jb task force meeting 10.15.14
Post on 30-Jun-2015
155 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Jamaica Bay Task Force Science and Resilience Institute update
October 15, 2014
Updates
1. Institute mission and structure
2. Institute development
3. Research
4. Extension and community
5. Agency planning and coordination
Institute mission1The Institute increases understanding of how disturbances impact natural and human systems in urban watersheds through resiliency-focused research of Jamaica Bay, and engages government and community stakeholders in the translation of that knowledge toward a more resilient system.
Conducts research to:
• understand the temporal nature and robustness of the resilience of Jamaica Bay, New York Harbor, Hudson Raritan Estuary and Gateway National Recreation Area,
• develop models for studying the fundamental nature of resilient systems, and
• determine how best to manage ecosystems to ensure resilience and sustainability;
•Provides technical assistance and guidance to the institute’s governmental partners, including the National Park Service, New York City Parks and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection; and
•Serves as a center for education and the dissemination of knowledge about processes that affect resilience and contribute to the changes in the urban ecosystem.
City University of New York
Columbia University
Cornell University
Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
New York Sea Grant
Stevens Institute of Technology
Stony Brook University (SUNY)
Wildlife Conservation Society
Consortium members1
Institute structure1Institute
Public Agencies
Community Stakeholders
Bill Solecki currently serving as the Interim Director
Search for Founding Director is in the final stages
Consensus that good candidates have emerged from the search process. Plan is to have someone start sometime near the beginning of the new year.
Institute development - Search for Founding Director
Interim location of the Institute is on the campus at Brooklyn college
Planning for a new facility on Jamaica Bay, location to be determined.
The SRI will provide lab facilities for researchers and students, as well as hold events and host visiting scientists.
Institute development - Facilities
Research projects
Research – Projects funded by DOI/NPS Hurricane Sandy Mitigation Funding4
Goal: support research projects that will advance knowledge of resilience in urban coastal ecosystems
Priority research themes of selected projects• climate change and resilient ecosystems
• water quality
• restoration science
• storm damage reduction
Kick off meeting held September 23rd. Research duration for two years.
Institute will be to help coordinate some of the outcomes of these efforts into information that can be used in practice.
• Public mission of the Institute emphasizes community engagement around science
• Existing extension programs within the Consortium: Cornell Cooperative Extension, CUNY-Sustainable Cities, Rutgers, and NY Sea Grant
• Initial research and planning for an extension service program supported by Rockefeller Foundation
• Community resilience needs assessment
• Building initial relationships through outreach
• Best practices research
Extension and community3
Potential roles for extensions service program:
•Work with community partners to identify research priorities and establish good working relationships between community groups and SRIJB scientists as well as area managers
•Disseminate and translate science based research generated about JB to community members
•Provide training, technical assistance, and resources to community partners
•Develop educational curricula
Extension and community
Upcoming SRI@JB Report: “Resiliency Practice in the Jamaica Bay Watershed: Building a Research and Policy Agenda for Action”
The purpose is to create a document of record:
• synthesize what is known about the resilience of the Jamaica Bay watershed
• identify gaps in knowledge
• suggest future directions for the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay.
• policy-relevant not prescriptive
Interim Product – 31 December 2014
Resilience Practice Assessment report
Planning and coordination
Agency planning and coordination: RAND project4
Develop an integrated, cross-agency master plan scope for Jamaica Bay in collaboration with the SRI Public Agency Council and Stakeholder Advisory Council
Create a participatory, stakeholder-informed decision framework and decision support tool
Use framework to evaluate tradeoffs among a variety of proposed resilience strategies and projects
Inform a longer-term research agenda to support adaptive management and continued stakeholder engagement
Members of the SRI Public Agency Council2
City
State
Federal
Precedent: 2012 Louisiana Coastal Master Plan2Goals: Flood risk reductionRestoration and reversal of land loss trendConsideration of a wide range of other issues
Precedent: 2012 Louisiana Coastal Master Plan2RAND’s decision support tool:
Compared and ranked individual projectsDeveloped different combinations of projects for comprehensive strategyUsed interactive visualizations to display tradeoffs and support decisionmaking
Planning Process Timeline
Phase I Phase II
5/14Kickoff
12/14 4/16
• Set goals for long-term plan
• Identify candidate projects
• Build decision support tools
• Provide input to USACE Reformulation Study
• Increase stakeholder engagement
• Expand analysis to assess contributions of projects to goals (new modeling)
• Understand tradeoffs among goals
• Inform long-term agency decisionmaking
Two-phase planning processto develop a long-term master plan for Jamaica Bay
6 months 12-18 months
2
Thank you!
Please contact us with any questions:
Peter Vancura, program manager – pvancura @ gmail.com
Bill Solecki, Interim Director – wdsolecki @ gmail.com
Website: www.srijb.org
top related