A Case Study Assessing the Cumulative Effects of Deepwater Horizon Restoration Projects on Barrier Island/Barrier Shoreline Ecosystem Resilience in the North-central Gulf of Mexico
USGS and partners will assess the potential cumulative effects of restoration projects on the resiliency of barrier islands and barrier shorelines in the north-central Gulf of Mexico.
The Science Issue and Relevance: The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) mobile drilling unit explosion and associated oil spill in April 2010 substantially impacted northern Gulf of Mexico coastal ecosystems, exacerbating existing acute and chronic stressors. As part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process, along with civil and criminal claims, and imposed fines and penalties, over $15 billion (USD) in funding was dedicated to addressing environmental and economic restoration. Since DWH, hundreds of projects have been planned and implemented across the coast with the overall goal of restoring ecosystem function and services. Given the unprecedented temporal, spatial, and funding scales associated with the DWH oil spill restoration effort, the need for robust monitoring was identified early on to help inform adaptive management and provide a means to assess restoration outcomes. Many restoration projects provide project-specific monitoring data (for example, DIVER website), which offer insight into project-specific outcomes. However, these data alone fall short of informing outcomes at the ecosystem or regional level that may incorporate cumulative, synergistic or antagonistic effects across a habitat type or geographic area.
A recent National Academies of Sciences Report focused on the need to develop approaches that specifically assess cumulative impacts of restoration across a geographic- or ecosystem-level scale. Such an approach requires understanding not just project-level outcomes, but also understanding the cumulative effects of multiple restoration projects on an ecosystem, and their interaction with impacts of on-going acute and chronic stressors (for example, sea-level rise). Over 85 restoration projects have been implemented across the north-central Gulf of Mexico coast as part of the DWH restoration response. These restoration activities provide an opportunity to examine cause and effect related to restoration actions, and more specifically, how on-going trends in the resilience and ecological changes in the barrier island/barrier shoreline (BI/BS) systems may differ from expected or predicted trends for this region.
Methodology for Addressing the Issue: The Louisiana State University, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USGS, and the Water Institute of the Gulf are collaborating on a case study to assess the potential cumulative effects of DWH restoration projects on the resiliency of the BI/BS in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. The area of interest for this study will span from Dauphin Island in Alabama (Fig. 1) to Alligator Point in Florida (Point Bald State Park; Fig. 2). To achieve this objective, we will: 1) develop a conceptual model of BI/BS that identifies drivers, stressors, and outcome metrics to track BI/BS resiliency; 2) document changes in BI/BS resiliency indicators using available project and remotely sensed data; and 3) explore metrics to assess potential changes in these resiliency indicators in response to DWH restoration projects.
Future Steps: The next steps include the assessment of potential cumulative effects of BI/BS and dissemination of results. This effort could be expanded via future updates with new or planned restoration activities and remote sensing data.
USGS and partners will assess the potential cumulative effects of restoration projects on the resiliency of barrier islands and barrier shorelines in the north-central Gulf of Mexico.
The Science Issue and Relevance: The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) mobile drilling unit explosion and associated oil spill in April 2010 substantially impacted northern Gulf of Mexico coastal ecosystems, exacerbating existing acute and chronic stressors. As part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process, along with civil and criminal claims, and imposed fines and penalties, over $15 billion (USD) in funding was dedicated to addressing environmental and economic restoration. Since DWH, hundreds of projects have been planned and implemented across the coast with the overall goal of restoring ecosystem function and services. Given the unprecedented temporal, spatial, and funding scales associated with the DWH oil spill restoration effort, the need for robust monitoring was identified early on to help inform adaptive management and provide a means to assess restoration outcomes. Many restoration projects provide project-specific monitoring data (for example, DIVER website), which offer insight into project-specific outcomes. However, these data alone fall short of informing outcomes at the ecosystem or regional level that may incorporate cumulative, synergistic or antagonistic effects across a habitat type or geographic area.
A recent National Academies of Sciences Report focused on the need to develop approaches that specifically assess cumulative impacts of restoration across a geographic- or ecosystem-level scale. Such an approach requires understanding not just project-level outcomes, but also understanding the cumulative effects of multiple restoration projects on an ecosystem, and their interaction with impacts of on-going acute and chronic stressors (for example, sea-level rise). Over 85 restoration projects have been implemented across the north-central Gulf of Mexico coast as part of the DWH restoration response. These restoration activities provide an opportunity to examine cause and effect related to restoration actions, and more specifically, how on-going trends in the resilience and ecological changes in the barrier island/barrier shoreline (BI/BS) systems may differ from expected or predicted trends for this region.
Methodology for Addressing the Issue: The Louisiana State University, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USGS, and the Water Institute of the Gulf are collaborating on a case study to assess the potential cumulative effects of DWH restoration projects on the resiliency of the BI/BS in the north-central Gulf of Mexico. The area of interest for this study will span from Dauphin Island in Alabama (Fig. 1) to Alligator Point in Florida (Point Bald State Park; Fig. 2). To achieve this objective, we will: 1) develop a conceptual model of BI/BS that identifies drivers, stressors, and outcome metrics to track BI/BS resiliency; 2) document changes in BI/BS resiliency indicators using available project and remotely sensed data; and 3) explore metrics to assess potential changes in these resiliency indicators in response to DWH restoration projects.
Future Steps: The next steps include the assessment of potential cumulative effects of BI/BS and dissemination of results. This effort could be expanded via future updates with new or planned restoration activities and remote sensing data.