Draft December 2019 NROC Meeting Agenda & Other News

December 16, 2019 – NROC Meeting

NROC’s next full meeting will take place on Monday, December 16, 2019 at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, 222 International Drive, #175, Portsmouth, New Hampshire from 9:15 AM – 3:00 PM. A Draft Meeting Agenda is now available. A full briefing packet will be posted in advance of the meeting.

NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Announced $30 Million in Coastal Resilience Grants

On November 18, 2019, NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, joined by partners Shell and TransRe, announced $30 million in new grants to support coastal resilience projects in 23 states and U.S. territories. The grants will restore or expand natural features such as coastal marshes and wetlands, dune and beach systems, oyster and coral reefs, mangroves, forests, coastal rivers, and barrier islands that help minimize the impacts of storms, rising sea levels and other extreme events on nearby communities and habitats. The 44 grants will generate $60 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $90 million. The following grants were awarded for coastal resilience efforts in the Northeast:

• Permitting and Final Design for Herring River Tidal Restoration, Cape Cod Massachusetts. Friends of Herring River:  $300,000.
  Remove and/or replace man-made barriers to tidal flow to install an innovative tidal control infrastructure, which will allow tidal flow to be increased incrementally. Project will restore more than 890 acres of degraded former estuarine habitat and restore salt marsh and other native estuarine habitats throughout the river and its connected sub-basins, resulting in ecological and economic benefits to the region, Cape Cod Bay and the Gulf of Maine.
• Using Salt Marsh Habitat Restoration for Resiliency, Massachusetts. The Trustees of Reservations: $217,931.
  Implement and monitor ditch remediation to restore salt marsh in Massachusetts’ Great Marsh. Project will reverse salt marsh subsidence, reestablish and maintain high marsh habitat, improve coastal resilience and demonstrate ditch remediation as a viable and cost-effective restoration strategy at the landscape level.
• Marsh Island Salt Marsh Restoration Project in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Buzzards Bay Coalition: $2,000,000.
  Remove historically-placed dredged material to re-introduce tidal hydrology, and plant marsh vegetation. Project will create vital fish nursery habitat, enhance water quality, provide needed sandy material for nearby municipal coastal resilience projects, as well as build upon the significant investment over the past decade to improve water quality, expand fish passage, and permanently protect natural shorelines in Buzzards Bay.
• Restoring and Monitoring Fish Passage at Snows Brook in Sedgwick, Maine. Maine Coast Heritage Trust: $490,000.
  Construct and monitor a fish restoration project using a community-driven approach in Sedgwick, Maine. Project will invest in construction and monitoring to enhance existing efforts to restore fish passage along a designated evacuation route and transportation artery, thus raising awareness of this and other restoration projects in the region.
• Megunticook River Watershed Fish Passage and Flood Prevention Site Assessments and Design, Maine. Town of Camden, Maine: $139,000.
  Develop a comprehensive plan to address fish passage, watershed connectivity barriers, flooding hazards, vulnerable infrastructure, and degraded stream and wetland habitat in the Megunticook River watershed. Project will include site assessment and alternatives analysis for six dams, and envisioning a sea wall where the river outlets to Camden Harbor.
• Site Assessment and Preliminary Designs to Mitigate Flooding in Hampton, New Hampshire. Town of Hampton, New Hampshire: $185,800.
  Conduct a site assessment of chronic high tide and episodic coastal storm-based flooding in barrier beach neighborhoods along the harbor-side of the HamptonSeabrook Estuary. Project will provide conceptual recommendations for flood mitigation strategies, and select two to three high priority strategies to restore natural hydrology and improve estuarine salt marsh habitat.
• Preliminary Site Design to Improve Coastal Resiliency at Quonochontaug Pond and Breachway, Rhode Island. Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management: $75,000.
  Assess 49 acres of breachway, shoreline, and adjacent landscape at Quonochontaug Salt Pond to develop preliminary designs that incorporate green infrastructure and ecologically enhanced shoreline into the gray infrastructure that exists. Project will be a permit-ready, 60-percent site design with coastal adaptation elements that provide improved resilience.

The full slate of grants is available at: https://www.nfwf.org/coastalresilience/Documents/2019grantslate.pdf:

Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship

NOAA is still accepting applications for a new fellowship program for graduate students at the national estuarine research reserves. One two-year fellowship opportunity will be available at each of the 29 coastal sites. Through a research project, fellows will address a key coastal management question to help scientists and communities understand coastal challenges that may influence future policy and management strategies. Applications must be submitted by December 20, 2019. Details available at: https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/research/davidson-fellowship.html