Climate change in Northeast Region coastal parks: Synthesis of a workshop on research and monitoring needs

Roman, Charles; Babson, Amanda

Climate change is impacting coastal habitats of northeast national park units and the processes and biota that govern the structure and function of those habitats. Key natural resources include barrier islands, rocky shores, estuaries, beaches, dunes, salt marshes, submerged aquatic vegetation, grasslands, forests, and freshwater wetlands. Climate change drivers include, among others, sea-level rise, increasing air and water temperature, and altered precipitation patterns, hydrology and storm patterns. Research and monitoring are needed to address the uncertainty associated with predicting the response of coastal ecosystems to climate change, and further, are essential to developing science-based adaptation strategies that may be necessary to maintain sustainable and resilient systems. A workshop was convened December 17-18, 2009, hosted by the University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute and the North Atlantic Coast Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, with the following specific objectives: Identify natural resource research and modeling needs that will assist in refining our understanding of potential responses of natural resources and processes to climate change. Identify long-term monitoring needs aimed at documenting and understanding responses of natural resources to climate change. The focus of the workshop was on the ten coastal national park units from Maine to Virginia (Fig. 1) with significant natural resources, but the identified research and monitoring needs are applicable to other coastal conservation areas, including National Wildlife Refuges. The workshop agenda and list of 30 participants from the National Park Service (NPS), US Geological Survey (USGS), US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and academic and conservation organization cooperators are provided in Appendix A. The workshop included introductory presentations on management policies and climate change; existing monitoring programs; and climate drivers for coastal ecosystems, followed by break-out group discussions. This Workshop Synthesis report is intended to present research and monitoring ideas that were developed in the workshop as research questions or study objectives, statements of research approaches and comments on adaptive management applications. The goal was not to develop exhaustive lists, but rather to identify some needs that are relevant to park natural resource managers. Research ideas provided or will provide the foundation for development of more detailed study proposals. Also included are some new monitoring measures that are specific to understanding climate change responses and are complementary to the already extensive monitoring that is ongoing at coastal national parks. Although this Workshop Synthesis report is written about three years after the workshop, the workshop deliberations have served to inform a variety of programmatic and project developments in the interim and continue to be relevant.

Climate change in Northeast Region coastal parks: Synthesis of a workshop on research and monitoring needs

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