DRAFT-NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION
Chesapeake Bay
Sentinel Site Cooperative
Draft Implementation Plan
September 28, 2012
Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative
Draft Implementation Plan
Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
Who is the Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative? 8
What are Sentinel Sites? 9
Where are Proposed CBSSC’s Sentinel Sites? 11
Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge 11
Assateague Island National Seashore 11
Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, York River, Virginia 12
Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Maryland 12
Poplar Island 13
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 15
GOAL 1 15
GOAL 2 15
GOAL 3 16
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 16
Steering Committee 16
Meeting Schedule 17
Working Groups 17
Education and Outreach Working Group 17
Science and Data Working Group 18
Partnership-At-Large 18
Schedule and Budget 18
RESOURCE IDENTIFICATION 19
ACTIONS & MILESTONES 24
Actions 24
Products and Milestones 26
Evaluation Process/ Measures of Success 27
Literature Cited 27
ACRONYMS
ACTCBIBS / Alliance for Coastal Technologies
Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System
CBOFS / Chesapeake Bay Operational Forecast System II
CBP / Chesapeake Bay Program
CBSSC / Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative
CORS / Continuously Operating Reference Stations
CSC / Coastal Services Center
EPA / Environmental Protection Agency
FWS / Fish and Wildlife Service
IOOS / Integrated Ocean Observing System
MADECLEAR / Maryland and Delaware Climate Change Education Assessment and Research
MARACOOS / Mid-Atlantic Regional Association for Coastal Ocean Observing Systems
MDDNR / Maryland Department of Natural Resources
NCBO / NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office
NERR / National Estuarine Research Reserve
NGO / Non-governmental organization
NGS / National Geodetic Survey
NOAA / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NPS / National Park Service
NPS / National Park Service
NWF / National Wildlife Federation
SERC / Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
SET / Surface Elevation Tables
SLAMM / Sea Level Affecting Marsh Management
SSP / Sentinel Site Program
TNC / The Nature Conservancy
UMD
UDE / University of Maryland
University of Delaware
USACE / U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
USGS / U.S. Geological Survey
VCU / Virginia Commonwealth University
V-DEQ / Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
VECOS / Virginia Estuarine and Coastal Observing System
VIMS / Virginia Institute of Marine Science
INTRODUCTION
Addressing impacts of climate change requires regional cooperation and synergies among Federal, State, local, academic, non-profit and other regional players. It also requires a suite of programs, from science (e.g. data collection, model building) to service (e.g. information transfer, decision tools) to stewardship (e.g. education, management decision support). For these tools to be efficient and effective, they need to be integrated, both across different programs and agencies. In 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) initiated a Sentinel Site Program (SSP) to encourage federal, state and local partners to cooperatively address impacts of climate change using a place-based approach, with an initial emphasis on supporting resilience to sea level change and coastal inundation. NOAA selected the Chesapeake Bay as one of five initial regions where a Sentinel Site Cooperative would demonstrate the value of using a place-based approach to address issues of local, regional and national significance. Sentinel Site Cooperatives are also established in Hawaii, San Francisco Bay, Northern Gulf of Mexico, and North Carolina. In addition, the establishment of sentinel sites within the Bay supports select goals within the Strategy for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, the federal response to President Obama's Executive Order 13508.
The Chesapeake Bay region is currently experiencing some of the highest relative sea level rise rates, up to 5.8 mm/year (0.23 in/yr), reported within the United States (Boone et al., 2010). Natural resources and built infrastructure in both metropolitan and rural areas are experiencing direct impacts of rising tidal water levels including inundation and salt water intrusion. For example, the Hampton Roads/Norfolk area is re-thinking its coastal development as evidence mounts that local sea levels are rising and low-lying coastal areas are increasingly vulnerable to coastal flooding (Stiles, 2011; Figure 1). Historic islands in the Chesapeake Bay are sinking and eroding away at rapid rates, with some islands (e.g. Sharp’s Island) now completely submerged (Larson 1998). Wetlands within the Bay appear to be at risk of rapid degradation and loss (Stevenson et al. 1991), which would have environmental and socio-economic repercussions. The Sentinel Site Program presents a new business model to better leverage existing resources with the hope of addressing these extensive regional challenges. The Bay annually produces 227 million kg (500 million lbs) of seafood and contains two (Baltimore and Hampton Roads) of the five major North Atlantic ports in the U.S. (EPA/CBP; http://www.chesapeakebay.net/ status.cfm). Coupled with the historical importance of being one of the Nation’s largest estuaries and the visibility of the ecosystem to lawmakers in Washington DC, the Chesapeake Bay region provides for an excellent opportunity to demonstrate successful implementation of a Sentinel Site Program.
