Rachel Rouillard, PREP’s Director, presenting the 2010 Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan.
In 2010 the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) released its updated Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP), which addresses current and emerging issues impacting the water quality and environmental health of estuaries in the Piscataqua Region. The 10-year plan includes seven goals, 35 objectives, and 82 action plans, developed through an extensive 18-month stakeholder engagement process. The plan is also inclusive of other work being done across the watershed by partners to advance Clean Water Act goals and objectives. These goals, objectives, and action plans are categorized by critical theme areas, including water resources, land use and habitat protection, living resources and habitat restoration, as well as watershed stewardship. The CCMP is a critical component of the National Estuary Program model of adaptive management as it facilitates the continual process of integrating new data and results into management and decision-making.
Looking toward 2020, PREP will be undertaking an update as opposed to a more intensive revision (as was done in 2010) and has begun the initial phase of updating its 2010 Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP). What that means is that PREP in partnership with the Management Committee, EPA, and partners will be assessing the 2010 CCMP for action plan implementation, ensuring that the overarching goals are still relevant, and identifying any major themes or changes that need to be addressed for the period 2020-2030. This effort will be taking place fall 2018, in anticipation of completion by December 2019. Steps will include a high-level evaluation of the 82 action plans in the CCMP, for what has been accomplished and what has changed. The results of that evaluation along with specific management and implementation questions will then be brought forward to the PREP Management Committee and stakeholders through both an online and public meeting process for additional input.
New to this update is the inclusion of a Climate Vulnerability Assessment (completed in partnership with EPA using the EPA CVA Workshop). This broad, risk-based vulnerability assessment of CCMP objectives, assesses where activities may be at “high risk” to near- and long-term climate change impacts. Impacts are considered high risk if they are likely to keep PREP from achieving its goals and fully implementing its annual work plan. This planning-level qualitative analysis of the 2010 CCMP will help PREP to answer questions about how seven climate change stressors – warmer summers, warmer winters, warmer water, increasing drought, increasing storminess, sea level rise, and ocean acidification – could affect PREP’s ability to achieve its CCMP goals and provide its intended benefits. The findings of this assessment will be used to craft planned response approaches and activities to be included in the 2020 CCMP update, or annual work plans.
Through technical assistance provided by EPA, an initial list of potential climate vulnerabilities was compiled. The level of risk to management objectives from these vulnerabilities were assessed using state climate change reports and NOAA Regional Climate Trends for the Third National Climate Assessment. This initial list is a jumping-off point for climate risk identification, analysis, and evaluation of PREP’s CCMP management objectives. There are many perspectives on how to undergo these processes, and your participation in this process is welcomed. Please be on the lookout for future communication on how you can engage in this process.
PREP will provide updates on the process regularly through this monthly newsletter, and always welcomes your questions. And, we are very pleased to welcome both Elizabeth Lee and Ivy Mlsna who are assisting the PREP team with the update process! You’ll have an opportunity to meet them both over the course of this effort.
We look forward to working with everyone in the coming weeks and months to ensure we have an updated CCMP that is of value to all partners and stakeholders as you continue your important work on behalf of our watershed and its natural resources.