Developing and Integrating Social Measures of Estuarine Restoration Success - NERRS/NSC(NERRS Science Collaborative)

Understanding why estuarine habitat restoration is viewed as successful or not is critical for evaluating completed projects and garnering support for future projects. Particularly important, and often overlooked, are the perceptions of partners and the surrounding community which play an integral role in shaping the future of coastal habitats. Restoration metrics rarely include human dimensions even though community support for restoration can promote or thwart potential projects and the long-term success of completed projects. Working with the South Slough NERR, this catalyst project worked to more fully account for and understand the impacts of estuarine habitat restoration by developing social metrics for restoration success and linking them to ecological monitoring metrics.

Using South Slough NERR, The Wetlands Conservancy, and other restoration projects in Oregon as case studies, the project involved a two-pronged approach to data collection: 1) synthesis of existing and newly collected ecological data from nine salt marsh restoration projects to derive commonly used ecological metrics and 2) focus groups in three Oregon locations (South Slough, Alsea, and Yaquina) to understand public perceptions about marshes. The team then connected the social and ecological datasets conceptually to create a matrix linking the datasets and indicating mismatches between ecological data and social values. Based on these steps, the team was able to provide recommendations to help improve restoration design and implementation, including more inclusive and effective communications surrounding estuarine restoration.

Through a 2020 catalyst project, university, reserve, and restoration practitioners partnered to understand social perceptions of saltmarsh restoration in Oregon to identify ways to better incorporate socially relevant information in restoration metrics, increase outreach efficacy and, ultimately, improve restoration success.

Project lead and contact information:

Catherine de Rivera, Portland State University, derivera@pdx.edu

Partners:

Portland State University

The Wetlands Conservancy

University of California, Davis

==About the data

1. Baseline and Post-Project Vegetation Dataset ("Baseline_and_post_project_data")

2. Photopoints Dataset ("Photopoints")

3. Sinuosity Dataset ("Sinuositydata_FINAL")

4. Report Mining Dataset ("Reportminingdata_FINAL")

5. Ecological Scorecard Dataset ("eco_metrics_scorecard_FINAL")

6. Raw, Deidentified Data and Factor Analysis of Qsort data (factor analysis of Qsort data)

7. Social Scorecard Dataset ("social_metrics_scorecard_FINAL")

The distributor does not assume liability.

None

Cite this dataset when used as a source: NOAA retains the right to analyze, synthesize and publish summaries of the NERRS/NSC data. The NERRS/NSC retains the right to be fully credited for having collected and process the data. Following academic courtesy standards, the NERR site where the data were collected should be contacted and fully acknowledged in any subsequent publications in which any part of the data are used. The data enclosed within this package/transmission are only as accurate as the quality assurance and quality control procedures that are described in the associated metadata reporting statement allow. The user bears all responsibility for its subsequent use/misuse in any further analyses or comparisons. The Federal government does not assume liability to the Recipient or third persons, nor will the Federal government reimburse or indemnify the Recipient for its liability due to any losses resulting in any way from the use of this data. Requested citation format: NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) Science Collaborative(NSC).

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This information is detailed within the project links.

This information is detailed within the project links.