Application of an Adaptive Management Plan to Reduce Uncertainty and Improve Decisions in Restoring the Herring River Estuary

Located between Wellfleet and Turo, Massachusetts, the 1100-acre Herring River watershed has historically provided many ecological and social benefits, including forest and wetland habitat for native fish, birds, and mammals and recreational and educational opportunities for residents and visitors. Construction of a dike and ditches beginning in the early 1900s constricted tidal exchange into the river basin, resulting in ecological degradation of the estuary, loss of valued salt marsh and extensive conversion to upland habitat vegetation.  Tidal restrictions limit passage of fish species that spend their time in both fresh and salt water into the Herring River, have resulted in dangerous bacterial levels posing risks to humans and shellfish beds, and reduced the marsh’s ability to compensate for rising sea levels. A Herring River tidal restoration effort is being undertaken to restore these historical benefits, return natural tidal range and salinity, improve vegetation conditions and provide increase recreational opportunities in the system. Restoration planning will balance these benefits with other societal values including protection of low-lying roads and private property to flooding, minimizing risks to shellfish beds and other economic resources, and ensuring public safety.



The United States Geological Survey provided guidance to this project by developing (with partners from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife and National Park Service) an Adaptive Management framework to support Herring River restoration planning.  This adaptive framework integrates management objectives, alternative tidal control policies, scientific and model-based information, and the perceptions and values of local residents into a decision tool that allows managers to explore the outcomes of different policy decisions on ecological, economic, and societal endpoints.  The decision model, platformed using a web-based R Shiny application package, will be used to inform the operation of a new water control structure and other decisions to adaptively and incrementally increase tidal exchange into the estuary while reducing the risk of adverse impacts.