Figure 1. Mayflower Road at Norfolk’s Colonial Place neighborhood was mostly underwater as high tide approached in November 2009 (Stephen M. Katz- Virginian Pilot file photo).
This 5- year Implementation Plan describes the Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative’s (CBSSC) strategic and operational approach to utilizing data from specific locations throughout the Bay to increase understanding of environmental and socioeconomic changes attributable to sea level rise and apply that information in a timely manner to address interests and management concerns with respect to Bay living resources and coastal communities. The CBSSC will engage a continuum of capabilities from observations and research to application and management (Figure 2) to, initially, address local impacts of sea level change and inundation. Currently, CBSSC partners have strong capabilities in three components of this continuum: observe and monitor; models & predictions; and education and outreach. As the CBSSC gains structure and recognition over the next 5 years, we will strengthen our contribution to other elements by engaging a wider breadth of partners who have the expertise in these fields. Using a place-based approach via the sentinel sites, the CBSSC will generate refined, downscaled data, models, and other tools and products that meet the needs of community and natural resource managers and decision-makers.
Figure 2: Components of the NOAA-initiated Sentinel Site Program.
The CBSSC provides an approach to methodically monitoring and quantifying environmental and socioeconomic changes attributable to local climate change impacts, and applying that information to management by informing mitigation and adaptation. This effort is much more than a monitoring program. It utilizes invested partner’s capabilities to apply monitoring and observation data to decision making. The CBSSC will utilize the outcomes of these coordinated efforts by local communities and local, state, and federal resource managers for adaptation planning as well as providing critical information to researchers grappling with providing locally relevant climate impact information. Additionally, efforts will be designed in order to maximize the potential for extrapolation of results to surrounding areas, with emphasis on finding lowcost, innovative approaches to communication and the application of technological innovation. Finally, it is anticipated that this cooperative approach will be applied to addressing other appropriate management issues.
The vision of the CBSSC is:
Coastal communities understand, are resilient to and able to effectively plan for climate change impacts, in particular relative sea level change and coastal inundation, within the Chesapeake Bay by means of a dedicated collaborative partnership between federal, state, and local governments, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, and commercial interest groups.
The mission of the CBSSC’s is:
To provide long term data, information, tools, and educational resources, derived from downscaled observations collected at a network of sentinel sites, to inform decision-makers and coastal communities about the impacts of rising sea levels.
To fulfill this mission, the CBSSC initially developed the following priority strategies: (1) establish an integrated network of habitat sentinel sites; (2) enhance data availability and interoperability, (3) develop information tools and support modeling efforts, and (4) provide educational and advisory services. To support these strategies, the CBSSC will leverage existing assets, programs, and resources across existing federal, state, local, non-profit, and academic programs. Targeting current and future investments from multiple stakeholders within the Chesapeake Bay watershed will dramatically increase the effectiveness of these efforts.
Habitat Sentinel Site Network: The CBSSC will leverage existing investments at strategic locations (sentinel site) through a series of water quality monitoring stations deployed throughout the Bay. This network will monitor sea level-associated variables including water level and temperature, salinity intrusion, marsh surface elevation, subsidence rates, and habitat-related variables. Collecting downscaled, refined data at sentinel sites and networking those sites will provide a downscaled, synoptic picture of sea level change rates and impacts in the Chesapeake Bay.
Data Synthesis and Interoperability: The CBSSC will become the organizational structure linking relevant data, currently scattered, fragmented, and incompatible across agencies, organizations and jurisdictional boundaries. Access or knowledge of available information is prerequisite for informed decisions to be made about citing restoration projects, responsible land use planning and management, and long term monitoring of environmental baselines. Strengthening existing collaborations and building new partnerships across federal, state, local and other regional agencies and academic institutes will help ensure that the data collected can validate and support modeling efforts and risk assessments.
