Community Impacts Report
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COMMUNITY ING ACT AK ION T S: FO IE R IT A N B U E M T T M E R O C T O T S M A O O R C R F O L W U G This publication was supported by the NOAA Regional Coastal Suggested Citation: Gulf of Mexico Alliance and Mississippi- Resilience Grant (Award NAS16NOS4730008) awarded to the Gulf Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. Community Impacts: Gulf of Mexico Alliance. The views expressed herein do not necessarily Coast Communities Taking Action for a Better Tomorrow. reflect the views of GOMA, NOAA, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant (2020). Publication number # MASGP-20-015. Consortium, or any of its subagencies. IMPACTS Gulf Coast Communities: Taking Action for a Better Tomorrow Recognizing that coastal communities are at risk to parent organization. These groups included neighborhood natural, economic, and technological disasters, the Gulf of associations, school organizations, churches, museums, Mexico Alliance (GOMA) and its partners have provided zoos, and wildlife centers. small grants for communities through a series of different Third, GOMA partnered with the Climate and Resilience funding opportunities. Community of Practice (CoP) to build capacity in local First, GOMA’s Habitat and Resilience Teams, along with communities to prepare for and adapt to changing climate the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, received conditions, to lessen the impacts of localized flooding and a Regional Coastal Resilience Grant (RCRG) award from effects of saltwater intrusion, and to communicate a clear NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management. One of the goals and science-informed message to aid in future decision of this funding was to conduct a small grant program to making. This capacity building grant was awarded help communities address their vulnerabilities to future through the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research storms. While significant funding may be available to Program and expanded the reach of the CoP and its communities after a disaster, there are not many existing individual members to facilitate closing the gap between funding opportunities for communities that want to take current science and application. It broadened the scope proactive measures to become more resilient before the of membership to include additional Gulf communities, next storm. This small grant program filled a real need local businesses, and members from the Gulf of Mexico for eight communities, as well as provided a series of Alliance Resilience and Habitat Teams. Specifically, each “demonstration projects” at the local level that GOMA of the implementation projects with local communities and partners can learn from and share with communities resulted in best management practices that can be shared around the Gulf. across the region. Second, in response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Finally, two community grants have been awarded Maria (2017), GOMA solicited for small grants to through Gulf Star, GOMA’s public-private partnership. applicants affected by the hurricanes in Texas and Florida. Gulf Star partners are agencies, businesses, private organi- Supported by private and public funds, these eight grants zations, and citizens that provide funding for projects that went to non-traditional audiences who did not qualify are tied directly to Gulf economies, such as sustainable for the larger federal assistance. Recipients included seafood, loss of critical habitats, coastal resilience, water non-governmental organizations and small community resources, living marine resources, and monitoring. groups who were not eligible to receive funds from a larger This report summarizes the community work that has been supported by GOMA and its partners across the Gulf of Mexico. It highlights the impacts these small grants have made in improving resilience, supporting business continuity, increasing capacity, enhancing habitat, and expanding best practices. Living Shoreline Stabilization to BRADENTON, FL for future disturbances. In addition to Increase Resiliency increasing resiliency, this project also in- Issue of Concern: creased the availability of critical shoreline De Soto National Memorial (Bradenton, Project Lead: Coastal habitat for fishes and other wildlife species FL) is an important location where both Conservation Association, and improved water quality by reducing Native Americans and De Soto’s army De Soto National Memorial Park erosion and re-establishing oysters and of soldiers once lived. The University of plants for water filtration. University of Project Location: De Soto Central Florida (UCF) Department of Biol- Central Florida and the National Park National Memorial Park, Manatee ogy has worked closely with the National Service