly populated, urbanized coastal communities. Hazardous and contaminated sites (HCSs) -- facilities and infrastructure that store...

Salt marshes may act either as greenhouse gas (GHG) sources or sinks depending on hydrological conditions, vegetation communities, and nutrient availability. In recent decades, eutrophication has emerged as a major driver of change in salt marsh ecosystems. An ongoing fertilizati...

The impact that microplastics (<5 mm) have on scleractinian coral is largely unknown. This study investigated calcification effects, size limits, and retention times of microbeads and microfibers in two Caribbean species, Montastraea cavernosa and Orbicella faveolata, in...

USEPA is developing alternative approaches to quantify improvements to impaired waterbodies (USEPA 303(d)/TMDL Draft Guidance). Tribal environmental programs are leading the way in the paradigm shift towards sustainability of natural resources. Resources such as wildlife, aquatic...

The presentation will cover collaborative work with the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (SHC 10.5.1) on methods for vulnerability assessment and adaptation design for management of salt marsh ecosystems.

The summary demonstrates how tribes use traditional knowledge/Traditional Ecological knowledge and technical tools and support from EPA in addressing environmental concerns. We highlighted two projects where EPA worked directly with tribes to conduct Riparian Proper Functioning C...