Charlotte Harbor Climate Ready Estuaries
Charlotte Harbor has been selected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to be a case study for local action to protect sensitive coastal ecosystems and economies from the potential effects of climate change. This is the first step in EPA’s new "Climate Ready Estuaries" effort to build local ability through its 28 national estuary programs to adapt to climate change. Five grants have been received from EPA to date.
Conceptual ecological models (PDF @ 120 KB) and explanation (PDF @ 40 KB): Completed May 20, 2011.
Development process
Final draft Conceptual Ecological Model of the Effects of Climate Change on the Southwest Florida Coast: Model and Narrative
This draft model was produced by CHNEP with their contractor ICF, and with input from the December 1, 2010 meeting with Management Conference members and subsequent meetings of the Management Conference committees. Comments on this draft are due by noon on May 31, 2011 to Whitney Gray at wgray@swfrpc.org or to Lisa Beever at lbeever@swfrpc.org.
Draft Conceptual Ecological Model of the Effects of Climate Change on the Southwest Florida Coast, comments were due March 15, 2011
CEM development meeting December 1, 2010 and meeting notes. The purpose for this meeting is to discuss the hypothesized relationships between climate change stressors, drivers, ecological effects, attributes and measures for CHNEP Climate Change CEM(s). EPA has hired ICF International on our behalf to develop a conceptual ecological model (CEM) illustrating the effects of climate change on the natural systems within the study area. This work is one of the final components of CCMP priority action SG-Q. CEMs have been used in Everglades Restoration to help lay out key hypotheses, identify important linkages in the natural environment which tie management to natural responses, provide a strategy for the “Plan for Coordinating Science,” and communicate complex ideas to managers and citizens. CEMs are an excellent way to organize thought and visually portray complex relationships. Last month, we asked you to help to identify key climate stressors to the natural environment, and you did your part beautifully! We now have a straw man model to work from. Important items for the meeting are:
Selecting Conceptual Ecological Model Components presentation by Lisa Beever, CHNEP, and Whitney Gray, SWFRPC
Update on Progress on CEM Direct Technical Assistance to Develop CEM presentation by Liz Strange, ICF International
CEM Finalization. During the Spring of 2011, presentations on the CEM were given to the CAC, the TAC, the Management Committee and the Policy Committee. The purpose for these presentations was to brief the groups on the progress of the project and solicit their input. Comments from these meetings were incorporated into the model as appropriate. All four bodies accepted or approved the model.
This project aims to develop conceptual models of climate change effects that will lay the groundwork for more detailed assessments of the most significant effects of climate change on the human and native ecosystems of the southwest Florida portion of the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program (CHNEP) study area.
The primary objective of this project is to develop a CEM (or several) that will be used by CHNEP partners to identify restoration techniques that reduce stressors and thereby either avoid, minimize, and/or mitigate climate change effects on natural systems or increase the resiliency of those natural systems to climate change effects. The final deliverable (output and final products) will be one or a series of CEMs with associated narrative explanations in a format suitable for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The CEMs will be available to local governments for use in coastal and land use planning, and avoidance, minimization, adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts throughout the CHNEP study area.
The CHNEP and SWFRPC will disseminate the information to their partners for use by regional planners to develop alternative development that has reduced or lessened impacts and identify opportunities for avoidance, minimization, adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts throughout the CHNEP study area. The CHNEP will actively seek input from the MARES project team.
Current projects within the CHNEP Study Area that will able to utilize the outputs immediately include: the Southwest Florida Feasibility Study, the Lee County Master Mitigation Plan, Lee County and Charlotte County Metropolitan Planning Organizations’ transportation mitigation plans, the environmentally sensitive lands purchasing programs in Sarasota, Charlotte, Polk and Lee counties, and the Southwest Florida Water Management District and South Florida Water Management District Surface Water Improvement Management programs. The project will be directly relevant to Northern Everglades Restoration project planning currently underway; the MARES Project (with the goal to reach a science-based consensus about the defining characteristics and fundamental regulating processes of a South Florida coastal marine ecosystem that is both sustainable and capable of providing the diverse ecological services upon which our society depends); and the Caloosahatchee River Restoration Plan.
This project implements Priority Action SG-2Q of CHNEP’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan: Build capacity for communities and their local leadership to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change through joint efforts.