Coastal Vegetation

Overview

NROC convenes the Coastal Vegetation Workgroup under the Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Health Committee. The Coastal Vegetation Workgroup promotes regional seagrass and marsh resiliency through coordination and convening of experts, evaluating existing seagrass and salt marsh conditions, and integrating mapping and migration modeling of coastal vegetation and storage to support management and informed decision making.

Entities engaged in the Workgroup commit to coordination, collaboration, and engagement in the process to discuss, develop, and maintain data and information related to seagrass and marsh resilience. The geographic focus of NROC coordination on submerged aquatic vegetation is in coastal and estuarine waters of the Northeast, from Maine through Long Island Sound, but the Workgroup also leverages methodologies and expertise from outside of this geography. Coastal Vegetation data and data products developed by Workgroup members and experts are being shared publicly on the Northeast Ocean Data Portal.

The Workgroup focus on these priorities:

• Providing a venue for collaboration, information sharing, and lessons learned.
• Identifying new or updated data that will improve existing data products as well as data and information gaps that hinder understanding of important habitats and limit decision making.
• Advancing data development or data collection for those defined gaps.
• Understanding research, assessments, and models that are being advanced by any of the member participants. 
• Integrating relevant research and information into the Northeast Ocean Data Portal, where appropriate.
• Others as identified by the Workgroup.