Year: 2021
Project(s):
Relevance
Hydrologic barriers to the natural flow of coastal waters has adversely impacted coastal fisheries and communities throughout the Gulf of Mexico. With advanced technology and new approaches the natural flow of coastal areas can be restored and enhance the ecosystem.
Response
The four Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant college programs collaborated with the NOAA Restoration Center on a community-based restoration program, which concluded in 2014. Part of this project included Sea Grant extension professionals working with local communities and restoration experts to identify hydrological restoration sites throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant developed an inventory of the sites and shared it broadly. The results of the project, including the inventory, are located here: http://masgc.org/hydrorestoration.
Results
Resource managers used the inventory to identify and fund restoration using RESTORE funding. Approximately $2.17M was initially allocated to NOAA to plan restoration of three inventory projects. Since then one project, Robinson Preserve, was funded and completed. This project ultimately restored 118 acres creating high quality estuarine subtidal habitats and linking coastal upland, wetland and estuarine areas. Without the inventory, these projects may not have been funded or identified as priorities.
Recap
The network of Sea Grant extension professionals in the Gulf of Mexico was able to build an inventory of sites that required hydrologic restoration that was used by the Department of Commerce and Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council to fund multiple large-scale restoration effort including a recent project that was completed that restored 118 acres. (2021)