What's in the News . . .

CICEET Publishes SWMP Regional Syntheses

Teams of researchers from 20 National Estuarine Research Reserves have completed and published four regional syntheses of data collected by the System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) to address priority coastal management issues.

With funding from the NOAA/University of New Hampshire Cooperative Institute for Coastal & Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), the researchers in each region summarized and interpreted SWMP data, relevant research, and monitoring datasets at the scales of the individual reserves and of the regions.
The studies also included data collected from other regional programs, demonstrating the benefits of coordinating SWMP data with other regional research and monitoring datasets. The regions were the Pacific Coast (California, Oregon and Washington), Southeast (Carolinas, Georgia and Florida) Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia) and Northeast (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Ohio).
Results from these studies will help researchers manage and analyze vast quantities of environmental data at reserves, as well as provide necessary assessments of regional water quality and habitat trends, and clarify the impacts of natural processes and human activities on coastal ecosystems. The reports for these studies are now available online.

The System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) provides collects long and short-term weather and water quality data at each of the 27 reserves to support coastal resource management at the national, regional, and local levels.

CICEET has been an engaged partner in SWMP since 1998, supporting data synthesis and integration, monitoring infrastructure, technology demonstrations, habitat analyses, coordination with the Integrated Ocean Observing System, and capacity building workshops.

Contact: Dwight.Trueblood@noaa.gov; NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (CICEET, ERD)

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CICEET-Sponsored Researchers Publish Findings in Various Journals

With support from the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), researchers are advancing the state of scientific understanding related to the prevention of nonpoint source pollution through enhanced stormwater treatment systems and the detection of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Their contributions to advancing knowledge in the field can be found in a variety of academic and professional journals.

Contact: Dwight.Trueblood@noaa.gov, NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (CICEET, ERD)

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Public Comment Period Opens for Update of CELCP Guidelines

On April 9, OCRM’s Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP) published a notice announcing a 60-day comment period for interested parties to provide comments or suggestions for revisions to the Coastal and Estuarine Land Conservation Program (CELCP) guidelines.  After five years of implementing CELCP under the 2003 guidelines, NOAA plans to update the program guidelines to clarify certain provisions and consider other changes, recognizing also that CELCP authorization bills are currently pending in the House and Senate. The notice will be distributed to coastal states, NGOs, and other interested members of the conservation community.  Comments are requested by June 9, 2008. 

Contact: Elaine.Vaudreuil@noaa.gov; NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (NPED)

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Guánica Watershed Pilot Project

OCRM staff participated in a field assessment during April 8 -11, 2008 for the Guánica watershed in Southwestern Puerto Rico.  The assessment was part of a project funded by the NOAA Coral Program to enhance the effectiveness of local efforts to address land-based sources of pollution that threaten coral reef ecosystems.  The assessment team, including contractors from the Center for Watershed Protection, staff from the Puerto Rico Coastal Zone Management Program and Forestry Department, and NOAA OCRM, met with local agency representatives and other local stakeholders and toured the watershed – from Guánica Bay, up the Rio Loco, to the mountain top coffee plantations – to learn about watershed conditions, concerns, and threats. 

The field assessment will feed into a watershed plan of action for the Guánica area.  Data from field surveys will be compiled along with information from previous and on-going studies on the Guánica Forest and Guánica Bay to develop a watershed plan that is aimed at improving water quality in the Bay and reducing sediment runoff and on surrounding coral reefs.

Contact: Jennifer.Kozlowski@noaa.gov; NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (CPD)

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NOAA Co-hosts Climate Change Workshop for Caribbean Reef Managers

From April 18-21, NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program co-hosted a climate change workshop in the Florida Keys to increase the ability of Caribbean coral reef managers to anticipate and respond to coral bleaching events, and to build resilience into management plans.  Partners included The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, and Mote Marine Laboratory.  Thirty reef managers from Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, Jamaica, Honduras, Colombia, Bahamas, Bonaire, Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize attended.  Utilizing A Reef Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching, the participants initiated coral bleaching response plans for their home sites and engaged in significant discussions on how to integrate and build both social and ecological resilience in the face of climate change.

Contact:  Christy.Loper@noaa.gov, NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (CRCP)

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GTM NERR Volunteer Named NOAA Environmental Hero

Tom Barry, a retired Navy captain who contributes his time to nearly all the environmental programs at Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve in Florida, is the latest reserve system volunteer to be named an Environmental Hero by NOAA.
NOAA’s Environmental Hero Awards were established in 1995 to commemorate Earth Day by honoring volunteers who help NOAA carry out its mission. “Thousands of people across the country join forces with NOAA each year and the Environmental Hero award is our way of saying ‘thank you’ to several of those individuals that have made a significant impact,” said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Tom is an outstanding volunteer — in just three years he has contributed more than 1,200 hours of his time to the Reserve’s Outreach and Education programs.”

Barry has been an instrumental part of the Reserve’s environmental programs since the new environmental education center opened in the fall of 2005, supporting the research, education, and stewardship functions by volunteering with a variety of key programs.

Barry serves as the archaeological expert of the Reserve’s cultural resources, and he coordinates and manages information obtained from current and past cultural resource inspections on site. He supports endangered species protection through annual monitoring programs. He has supported the Reserve’s education program by developing and adapting interpretive literature, and he serves as a school programs instructor and guide for the education center exhibit hall displays and programs.

“Tom Barry is an invaluable contributor to the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve,” said Reserve Manager Mike Shirley. “Without him, many of our programs and accomplishments would not be possible. We can always count on Tom when a Reserve program needs a helping hand.”

Barry is the 10th person to be honored as an Environmental Hero for volunteer work in support of reserve programs since NOAA established the awards in 1995.

Contact: George.Cathcart@noaa.gov, NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (ERD).

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Nearly 800 “Dive Into Oceans” at Rookery Bay Reserve

Nearly 800 people, including students from nine area middle schools, participated in Dive Into Oceans, a 3-day event at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on April 10 - 12.  The “Be A Diver” pool, temporarily installed on the grounds of the Environmental Learning Center, invited kids and adults to try SCUBA for free, many for the first time. Other activities provided by Reserve staff included geocaching, which introduced kids to the use of GPS units, a sampling station, a plankton lab which showed just how much microscopic life actually exists in local waters, and a touch tank that gave visitors a close encounter with native marine life including mollusks, sea stars and crabs.

Outside, Collier County Sea Grant provided a Casting for Conservation station where kids learned casting techniques and ethical angling practices such as catch and release. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Law Enforcement allowed kids get up close with a live baby alligator while learning about fishing and hunting regulations. 

Underwater films in the auditorium included introductions by director of photography and former Cousteau crew member Chuck Davis.  Broadcast crews from the local CBS station and Azteca America, the local Univision (Hispanic) television station, as well as from Collier County Public Schools, helped reach a much broader audience with this message of ocean fun and conservation.

Contact: Erica.Seiden@noaa.gov, NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (ERD).

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