Coastal Wetlands: Successes and Challenges

1. Coastal Wetlands: Successes and Challenges Steering Committee October 9, 2014 2100

2. Coastal Wetlands: a DELEP Priority

3. Key Questions Are wetlands keeping pace with sea level rise? How are wetlands responding to stressors, such as pollution? How is wetland health affecting ecosystem services? Where will wetlands likely survive in the future? What can be done to increase wetland sustainability and ecosystem functions? What tactics can be used, and where, how, and when?

4. The Mid-Atlantic Coastal Wetland Assessment • Integrated monitoring of tidal wetlands for • water quality, habitat management, and • climate/restoration planning Remote Sensing Ground- Truthing Intensive Studies Station Monitoring

5. MACWA Tier 1 – Census at Landscape Level • Update: • PDE 2012 State of Estuary Analyses • Updated NWI for PA Coming – Thank You! • Various Post-Sandy Studies of Wetland Losses and Protective Benefits

6. MACWA Tier 2 – Rapid Assessments • Update: • PDE has assessed the condition of 313 points since 2010 (with DNREC and BBP) • Comparative data analyses and management recommendations furnished in June 2013 report to EPA • Integrated analysis all years to date planned this winter

7. MACWA Tier 3 – Intensive Studies • Update: • PDE is studying two ecosystem services associated with salt marshes (N removal, levee-building ) • PDE has been devising living shoreline tactics to boost coastal wetland resilience • New 2014 “Marsh Futures” BMP mapping… June 2011 Post Sandy June 2010 May 2010 Post Sandy Bulkhead near LS

8. Tidal Wetlands Non-Tidal Wetlands SSIM Station 2010 SSIM Station 2011 SSIM Station 2012 SSIM Station 2014 DNERR Station MACWA Tier 4 – Station Monitoring • Update: • PDE has installed 10 stations, working with partners ANSD and BBP (3 in Barnegat) • Broadkill, DE Station put in 2014 • Monitoring progress: • 3 stations in 2011 • 7 stations in 2012 • 9 stations in 2013 • 10 stations in 2014 • Have funding for • 4 of 10 stations in 2015 • 2 of 10 stations in 2016 • 0 of 10 stations in 2017

9. Key Question Are wetlands keeping pace with sea level rise? Answer (Preliminary) > 1 m per year edge loss • No, not in many areas • Patterns of loss vary: • Edge erosion • Interior drowning

10. Erosion versus Accretion Net Accretion Majority of marshes are net eroding from Tier 2 rapid assessments Net Erosion

11. Interior Drowning 1993 Loss of vegetated marsh from Tier 1 remote sensing White = Open Water 2006 Satellite Data – Kearney and Riter

12. Most Salt Marshes Cannot Survive When Sea Levels Rise >1 cm Per Year Tipping Zone?

13. Key Questions How are wetlands responding to stressors, such as pollution? Answer (Preliminary) Substrate Softness • Stressor-response relationships vary widely, with lots of interactions • Hydrology alterations • Mosquito ditching • Nutrient loadings • Fill, Point sources • Marine debris and trash

14. Interesting Patterns Tidal Creek Nutrients Are nutrient loadings affecting ability to keep pace with SLR? from Tier 4 site monitoring Nitrate + Nitrite Tinicum Tinicum Tinicum Christina Christina Maurice Maurice Dennis Dennis Christina Peat Accumulation tidal fresh Maurice BGB:AGB Dennis

15. Key Questions How is wetland health affecting ecosystem services? Answer (Preliminary) Most are moderately or severely stressed, lowers benefits from Tier 2 rapid assessments

16. Effect of Wetland Condition on Function Reference Wetland Condition Function Existing Wetlands Restored Wetlands time Slide from Amy Jacobs (DE DNREC)

17. Key Questions Where will wetlands likely survive in the future? Answer (Preliminary) Depends on Local Conditions Mapping Tool R & D Marsh Futures from Tier 3 special studies >10,000 Elevations measured with RTK-GPS

18. Vulnerability Maps Combine data on plant growth ranges and elevation Tier 3 special studies Elevation Capital Low High Vulnerable to Drowning

19. “Marsh Futures” - Coastal Wetlands for Shoreline Defense • Where and when will investments (living shorelines, beneficial use of dredge material) yield greatest outcomes? Hybrid LS Bio LS 2035 Sediment 2050 2025 2020 2020 Elevation Capital Layer Strategic BMP Layer

20. Key Questions What tactics can be used to stem losses? Answer Oyster Breakwaters DELSI Many options now exist: Performance monitoring can be linked to MACWA Thin-layer sedimentation

21. Key Questions What else can be done to enhance wetland ecosystem services? no mussels with mussels Answer (Preliminary) Target key biota and places where they deliver greater services after ~2 hours from Tier 3 special studies Ribbed mussels Filter 60 billion liters per hour in Delaware Estuary

22. Ribbed mussel TSS removal by habitat in Maurice Mussels filter more nutrients in some areas than others Josh Moody, PhD research

23. Maurice River Tailor wetland restoration project designs to maximize water quality benefits ? Low Concentration of Ecosystem Services High Concentration of Ecosystem Services N Josh Moody, PhD research

24. MACWA 5-year integrated analysis – this winter Which activities and metrics yield the most useful products? Can we downsize to reduce costs? Are there key issue areas that need to be strengthened?

