Six Estuaries Targeted by EPA for Climate Change Case Studies
Estuaries, those places where fresh and salt water meet and which are also incredibly productive, literally constitute the front lines in an era of rising seas and climate change. Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a new program to concentrate on six of these important mixing zones from coast-to-coast to see what can be done to meet the challenges presented by a warming planet.
The emphasis appeared to be on finding ways to adapt to a changing climate and to mitigate the potential damage, which are among the approaches also recommended by researchers from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (who have warned that much more needs to be done).
In its statement, the EPA said that projects at the half-dozen estuaries would constitute case studies for local action to protect the "sensitive coastal ecosystems," as well as the nearby economies from the potential effects of climate change. The announcement said the designations constituted the first step in what the EPA called its "Climate Ready Estuaries" effort.
The six pilots include New Hampshire Estuaries Project, Massachusetts Bays Estuary Program, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Albemarle-Pamlico Sounds National Estuary Program, Charlotte Harbor Estuary Program and San Francisco Estuary Project. All are part of the National Estuaries Program, which was launched in 1987 under amendments to the Clean Water Act.
Each program will get technical assistance to assess and reduce the vulnerability to climate change, the EPA said. Among the program's goals is building a knowledge base that can be shared with other communities. Areas with locally approved plans will be designated "Climate Ready Estuaries." The agency said it was developing a number of tools for the project, including an interactive Web site and other efforts targeted toward outreach and education, management and increasing coordination of information.
The EPA, in a fuller explanation of the program, said that estuaries "are likely to experience some of the most severe effects of climate change." That would square with other assessments, such as those the IPCC put forward last year, in which the scientists found it "likely" that rising sea levels would, for instance, cause increased salinization of estuaries.
Earlier this year, as reported by Climate Law Update, federal researchers also found the potential for massive flooding and storm damage to the transportation infrastructure along the Gulf Coast partly due to elevated sea levels. The potential for rising sea levels was also documented in a comprehensive report that summed up much of the available information, including that involving the Gulf Coast, collected by the federal government.
Specific projects planned for the newly announced EPA effort include a $50,000 study by the New Hampshire program to identify road culverts that might fail during the increasingly severe storms that scientists predict will occur. In Massachusetts, the program there will update management plans and increase coordination with a recently announced state program.
Pilot projects in Florida and North Carolina are intended to involve residents from Sanibel Island and the coastal region of North Carolina "to prepare to adapt to climate change and mitigate adverse impacts," according to a separate EPA press statement. The statement noted that the Southeast region of the country is considered the most vulnerable to climate change.
(Photo of estuary mouth: Wikipedia)
