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The
Next Steps
Inventory of Coastal Wetland Restoration Opportunities in
Southern Rhode Island
In 2005, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers partnered with the Rhode Island Coastal
Resources Management Council to identify coastal wetland sites for
consideration for future restoration projects in southern Rhode
Island. The Narragansett Bay Estuary Program and its partners identified
such sites in the Narragansett Bay estuary in 2004. The new inventory
of coastal wetlands from this project, along with aerial photointerpretation
and field work are being used to identify potential restoration
sites in southern R.I. A database of information on wetland impacts,
restoration options, and rare plants will be created. This information
will complete the statewide inventory of coastal wetland restoration
sites.
It is recommended
that the new database be incorporated into the restoration site
selection and prioritization model developed by the NOAA Coastal
Services Center in cooperation with the R.I. Coastal Resources Management
Council, Narragansett bay Estuary Program, and Save The Bay. Currently,
the model runs only on the data from the Narragansett Bay coastal
wetland restoration analysis. The Rhode Island Coastal and Estuary
Habitat Restoration Trust Fund provided funding for this project.
Recommended
Inventory of Losses, Gains and Change in Coastal Wetlands in Southern
Rhode Island
In addition,
the new inventory of coastal habitats in Southern Rhode Island could
be used to perform a coastal wetland trend analysis. Similar to
the Narragansett Bay trend analysis, the 1990s baseline inventory
would be compared with the earlier wetland delineations derived
from historic aerial photography from one or more time periods.
The analysis would produce information on the extent and cause of
losses (wetland to non-wetland), gains (non-wetland to wetland),
and change (wetland to wetland) in the classification of estuarine
wetlands. This type of study would be useful to resource managers
to help evaluate the effectiveness of Federal and State and wetland
protection efforts, as well as target areas for restoration.
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