| "This project provides a snapshot of what is happening in other areas, and will help decision makers in Congress and around the nation understand what is happening to our coasts." | |
| Brian Baird, California Ocean Resources Management Program |
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Coastal resource managers often have research on the marine environment under their jurisdiction, but may not have a clear picture of the nation's coastal issues. Managers are being asked to comment on a recently released report identifying indicators that will be used to measure the use and condition of U.S. ecosystems.
The prototype document, Designing a Report on the State of the Nation's Ecosystems, was released in October by the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment. The report proposes an approach for reporting on ecosystems by providing representative information on croplands, forests, and coastal and marine systems.
"Everybody in this country recognizes the importance of economic indicators like the unemployment rate and inflation rate," says Robin O'Malley, Heinz Center program manager. "They are well accepted and people understand the difference between an unemployment rate of 4 percent or one at 14 percent. Our objective is to select indicators that have the same level of scientific credibility and public acceptance."
O'Malley says the indicators were determined by "usually warring parties" who agreed on what was of national importance. The coastal and marine systems work group was made up of representatives from state and federal agencies, academia, industry, and nongovernmental organizations.
Brian Baird, manager of the California Ocean Resources Management Program and a member of the group, says the process "wasn't easy" but results should be valuable to coastal managers. "We had all the stakeholders at the table and we had to agree on what should be in the report. This project provides a snapshot of what is happening in other areas, and will help decision makers in Congress and around the nation understand what is happening to our coasts."
Using data from public and private sources, O'Malley says the report focuses on three areas: system dimensions, such as the amount of wetlands; human uses, like fishing and recreation; and ecosystem conditions, which address both chemical and biological aspects. The document reports trends, but does not make "good or bad" value judgements on the information, and does not recommend actions.
O'Malley notes that the work group identified "major gaps in the nation's reporting system. Forty percent of the things we think should be in the report lack nationally consistent data," he says. "Coastal and ocean areas have the least nationally consistent data. We as a country haven't developed a monitoring and reporting system as we think is needed to present a full picture of ecosystem use and condition."
O'Malley says these data gaps are one of the reasons coastal managers' feedback is so important. "We want managers to tell us if we're asking the right questions, using the right data sources, and clear in how we're presenting this information. If we don't have it right, we don't want them to give up. We want them to tell us."
To view the State of the Nation's Ecosystems, point your browser to http://heinzctr.org. For more information on the project, contact Robin O'Malley at (202) 737-6307, or omalley@heinzctr.org.
