NOAA Central Library Brown Bag Seminar Silver Spring, MD

July 29, 2011

Emily Greene

•What is the Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership (ACFHP)?

•Strategic Planning

•Funded Projects

•FY12 Project Solicitation

•Tying it All Together

NFHAP

NOAA

NOAA

What is ACFHP: A Brief History

2006: Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission charge

2007: Candidate Fish Habitat Partnership

2009: Became a Fish Habitat Partnership under the National Fish Habitat Action Plan

What is ACFHP: Mission

To accelerate the conservation, protection, restoration, and

enhancement of habitat for native Atlantic coastal, estuarine-dependent,

and diadromous fishes through partnerships between federal, tribal,

state, local, and other entities.

What is ACFHP: Partners

• American Littoral Society• American Rivers• ASMFC• Chesapeake Bay Foundation• Connecticut DEP• Delaware DNREC• Environmental Defense

Fund• Florida FWCC• Georgia DNR• Houlton Band of Maliseet

Indians• Maine DMR• Maryland DNR• Massachusetts DMF• NOAA• New Hampshire FGD• New Jersey DFW

• New York DEC• North Carolina DENR• Oyster Recovery

Partnership• Partnership for the

Delaware Estuary• Pennsylvania FBC• Rhode Island DFW• South Carolina DNR• The Nature Conservancy• U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service• U.S. Geological Survey• Vermont FWD• Virginia Marine Resources

Commission• Wells National Estuarine

Research Reserve

What is ACFHP: Partnership Geographic Extent

What is ACFHP: Partnership Geographic Extent

Headwaters Estuaries Shelf Edge

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What is ACFHP: Partnership Sub-Regions

Conservation Strategic Planning

• 5-Year Conservation Strategic Plan (Draft)

▫NFHAP Goals ACFHP Goals

▫ACFHP Goals Objectives & Strategic Actions Priority Threats and Habitats

Protection and Restoration Programmatic Needs Science and

Data, Communications and Outreach, and Finance

Conservation Strategic Planning

• 1-2 Year Implementation Plan (Fall) ▫Specific steps to achieve strategic

actions in the 5-Year Strategic Plan

• Sub-regional Specific Action Plans (considered in the future)

Draft ACFHP Goals

1. Protect and maintain intact and healthy aquatic systems for native Atlantic coastal, estuarine-dependent, and diadromous fishes.

2. Prevent further degradation of fish habitats that have been adversely affected.

3. Restore the quality and quantity of aquatic habitats to improve the overall health of fish and other aquatic organisms (especially those habitats that play an important role in fish survival, such as nursery and spawning areas).

4. Restore aquatic habitats to recover threatened or endangered species or benefit species of concern.

5. Enhance the quality and quantity of aquatic habitats that support a broad natural diversity of fish and other aquatic species.

ACFHP Draft Habitats

• Marine and Estuarine Shellfish Beds:

Oyster aggregations/ reef Hard clam beds Scallop beds Shell accumulations

• Coral and Live/Hard Bottom: Coral reefs architecture Patch reef, soft coral, or anemones Live rock

NOAA

SC DNR

ACFHP Draft Habitats (cont.)

• Macroalgae: Fucus, Ulva, Laminaria, Sargassum

• Tidal Vegetation: Estuarine emergent

marsh Tidal freshwater marsh Mangrove

• Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV): Tidal fresh and oligohaline plant species Mesohaline and polyhaline plant

species

SAFMC

CRC

ACFHP Draft Habitats (cont.)

• Unvegetated Coastal Bottom: Loose fine bottom (sand, silt, mud) Loose coarse bottom (gravel, cobble) Firm hard bottom (boulders to embedded

rock) Structured sand habitat (shoals, capes,

offshore bars, etc.)

