Coastal resource managers increase on-the-job use of sea-level rise science and a strategic decision-making framework for climate change

Relevance:

National resource management has traditionally managed to historical baselines; however, as climate change continually shifts baselines and creates a more dynamic environment, natural resource managers are forced to develop novel approaches for managing in a changing system. This requires understanding the available science, the related uncertainties, potential management options and frameworks for connecting all this information while considering stakeholder needs and values.

Response:

This Dauphin Island Sea Lab project, administered by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, conducted a detailed in-water submerged aquatic vegetation survey following the Gulf of Mexico Alliance's Seagrass Community of Practice tiered monitoring strategy based from the National Park Services methods. Using a grid of tessellated hexagons for selecting sampling locations in the mesohaline and polyhaline portions of coastal Alabama waters, we will 1) test the ease of these protocols and 2) determine the adequate hexagon size. Additionally, this survey provides a baseline for future work.

Results:

In a six-month follow-up survey, 100% of respondents (n=2) said the workshop changed the SLR scenarios they were considering, increased the frequency of how often they incorporated SLR in their work (Respondent 1 increased from "never" to "occasionally,"  and Respondent 2 from "occasionally" to "often"), increased the frequency of using the RAD approach within their management efforts (one respondent changed from "never" to "rarely" and another respondent went from "occasionally" to "often") and identified multiple tools they had used from the workshop. They also used their new knowledge and tools to consider SLR in habitat management planning and land acquisition.

Recap:

Coastal natural resource managers enhanced their consideration of future conditions in decision-making due to a training developed and given by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium-supported Program for Local Adaptation to Climate Effects: Sea-Level Rise. (2021)