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Multiscale Analysis of Restoration Priorities for Marine Shoreline Planning

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Abstract

Planners are being called on to prioritize marine shorelines for conservation status and restoration action. This study documents an approach to determining the management strategy most likely to succeed based on current conditions at local and landscape scales. The conceptual framework based in restoration ecology pairs appropriate restoration strategies with sites based on the likelihood of producing long-term resilience given the condition of ecosystem structures and processes at three scales: the shorezone unit (site), the drift cell reach (nearshore marine landscape), and the watershed (terrestrial landscape). The analysis is structured by a conceptual ecosystem model that identifies anthropogenic impacts on targeted ecosystem functions. A scoring system, weighted by geomorphic class, is applied to available spatial data for indicators of stress and function using geographic information systems. This planning tool augments other approaches to prioritizing restoration, including historical conditions and change analysis and ecosystem valuation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge preceding work by Peter Best, Nathan Evans, Dave Shreffler, and Greg Williams, who developed aspects of these methods for earlier studies. Hugh Shipman contributed extensively to the geomorphic classifications used in this and earlier work. Neil Harrington ground-truthed early drafts of the stressors and functions scores based on the shoreline inventory he conducted. Stephen Stanley and Susan Grigsby developed the water processes component used in the watershed stressor index. John Cambalik, Stephen Stanley, and Steve Todd served as peer reviewers of the methodology. Kent Hale, Chaeli Judd, Doug Noltemeier, and Gretchen Peterson performed work in GIS. The development and management of this project were facilitated by Peter Skowlund and Jeffree Stewart of WADOE and Josh Peters and Michelle McConnell of the Jefferson County Department of Community Development. This research was supported by the Washington State Department of Ecology, Shorelands and Environmental Assistance Program.

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Correspondence to Heida L. Diefenderfer.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

See Table 6.

Table 6 Jefferson County marine shoreline stressor and function scoring descriptions and raw data summary

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Diefenderfer, H.L., Sobocinski, K.L., Thom, R.M. et al. Multiscale Analysis of Restoration Priorities for Marine Shoreline Planning. Environmental Management 44, 712–731 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9298-4

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