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Stewardship at Jacques Cousteau NERR, NJ
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Mission
In the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, science-based stewardship is a principal goal integrated throughout the research, education, and coastal training programs. The Jacques Cousteau Reserve does not own or directly manage large tracts of land and therefore lacks “on the ground” physical forms of stewardship. Rather, the Reserve defines stewardship in the broader sense of providing relevant information, education, and training to achieve our mission. This stewardship role has been broken down into different themes, each corresponding to a different spatial area of our estuarine and watershed system. These themes present the Reserve with a variety of training opportunities based on land management, human use and unique ecological conditions. The stewardship goal of the Reserve is to engage resource managers in using reserve science to protect, conserve and restore estuarine habitat, resources and water quality.
Priority Topics
Water Quality
Effective and properly engineered storm water management systems represent one of the most important water resource protection strategies available to counter the most deleterious impacts of nonpoint source pollution and surface runoff associated with development. Currently, coastal managers, professionals in the environmental protection and land use planning communities and private developers do not have a comprehensive database detailing the locations and attributes of retention/detention/infiltration basins and associated infrastructure. Due to this lack of information, projects are often evaluated in isolation with minimal consideration of cumulative impacts on the watershed.
Through a grant from the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET), the Jacques Cousteau Reserve and Rutgers Center for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis (CRSSA) have partnered with state and local authorities to develop a suite of innovative, internet-based geospatial tools coupled to a database management system, called the StormWater Management Information System (SWMIS). SWMIS provides: 1) a geospatial inventory of existing stormwater management systems, 2) an internet accessible repository of stormwater management system GIS and attribute data, and 3) an on-line suite of GIS tools and models to evaluate development and/or mitigation projects.
The data base was created by extracting positional information from hard copy data sheets collected by the Ocean County Soil Conservation District prior to basin development. Historical basin positional information was obtained by either state plan coordinates or address matching block and lot information on the original scanned hard copy. Data is stored in a Geographic Information System.
A sub-set of the potential users were surveyed to: (1) identify the parameters that are most important to their decision-making, (2) determine their level of comfort with online mapping tools (i.e. Google MAPS and other ESRI-based internet mapping servers), (3) determine the best structure for querying, inputting data to, and retrieving data from the SWMIS, and (4) determine what would enable or prevent them from using such a product. The results of this assessment guided the overall structure, functionality and display of the SWMIS.
Changes in Biological Communities
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is a key indicator of the environmental health of the Barnegat Bay ecosystem. To assess the present condition of seagrass habitat in the Barnegat Bay – Little Egg Harbor Estuary, Jacques Cousteau Reserve researchers working in the Estuary are conducting extensive investigations of seagrass beds. The SAV of particular concern are the two species of seagrass, Eelgrass (Zostera marina) and Widgeon Grass (Ruppia maritima). Both remote sensing and in situ surveys are being conducted to document the condition of SAV habitat in Reserve waters. Investigations will be ongoing to assess the effects of eutrophication on the SAV habitat.
The main objective of these SAV investigations is to determine the temporal and spatial habitat change of seagrass (Zostera marina and Ruppia maritima) over an annual growing period, as well as the potential impacts of benthic macroalgae and phytoplankton blooms on the seagrass beds. To accomplish this objective, seagrass beds in the estuary have been sampled bimonthly (June, August, and October). The following demographic data has also been collected on seagrasses in the estuary: above-ground and below-ground biomass, shoot density, blade length, percent epiphytic overgrowth, percent areal cover, and presence of bay scallops and other shellfish species. The abundance and percent cover of macroalgae has also been recorded. Diver observations have helped to determine the occurrence and areal cover of seagrass and macroalgae, epiphytic infestation, and presence of bay scallops. In addition, high resolution underwater videographic imaging coupled to a differential global positioning system (GPS) has been used to validate diver observations. Sampling stations will be permanently located with a Differential Global Positioning System (Trimble®GeoXT™ handheld unit). Additional comprehensive SAV surveys will be conducted during the next five years using the same sampling protocols.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Division of Land Use is responsible by law for protecting the state's SAV habitat . Currently, the Division of Land Use is using SAV habitat maps from the late 1970s in their decision making. A coastal decision makers’ workshop was held in May 2002 focused on SAV and mapping. As an outgrowth of this workshop, CRSSA developed and hosts a website that synthesizes available mapped surveys concerning SAV in the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor system. This website was created to provide the Division of Land Use with information on the current boundaries of the SAV habitat within the estuary system. The web link is: http://www.crssa.rutgers.edu/projects/runj/sav/index.htm.
Habitat Alteration
During the past three decades, land use patterns in New Jersey have shifted from “The Garden State” to a more urbanized landscape. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the majority of the state’s coastal zone which features a highly developed shoreline and coastal communities subject to human impacts and the emerging effects of climate change. As the most densely populated state in the nation, New Jersey is projected to be the first state to reach full buildout status. Development and associated human activities are affecting water and habitat quality throughout the state. Proposals to develop remaining open space and to tap into the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer pose threats to the ecological integrity and character of the state’s estuaries and coastal watersheds.
The Jacques Cousteau Reserve, in coordination with CRSSA, has been monitoring watershed-wide land use changes over time. Land Use and Land Cover within the Mullica River Watershed has been compiled for two time periods, 1995 and 2002. Between these time periods there was a net increase of 2,420 acres or 346 acres per year of urban land. Both forest and agricultural areas were lost, 1,110 acres for the former and 1,352 acres for the latter. Future development within the watershed is expected to be limited by zoning and spatially directed to town centers.
Land Use and Land Cover within the Barnegat Bay Watershed has been compiled for three time periods, 1995, 2002, and 2006. A total of 1,650 acres of new urban land was created per year between 1995 and 2002. This slowed down slightly between 2002 and 2006 to 1,109 acres per year. Most of this urban land was created from the conversion of forested land areas with a total of 13,278 acres of forested areas converted to urban areas between 1995 and 2006.
Throughout the watershed, decision makers need to be informed about the changes that are happening within their jurisdictions.To help achieve that goal, the Jacques Cousteau Reserve is using the following strategies:
- Capitalizing on innovative remote sensing and observation technologies to track changes in ecosystem processes, land use and land cover.
- Maintaining a data repository that is easily accessed by coastal stakeholders.
- Partnering with CICEET and other organizations to focus observing opportunities in the Reserve.
- Communicating results of research through publicly accessible media.
- Collaborating with coastal training and education staff to translate research findings to target audiences.
Last Updated on: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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