• Riverine Bottom: Higher gradient headwater tributaries Lower gradient tributaries Higher gradient large mainstem rivers Lower gradient large mainstem rivers Low order coastal streams Non-tidal freshwater mussel beds Coastal headwater pond Non-tidal freshwater marsh

NOAA

ACFHP Priority Habitats

North Atlantic Riverine Bottom Marine and Estuarine Shellfish Beds Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (meso- to polyhaline)

Mid-Atlantic Riverine Bottom Submerged Aquatic Vegetation  Tidal Vegetation

South Atlantic Riverine Bottom Marine and Estuarine Shellfish Beds Tidal Vegetation 

South Florida Coral and live / hardbottom Submerged Aquatic Vegetation  (meso- to polyhaline) Mangrove

Draft ACFHP Priority Threats

• Obstructions to Fish Movement/Connectivity

• Dredging and Coastal Maintenance

• Water Quality Degradation and Eutrophication

• Consumptive Water Withdrawal

• Sedimentation

• Vessel Operation Impacts

• Contamination of Water (ground & column) and Sediments

• Invasive Species

• Climate Change

ACFHP Draft Protection Objectives

Protection Objective 1: Ensure adequate and effective fish movement past existing or potential barriers to maintain connectivity between sub-regional priority habitats. Protection Objective 2: Maintain or improve water quality and hydrology in sub-regional priority habitats that are currently functioning, through incorporation of best management practices (BMPs) and/or technological controls. Protection Objective 3: Minimize consumptive water usage and provide water flows/volume/quality that sustain the structure and function of healthy aquatic ecosystems (including groundwater and surface water interactions, maintaining appropriate salinity regimes).

ACFHP Draft Protection Objectives (cont.)

Protection Objective 4: Minimize or reduce adverse impacts to sub-regional priority habitats associated with coastal development and water dependent activities (i.e., recreational boating, and marine transportation). Protection Objective 5: Maintain or increase the resiliency of sub-regional priority habitats to the impacts of climate change. Protection Objective 6: Increase public awareness of the threats facing sub-regional priority habitats and the protection measures available to avoid and minimize those threats.

ACFHP Draft Restoration Objectives

Restoration Objective 1: Restore and enhance hydrological or physical connections between sub-regional priority habitats to promote fish utilization and improve overall aquatic health. Restoration Objective 2: Restore sub-regional priority fish habitats, such as replanting eelgrass beds or restoring oyster beds, in locations where threats have been minimized or removed (does not include dam or other barrier removal). Restoration Objective 3: Restore water quality in areas where it has degraded or eliminated sub-regional priority fish habitats. Restoration Objective 4: Maintain or increase the resiliency of aquatic habitats to the impacts of climate change through restoration activities.

FY2010 Funded Projects

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NOAA

• Recognition qualified ACFHP for $90,000 in NFHAP funds from USFWS

▫ $70,000 available for funding projects

• Funding for ACFHP’s first round of projects!

• Solicited projects through Steering Committee members and other partners.

• Six eligible project applications were received for funding.

FY2010 Funded Projects

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NOAA

• Two projects funded

▫ Scoy Pond and Staudinger’s Pond Alewife Access and Habitat Enhancement, New York

▫ Goose Creek Dam Eel Passage Restoration, South Carolina

Staudinger’s Pond

Northwest Creek

Staudinger’s Pond

Methodology:- Remove undersized 8 inch pipe - Excavate open channel- Install weir

Habitat Restored:- Remove 1 barrier- Re-open 3 acres to fish passage- Enhance 715 acres of tidal wetland and open water habitat

Text and Photos provided by NYSDEC/PEP

Scoy Pond

Methodology:-Replace dilapidated culvert under Alewife Brook Rd. - Remove stream debris obstructing flow/access- Remove invasives and enhance habitat

Habitat Restored:- Remove 1 barrier - Re-open 15 acres to fish passage- Enhance 310 acres of coastal plain pond & kettle wetland habitat

Alewife Pond

Scoy Pond

Alewife Brook

Photos: NYSDEC/PEP

Project Partners

• Peconic Estuary Program

• Town of East Hampton, NY (implementation lead)

• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

• Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership

Project Fact Sheet Available At:http://www.atlanticfishhabitat.org/documents/ACFHPprojectsFY10NY.pdf

Goose Creek Dam

Methodology: Construction of an eel ramp with collection box and gated security fence at Goose Creek Dam.

