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Landscape Characterization and Restoration Program
Background
Focus Areas
Environmental Characterizations
Benthic Habitat Mapping
Habitat Restoration
Coastal Climatology
The Landscape Characterization and Restoration (LCR) Program

Environmental Characterizations: Seacoast Watershed Information Manager (SWIM)

A water resource toolkit for Maine and New Hampshire

 

Overview

The Seacoast Watershed Information Manager (Project S.W.I.M.) will be an online resource to help local planners and the public evaluate, conserve, and restore coastal watershed resources along the Maine and New Hampshire seacoast by developing a website that describes the region and its resources, provides access to GIS data and other relevant information, and includes decision-support tools that examine the impact of growth and development on water resources. It will include:

Maine bay scene with boats, houses, and a rocky shore.

Coastal scene in Maine showing the tight connection between people and the water.

Photograph: Courtesy of NOAA Photo Library
  1. Narrative that informs local resource planners and the public by describing development impacts, water resources, and land use.
  2. Socioeconomic Analysis focused on water resource use as it relates to human activities.
  3. Land Use Change Assessments focusing on shoreland and permeability.
  4. A Data Clearinghouse providing users access to key data needed for local and regional-scale resource management.
  5. GIS-based Decision Support Tools to help communities manage and protect water resources by considering how water supply, water quality and land use change are affected by land use planning decisions.

The project focuses on the coastal watersheds from the Cocheco and Salmon Falls River in New Hampshire to the Kennebunk River in Maine. These 15 watersheds include 38 municipalities and cover 1,800 square miles.

Background

Over the last decade, the seacoast region of Maine and New Hampshire has experienced high residential and tourist growth. These are leading to adverse impacts on watershed resources. Impacts of particular concern to the local and regional resource management community include water quality impairment, loss and degradation of shoreland buffers, degradation of estuarine habitat, and compromised local water supply capacity. To address these concerns, the SWIM project will provide Web-based access to environmental, social, economic, and human use data, tools, and information needed to examine development impacts at a local and regional scale.

Partners and Status Map of the study area; includes coastal watersheds in southwestern Maine and northeastern New Hampshire

The Seacoast Watershed Information Manager is being developed by the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve through a cooperative agreement with the NOAA Coastal Services Center. Other key partners include the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the Maine Coastal Program. The project began in the Summer of 2004. The finished website and toolkit will be available by the end of 2006.

The Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve is forming a steering committee of future S.W.I.M. users to advise on the development of the website and decision support tool. If you are interested in becoming a steering committee member, providing data for the website, or learning more about the SWIM Project, please contact Heather True at (207) 646-1555 ext 125 or Erno Bonebakker at (207) 646-1555 ext 112 at the Wells Reserve.

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