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2016 Oral Abstracts Abstracts of Oral Presentations (by day and session) Tuesday, February 2, 2016 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM Incorporating an Ecosystem Services Approach into Restoration and Coastal Management 1:30 PM - 1:45 PM A Place for People at the Restoration Table D. Boesch University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD Ecosystem services are anthropocentric. They are the benefits that humans receive from the natural environment. Yet, do we really consider the potential impact on human well-being as we plan, execute, and monitor restoration and conservation projects? And if we are, is there a real connection between the biophysical structure, function, and processes to ecosystem services and then human well-being? There currently exists a significant opportunity in the Gulf of Mexico to change the way we conduct our "restoration" business. Ecosystem services can play a role in selection among project alternatives but more importantly it can help elucidate the benefits of restoration and be a measure of the "impact of investment" that is being made. 1:45 PM - 2:00 PM The Gulf of Mexico as a Hub for Ecosystem Service Science-Driven Policy C. Shepard; The Nature Conservancy, Punta Gorda, FL The Gulf of Mexico’s coastal and marine ecosystems provide a wide range of services that benefit people and nature. Reestablishing these ecosystem services and protecting the habitats that provide them is key to rebuilding the region’s economic, ecological and social vitality. The Deepwater Horizon disaster has brought much needed scientific and political attention to the state of the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystems and the services they provide. The RESTORE act served as an initial impetus for bringing stakeholders together throughout the region, but the conversation has broadened to include multiple funding sources that can collectively improve the environmental, economic, and social resilience of the Gulf Coast. State, county and local government agencies, non-governmental organizations and industry representatives are making decisions now about where to invest in economic development, conservation and restoration projects. An ecosystem services approach can help inform on baseline conditions, assess damages from disasters and increase the effectiveness of restoration activities. Right now, the Gulf of Mexico is a hub for both the advancement of ecosystem services science and the use of that science to inform more strategic planning and management of the region’s natural resources. As we implement planning processes that work across sectors and jurisdictions to fund projects that will balance potential trade-offs and provide the greatest returns for people and nature, we need to identify what actions need to be taken to strengthen the use of an ecosystem services framework in the Gulf. 2:00 PM - 2:15 PM U.S. Federal Policies, Gulf Restoration Initiatives, and Opportunities for Ecosystem Services Assessment S. J. Ryker1, A. Segal2; 1U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, 2White House Council on Environmental Quality, Washington, DC In reports dated 1998 and 2011, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) directed agencies’ attention to the value of natural capital and recommended improving the capabilities of Federal agencies to consider ecosystem services in decision-making. Since then the Federal government has made progress in adopting ecosystem services approaches within individual agencies (for example in the 2012 Forest Planning Rule) and in setting policy across agencies (for example in the 2014 Principles, Requirements and Guidelines for Federal Investment in Water Resources). Most recently, a 2015 White House policy directed Federal agencies to promote consideration of ecosystem services within existing agency planning and decision frameworks. Long-standing research and restoration initiatives in the Gulf of Mexico have already advanced the region’s understanding of a rich variety of ecosystem services, including cultural and economic resources provided by the Gulf as well as natural and restored ecosystem functions. The increased Federal focus on ecosystem services creates an opportunity to discuss potential frameworks integrating across a number of these Gulf efforts. Existing collaborations through, for example, the RESTORE Council and Natural Resources Damages Act Trustee Council, other regional restoration and recovery initiatives, and with state, local and Tribal partners already provide foundational investments in the region. Ecosystem services provide a way to articulate the values of these investments at a landscape scale, and to identify mutually supporting goals and outcomes for future investments in both research and restoration. 2:15 PM - 2:30 PM Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Restoration: Based on a Foundation of Ecological, Economic and Social Components B. Sutter1, J. R. Ehrenwerth2, A. Dausman3, J. Ettinger2; 1Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, Leesburg, VA, 2Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, New Orleans, LA, 3Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, Stennis, MS The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) is vital to our Nation and our economy, providing valuable energy resources, abundant seafood, extraordinary beaches and recreational activities, and a rich cultural heritage. Even before the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill of 2010, the health and function of the Gulf ecosystems and economies have suffered from decades of significant human and natural stressors. The Gulf has experienced chronic loss of critical wetland habitats, erosion of barrier islands, imperiled fisheries, water quality degradation, impacts from invasive species, and substantial coastal land loss due to natural forces, the alteration of hydrology, and impacts from other human activities. In addition, the Gulf Coast region has endured repeated natural catastrophes, including major hurricanes such as Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike. The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (Council) has the responsibility to help ensure the Gulf has a strong foundation of resilient ecosystems that sustain thriving marine and coastal resources, communities, and economies. Building resilient watersheds and estuaries resulting from 2 restoration efforts, including such services as habitat revitalization, storm protection, pollution removal, nutrient cycling, and many aesthetic, cultural, and recreational values, as well as tourism and jobs is an economic imperative for the Gulf region. These service benefits would impact individuals, businesses, communities, and cumulatively, the Gulf ecosystem. 2:30 PM - 2:45 PM Incorporating an Ecosystem Service Approach in NRDA L. DiPinto; NOAA, Silver Spring, MD Under current NRDA practice, injuries to natural resources and losses are commonly measured in ecological terms (e.g., number of acres injured or number or biomass of fish and invertebrates killed), and restoration often follows relatively straightforward habitat and/or resource equivalency approaches (e.g., acres of habitat restored or biomass of fish/invertebrates replaced). However, these habitat- or resource-to-resource compensatory calculations and associated restoration plans can miss important ecosystem connections and linkages that are important for comprehensive injury restoration, particularly when injuries occur to multiple habitats and services. Considering these ecosystem services in damage assessment will require overcoming challenges, specifically: (1) shifting or dynamic baselines in the GoM, (2) the lack of complete or validated ecosystem models that capture the full complexity of ecosystem interactions in the GoM, (3) quantifying these ecological services in a manner that can be used to scale restoration, and (4) understanding the tradeoffs between restoration options to make the public whole. 2:45 PM - 3:00 PM Implementing Restoration on the Gulf Coast: the State-level Perspective on an Ecosystem Services Approach J. Lanclos; Louisiana Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority, Baton Rouge, LA The restoration efforts from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill are taking place within five Gulf States; Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. In addition to being members of the Restoration Council, the five Gulf States receive individual portions of the RESTORE Act Trust Funds. Each state is approaching comprehensive restoration and recovery efforts in a different manner, with different decision-making processes and criteria for project selection, including consideration of ecosystem services approaches. 3:30 PM - 3:45 PM Breaking-Even on Ecosystem Services: The Effects of Scale on Restoration Efficiency R. Caffey1, H. Wang1, D. Petrolia2, M. Savolainen1; 1LSU Center for Natural Resource Economics & Policy, Baton Rouge, LA, 2MSU Department of Agricultural Economics, Starkville, MS Monetized ecosystem service values (ESV) are increasingly utilized as the justification for a wide range of environmental restoration initiatives. The use of ESV in project performance assessment; however, has been limited. Incorporated into traditional economic models, these values can be used to examine programmatic efficiency and to inform project tradeoffs - both within and between competing methods. This presentation outlines a trajectory-dependent method for examining the ESV-based return on coastal restoration project spending. Generic models are developed within a benefit-cost framework for 3 two major types of coastal reclamation. These models are utilized to determine the minimum ESV required to offset project costs under a wide
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