Habitat Restored:-restore eel passage to the entire Goose Creek watershed (40 stream miles and adjacent freshwater wetlands)

Photos: SCDNR, GoogleEarth

Hanahan

Project Partners

•Charleston Water System

•South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

•US Fish & Wildlife Service

•National Marine Fisheries Service

•Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership

Project Fact Sheet Available At:http://www.atlanticfishhabitat.org/documents/ACFHPprojectsFY10SC.pdf

FY2011 Project Funding

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NOAA

• $90,000 in NFHAP funds from USFWS

▫ $74,603 available for funding projects

• Solicited projects through Steering Committee members and other partners via the website breaking news.

• Eight eligible project applications were received

FY2011 Funded Projects

NOAA

• Two projects funded

▫ Restoring Diadromous Fish Passage and Habitats to Shoreys Brook, ME

▫ Shoreline and Spartina Marsh Stabilization along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, South Carolina

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway

Methodology:-Recycled oyster shells will be bagged-Bags will then be deployed to the shoreline to construct an oyster reef -Reefs, sediment, and marsh will be sampled and documented.

Habitat Restored:Construct ~0.06 acres of oyster habitat that should protect 100 meters of shoreline and create, over time, ~0.15 acres of adjacent tidal marsh.

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ACE Basin NERR Project Location

Anticipated Project Partners

•South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

•Coastal Conservation Association

•Community Volunteers

•Atlantic Coastal Fish Habitat Partnership

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ACE Basin NERR Project Site

Shoreys Brook

Methodology:-develop preliminary site work, engineering, design and a bid package, and obtain required permitting.

-removal of the dam, stream restoration, ME DOT replacement of the failed culvert, and post-removal monitoring and reporting.

Habitat Restored:-restore ~800 ft. of in-stream habitat-enhance ~4.3 miles of riparian habitat-reopen ~4.3 miles to fish passage-remove 2 barriers (1 dam, 1 perched

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Shoreys Brook Project Location

Anticipated Project Partners

• NOAA/CLF (Conservation Law Foundation)

• USFWS – Gulf of Maine Program

• Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund

• CCA NH – Coastal Conservation Assoc. New Hampshire

• PREP – Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

• Local Wetland Scientist

• Stantec – Consulting Engineer

• Great Works Regional Land Trust

• Additional partners and funding TBD

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Figure 4. Perched culvert on Shoreys Brook?Figure 4. Perched culvert on Shoreys Brook?

Perched Culvert on Shoreys Brook

FY2012 Project Funding

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NOAA

• Announcement for applications sent to ACFHP committees and primary partner contacts via email and to the full listserve via breaking news release

• Proposals due September 16, 2011 at midnight

• Information available at:

http://www.atlanticfishhabitat.org/funding.cfm

Tying it All Together

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NOAA

• Project Application Evaluation Questions

▫ Does the project support or address an ACFHP sub-regional priority habitat?

▫ Does the project address one or more of the ACFHP Habitat Protection or Restoration Objectives?

• All projects scored according to criteria and ranked for funding

Acknowledgements

• Julie Nace, NYDEC/PEP•Bill Post and Allan Hazel, SC DNR•Nancy Hadley, SC DNR•Darrell DeTour, GWRLT•George Schuler, TNC• Julie Devers, USFWS•ACFHP Steering Committee, Science and Data Working Group, Communications

and Outreach Working Group, and many others!

Questions?

Emily GreeneACFHP Coordinator(703) 842-0740EGreene@asmfc.org

For information on ACFHP go to: www.atlanticfishhabitat.org

For information on NFHAP go to: www.fishhabitat.org