collaborated on the stabilization County, Bradenton, FL Park Service to understand how to best and monitoring as they have considerable stabilize this shoreline through the use of Demographics: success implementing the use of living living shoreline techniques combined with • Population (53,654) shoreline techniques adjacent to Native long-term natural recruitment. Stabilizing • Median age (42.9) American shell middens. De Soto’s shoreline is essential to decrease • Median household income erosion and shoreline loss to protect the Key Accomplishments and ($42,902) park’s cultural and natural resources, es- Deliverables: • Poverty rate (17.2%) pecially numerous historically significant Restoration included ongoing replacement shell middens. Through pre-restoration planting of mangroves, repair/replacement monitoring, it was determined that of damaged shell bags, and stabilization high-energy boat wakes were limiting of an additional 207 feet on the northeast natural mangrove recruitment. Lack of shoreline. New (not replacement) deploy- retention of propagules (young mangrove ments included 78 mangroves, 200 smooth plants) led to destabilized, highly eroding, cordgrass plugs (Spartina alterniflora) and bare shorelines. placement of 400 oyster shell bags along De Soto National the shoreline. Thirty-five volunteers partic- Memorial Park To begin the recovery process, partners ipated, donating 281 hours of their time. A planted native vegetation and installed total of 145 mangroves have survived from oyster shell bags seaward of the 4-year old the 290 planted during Phase 1, a 50% mangroves to reduce wave energy, trap survival rate. The SE site showed an overall sediment and new propagules, and provide 2.5 cm of accretion along restored sites habitat for native species. One month after 1 year. LESSONS LEARNED: after restoration, Hurricane Irma hit the park. The park suffered extensive damage Monitoring of natural mangrove propa- A goal of shoreline stabiliza- throughout with all shorelines covered gule recruitment was also performed at tion was to reduce the rate with wood and dock debris. Many plants these sites. The ability of mangrove plants of sediment erosion while and shell bags (now with attached live to self-sustain is an important component increasing sediment accretion. oysters) were damaged. of shoreline resiliency. Monitoring results Measuring success at the NW found that mangrove propagule retention Taking Action: shoreline site was not possible along the living shoreline sites was due to the repeated loss of Project partners were able to repair the comparable to natural sites; both were near erosion stakes along the damaged living shoreline materials, zero. Additional structural topography shoreline. The missing erosion continue their monitoring, and deploy (larger plants and associated root struc- stakes may have eroded away an additional 200 feet of living shoreline tures) is needed for natural recruitment to themselves or, more likely, between December and August of 2018. be successful. park visitors removed them. Funding from GOMA enabled them to continue the successful restoration efforts to stabilize the shoreline damaged by Hurricane Irma and increase its resilience COMMUNITY IMPACTS 2 Gulf Coast Communities: Taking Action for a Better Tomorrow Evaluating the GALVESTON, TEXAS surveys was entered into the Finbase Impacts of Issue of Concern: Photo-ID Database. Data analyses consisted Hurricane Harvey of 1) estimating dolphin encounter rates In 2017, Hurricane Harvey severely on Dolphins (including mother/calf pairs) to determine impacted the entire Galveston Bay system, if and when dolphins returned to Upper Project Lead: Dr. Vanessa primarily by causing drastic changes in Galveston Bay after Harvey, 2) calculating Mintzer, Galveston Bay Founda- freshwater inflows, and consequently the prevalence and extent of skin lesions in tion, Galveston Bay, Texas affected many of Galveston Bay Founda- the same population, and 3) evaluating the tion’s initiatives. One program in need of progression of skin lesions on individual Project Location: Galveston Bay, assistance was the Galveston Bay Dolphin dolphins. Galveston, Texas Research and Conservation Program (GDRCP). The GDRCP has been studying Key Accomplishments Demographics: the Galveston Bay bottlenose dolphin (Tur- and Deliverables: • Population (49,706) siops truncatus) population since 2013 by Results evaluating the short-term effects of • Median age (38.5) conducting boat-based surveys. The influx Harvey were prepared into a manuscript • Median household income of freshwater not only changed the salinity and submitted for publication in the journal ($42,486) of Galveston Bay, but likely contaminated Estuaries and Coasts. • Poverty rate (22.6%) Galveston Bay with waterborne pathogens • Peer-reviewed Publication and chemicals from toxic run off. Galveston