Tidal Wetland Project Newsletter March 2009 The Tidal Wetland Project (TWP) is an initiative of the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. Support is also provided by the Elkhorn Slough Foundation. |
New TWP Team Members! We are excited to announce that the Tidal Wetland Project staff has just doubled to a whopping four! Our two new members, Monique Fountain and Kevin Fisher, bring a variety of contributions to the TWP team.
Monique Fountain joins us as the new Tidal Wetland Project Manager. She
has an M.S. in Marine Science with an emphasis in invertebrate
biology and population genetics. She spent six years at Hopkins Marine
Station, Pacific Grove, working on the population genetics of salmon and trout. Monique most recently joined us from CTB/
McGraw-Hill where she received her Project Management certification (PMP) and was managing the research projects associated with large K-12
state assessment programs. Monique lives locally and outside of work, she
can often be found in her kayak photographing
wildlife. Kevin Fisher is our new Wetland Scientist. He been working on large-scale ecologic restoration projects since 1997. He specializes in interdisciplinary projects that require significant coordination between scientists and engineers. His applied experience in wetland science includes work in tidal marshes, freshwater wetlands and riparian ecosystems. Kevin will be assisting TWP with the design, permitting and implementation of various restoration projects throughout the reserve.
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Outcomes of the
Parsons Slough Project Public Meeting
In December 2008 the Tidal Wetland Project hosted a public
meeting to discuss restoration project alternatives for the Parsons Slough complex,
including South Marsh, the Rookery Lagoon, Whistlestop Lagoon and the Five
Fingers areas of the Reserve. About 20
guests attended including nearby residents, business members, researchers, natural resource managers and docents and staff
from the Elkhorn Slough Research Reserve and the Elkhorn Slough
Foundation. TWP Director
Bryan Largay described the problem
driving the restoration project, whereby historic human alterations contributed
to a drop in elevation of former marshes and an increase in the amount of water
flowing in and out of the Parsons Slough complex with each tidal cycle. This contributed
to drowning of the marshes and conversion from marsh habitat to mudflat. Chris Webb
of the consulting firm Moffatt & Nichol described engineering concepts for
potential salt marsh restoration actions. The leading concept is to reduce the velocity of water moving in and out of
the Parsons Slough complex using a submerged structure, or a sill, near the
railroad track bridge, and potentially adding large amounts of mud to raise the surface
of the subsided ground to elevations appropriate for marsh vegetation.
The presenters addressed several concerns identified by the audience. They
indicated that aesthetics of an implemented project were being taken into
consideration, with the intent to retain sinuous tidal creeks and other
contours. Also, recreational use would not be effected since recreational
access to the Parsons Slough complex is not currently permitted by the Reserve.
An optimal restoration plan must accommodate additional values and concerns expressed by both the public and by scientific advisers and natural resource managers alike. These include financial expense,
potential impacts to water quality, the ability for animals to move in and
out of Parsons Slough, and the potential
loss of some ecologic functions currently provided by existing mudflat habitats
within the Parsons Slough complex, such as the leopard shark nursery. The Tidal Wetland Project is further exploring restoration options that take all of these factors into account.
Please contact
Bryan ([email protected]) or
Erin ([email protected]) with questions or comments about this project.
More information about the Parsons Slough
Restoration Project and the Parsons Slough Restoration Plan draft final report are
available on the web at http://www.elkhornslough.org/tidalwetland/parsons.htm.
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TWP's Transition into a Successful Decision Making Phase The primary goal for the next year of the Tidal Wetland
Project is to reach agreement on the best course of action to restore and enhance
estuarine habitats in Elkhorn Slough. These decisions will identify which conservation
strategies to further consider or to eliminate. Advancements made during the current phase of the Tidal Wetland Project- technical analysis of ecosystem dynamics and restoration
alternatives, have largely been guided by the Strategic Planning Team, a group of key stakeholders, with expert input from the Science Panel, a large group of university, government and consulting scientists. The next steps are interpreting the results of technical analysis in
light of the restoration alternatives and making a group decision about the
optimal course of action to pursue. The TWP team is dedicated to ensuring that this multi-dimensional process is executed with rigor from both a technical and social perspective.
To that end, we have retained the services of Dr. Brock Bernstein,
an expert in crafting strategic processes to guide a group through the evaluation
of complex information and coming to agreement. Working with Dr. Bernstein,
we will be challenged to design a strategy that accommodates tradeoffs - such as the loss of one type of habitat in order to gain another, and a strategy for dealing with scientific uncertainty - such as affects of sea level rise.
The process of reaching group agreement will require effective communication and productive meetings. Dr. Bernstein brings expert meeting facilitation skills to the process, and has a knack
for engaging stakeholders to ensure that their knowledge, concerns and
perspectives inform the decisions. In addition, Tidal Wetland Project team members will be receiving training in meeting facilitation. We are
happy to be working with Dr. Bernstein and look forward to further advancements
in our efforts to support the welfare of the Elkhorn Slough.
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