Network funding awarded to projects that support integration among multiple LCCs

The North Atlantic LCC is helping to lead the integration of two projects that will foster collaboration among multiple LCCs to increase coastal resilience and aquatic connectivity across a broad geographic area.

Coastal Resilience for Natural Resources and Communities across the LCC Network

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the North Atlantic LCC has focused increasingly on coastal resilience - a growing priority of other LCCs across the Network as well. Using national LCC funding, the North Atlantic LCC is now helping to facilitate a project among all coastal LCCs to coordinate, synthesize and deliver coastal resilience information, ideas, activities and lessons learned across the Network. 

The initial focus of the project is on synthesizing and delivering existing coastal resilience and adaptation information to communities and, where feasible, prioritizing conservation actions to increase the resilience of both coastal communities and natural resources.

Products for the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts include:

• Establishment of an Atlantic/Gulf Coast LCC/Climate Science Center coastal resilience team
• Compilation and synthesis of existing Gulf and Atlantic Coast vulnerability/resiliency information on priority coastal species and models that quantitatively link sea level rise and increased storm severity and frequency with system response, impacts to habitats and species, and restoration and management alternatives.
• Identification of thresholds of viability for these species under different rates of sea level rise.
• Identification of additional science needs and approaches to address information gaps.
• Assessment of restoration and management alternatives to increase persistence/resilience of these species and their habitats as well as evaluation of their effectiveness.
• Assessment of how these alternatives relate to use of natural and nature-based approaches to community resilience (i.e. whether approaches to increasing community resilience will also increase persistence/resilience of priority coastal resources).
• Compilation of existing efforts to relate to use of natural and nature-based approaches to community resilience.
• Pilot effort(s) to incorporate species and habitat information into community resilience planning.
• Final results compiled and made available in report, website(s), data portal(s).
• Workshop to review initial results, exchange information and increase collaboration among coastal researchers and managers and web based collaborative work spaces to share this information.

Restoring Aquatic Connectivity and Resilience of Road-Stream Crossings and Dams across the Northeast and Midwest

A number of LCCs including the North Atlantic and Upper Midwest Great Lakes have developed partnerships and science to address the restoration of aquatic connectivity. Using national LCC funding, the North Atlantic and Upper Midwest Great Lakes will work together to advance the work of prioritizing culvert and road-stream crossing repairs and replacements across the Midwest and Northeast, increasing resilience to future floods and to improving fish passage. 

This collaborative effort will use current decision tools supported by these two LCCs to prioritize and target surveys of culverts, develop and use shared protocols and databases to gather empirical data and predict the vulnerability of structures to future storm discharge levels.  This information will be incorporated with current decision tools to prioritize crossing improvements based on both structural risk and benefits to the conservation of species in the face of increased floods due to climate change.

By collaborating with transportation and emergency response agencies, the LCCs will leverage funding for prioritized crossings. Target species include: brook trout, lake sturgeon, river redhorse, walleye, river herring, American shad, Atlantic salmon.

Products will include:

• Comparison of existing culvert survey protocols for both aquatic organism passage and structure integrity; development of shared protocols and databases for regional prioritization.
• Engagement of transportation and emergency response communities into existing efforts.
• Identification of high priority watersheds and road crossing structures for field surveys.
• Field surveys providing empirical data to prioritize and implement crossing improvements based on structural risk and benefits to species.
• Incorporation of empirical data into current modeling efforts to improve decision support tools.
• Workshops to enhance collaboration and information sharing.