25. Next Steps • Data Synthesis • Revision of rapid assessment method (RAM) • - Streamlined/enhanced site monitoring (SSIM) • - Validation of EPA multilevel strategy • Translation • Rank stressor priorities by watershed • Recommendations for coastal managers • Restoration priorities (e.g. marsh futures) • Training and assistance • Messaging for public • Link to performance monitoring of • post-Sandy resilience projects? • Work to sustain monitoring & assessment

26. Wetland Strategy • Coastal wetlands are a strategic priority, as reflected in our Goals • Sustaining MACWA would help NEP partners meet their wetland goals • while also guiding restoration and coastal resilience projects • Implementation would facilitate the comprehensive water quality • monitoring strategy that EPA is encouraging the states to have in place • All PDE-led proposals for MACWA were declined in 2014 (NFWF, PACMP, EPA HQ, EPA R2, EPA R3). To implement and sustain this strategy, PDE welcomes guidance from the Steering Committee At 1996-2006 rates, 7% will be lost by 2040; But rates of loss are expected to increase markedly

27. We Thank the Many People Who Have Assisted in Workshops, Workgroups and in the Field And We Are Grateful to Our Primary Funders Academy of Natural Sciences Barnegat Bay Partnership EPA Headquarters EPA Regions 2 and 3 EPA National Estuary Program EPA Climate Ready Estuaries DE Dept. of Natural Resources Environ. Control Natural Lands Trust NJ Coastal Management Program PA Coastal Management Program DuPont Clear into the Future Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation New Jersey Recovery Fund Rutgers HSRL The Nature Conservancy The Sunoco Foundation

28. for more Info: http://www.delawareestuary.org/Wetlands

29. Extras

30. MACWA Strategy • Principles: • Coordinated (many partners ) • Sustainable • Network with adjacent watersheds (e.g., Barnegat Bay, DE Inland Bays, NYC) • Goals: • Improved status and trends reporting for health and extent • Strengthened understanding of stressor-response relationships • More effective and strategic efforts to address impairments • Interstate coordination, regulatory decision-making • Smarter prioritization of restoration and enhancement projects • Better mitigation • Established baseline for addressing future changes and challenges October 2014 Status… good progress on most objectives

31. Wetland Strategy – Updated October 2014 75 > 90% good some good ~33% some ~90% 66% Until 2016 ~ 50% Good progress on data products and NWI, still no sustained funding

32. Wetland Strategy - Short Term Needs (through 2015) • Updated NWI (especially for PA) – • continue to work to meet this need • Support for PDE and partners to link coastal wetland assessments to restoration and mitigation planning, potentially assisting with post-Sandy project evaluation • Support for PDE and partners to identify and perform on-the-ground tests of new living shoreline and beneficial sediment projects

33. Wetland Strategy – Long-Term Needs(beyond 2015) • For EPA R2, R3 and HQ and other agencies to continue making this work a priority for funding on an ongoing basis • Continued participation on the PDE wetland workgroup by representatives from the 3 states, EPA R2 and R3, and USFWS • An agreement with PA, DE and NJ whereby the states either fund core wetland monitoring and assessment by PDE, or perform those assessments/monitoring directly, or some combination of both (possibly using 106 funding from EPA) • Support for a federal request to sustain core elements of the strategy for a minimum of five years as a national pilot for cooperative, interstate assessment of imperiled coastal wetlands

34. Summary • Coastal wetlands are a hallmark feature of the Delaware Estuary and coastal mid-Atlantic • They provide diverse benefits that sustain lives and livelihoods • They are vulnerable to combined watershed and climate stressors • Monitoring of wetland status and trends will assist in managing and sustaining them • Regional coordination strengthens scientific outcomes, improves management and leverages more diverse funding

35. Tidal Wetlands A Signature Trait of System Near Contiguous Band Diverse: Freshwater Tidal Marshes Brackish Marshes Salt Marshes Nature’s Benefits Flood Protection Fish and Wildlife Natural Areas Carbon Sequestration Water Quality

36. 2012 State of the Estuary Report Rapid loss of acreage and degraded wetland health Changes in temperature, rainfall, sea level rise Losing an acre per day (1996-2006) Most tidal wetlands are moderately or severely stressed Future scenarios are worrisome http://delawareestuary.org/technical-report-delaware-estuary-basin