NOAA Releases Manual on Coastal Habitat Restoration Monitoring (5-3-2004)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has compiled key restoration monitoring information applicable to coastal habitats nationwide. Science-Based Restoration Monitoring of Coastal Habitats, Volume One: A Framework for Monitoring Plans Under the Estuaries and Clean Waters Act of 2000 (Public Law 160-457) offers technical assistance, outlines steps, and provides useful tools for developing and carrying out monitoring of coastal restoration efforts. NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Prepared by NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), the manual offers coastal resource managers, practitioners and the public a consolidated set of science-based tools for planning and conducting monitoring associated with restoration in habitats throughout U.S. coastal waters habitats. Along with providing a framework for structuring monitoring efforts, the newly available manual provides an introduction to restoration monitoring related to specific coastal habitats: water column, rock bottom, coral reefs, oyster reefs, soft bottom, kelp and other macroalgae, rocky shoreline, soft shoreline, submerged aquatic vegetation, marshes, mangrove swamps, deepwater swamps, and riverine forests.
The manual will be useful to scientists, managers, and citizens involved in planning and conducting restoration monitoring efforts, including individuals in academia, industry, government interests at all levels, nongovernmental organizations, and the media. It also includes consistent principles and approaches likely to be applicable to a wide range of coastal restoration efforts, including those undertaken without federal funding support.
A companion volume, Science-Based Restoration Monitoring of Coastal Habitats, Volume Two: Tools for Monitoring Coastal Habitats, is due for release later this year. This document will delve deeper into monitoring approaches for the selected coastal habitats, providing techniques for monitoring them. Additionally, Volume Two provides tools such as a searchable database of restoration monitoring programs nationwide, a guide to selecting reference sites, and a discussion of the monitoring of social and economic aspects of coastal restoration.