Information Products, Tools & Support: The outcomes of the Cooperative’s efforts will include enhanced understanding and utilization of inundation and habitat mapping and other tools designed to inform decision making policy and planning. The CBSSC will support refined ecosystem modeling at downsized spatial scales, inform vulnerability assessments, and advise strategies to facilitate ecosystem and coastal community resiliency and adaptation.
Education, Transfer & Advisory Service: The CBSCC strives to fully engage a variety of audiences and users, from K-12 educators to elected officials, and be an “expertise resource” to support and guide natural resource managers, coastal communities, and policy-makers through the dissemination of unbiased, science-based information. This service is focused at the local level and can occur in a variety of formats including the development of localized information products, providing topic and/or regional oriented speakers, attending public planning meetings for comment or advice, workshops, and supporting professional training programs. Specifically these programs will be carried out by the National Estuarine Research Reserves (NERRS) education and coastal training programs in VA and MD, NCBO’s Environmental Science Training Center, and the Maryland Delaware Climate Change Education Assessment and Research (MADE-CLEAR) initiative.
Who is the Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative?
The CBSSC is an open community of scientists, natural resource managers, educators, regulators and natural resource professionals who have interests and investments in better understanding the natural and anthropogenic processes impacting the Chesapeake Bay and improving the health and resilience of the Bay for natural resource and public benefits. As described above, current partner capabilities focus on observation and monitoring, modeling, and outreach and education components of the Science-Service-Stewardship continuum. Over the next 5 years, the CBSSC will strive to expand its partnership to fulfill gaps in capabilities. In the meantime, the CBSSC will utilize existing investments and develop innovative ways to effectively communicate with Bay stakeholders about the impacts and potential management strategies to combat sea level change and coastal flooding.
As the Cooperative grows, partners will represent a diverse and balanced assemblage of federal, state, and local governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, and commercial interest groups (Table 1). The purpose of this partnership is to better understand the impacts of climate change, focusing initially on sea level change, on the natural and built environments and integrate those data into local management decisions. It is important to note that the Cooperative is not an advocacy group but a collaboration of objective, unbiased experts and professionals who are dedicated to providing the necessary tools to coastal communities that will enhance understanding and trust of sea level change impacts.
Table 1: Current Chesapeake Bay Sentinel Site Cooperative Partner Agency/Organizations
FEDERAL / STATE / ACEDEMIC / NGOsDepartment of Commerce
-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
o Chesapeake Bay Office
o National Geodetic Survey
o Office of Ocean & Coastal Resource Management (National Estuarine Research Reserves)
o U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System
o Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services / Maryland Department of Natural Resources / University of Maryland
-National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center
-Center for Estuarine and Environmental Science / Mid-Atlantic Regional Association for Coastal Ocean Observing Systems
Department of Defense
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
-U.S. Navy / Virginia Department of Environmental Quality / Virginia Institute of Marine Science / National Wildlife Federation
Department of Interior
- U.S. Geological Survey
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- National Park Service / Old Dominion University / The Nature Conservancy
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency / Virginia Commonwealth University
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
The current members of the CBSSC have expertise in observation, monitoring, modeling, education and outreach. The group will be significantly strengthened by recruiting regional representatives with experience in applied research related to sea level change, spatial analysis, and information transfer. Together these representatives can deliver a comprehensive suite of services aimed at improving natural resource management, coastal restoration, conservation, and municipal planning. For example, the Cooperative can provide local county managers with access to and understanding of data and models that inform decisions of how to decrease susceptibility of future infrastructure to rising sea level. Similarly, resource managers such as the National Park Service can use CBSSC-developed tools to inform conservation and recreational land acquisition decisions. The recruitment of local representatives (e.g. county level staff) would also be important to leverage from ongoing local efforts, to identify information gaps, and to inform the development of relevant tools and other resources.
The Cooperative will function in many capacities. It will serve as a clearinghouse of science and managerial support tools, identify needs to inform future research agendas, provide scientific monitoring and educational expertise, and support development of local educational and outreach programs. The CBSSC will investigate ways to redirect funds where related activities overlap with partners’ current duties. Overall, the CBSSC can function as an authority in the Bay through its integrated sentinel site network, data synthesis and assessments, and information transfer capabilities.