Coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes provide many essential ecosystem services; however, they continue to face decline and degradation from development, agriculture, pollution, invasive species, and increased lake level variability. To adequately assess the general health of coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes basin and the effectiveness of ongoing conservation and restoration efforts, the current extent of these diverse ecosystems must be determined. This project aims to develop a reproducible framework and methodology to help map the extent and composition of coastal wetlands over time (2000–2020). The developed data products will also help to address the three objectives identified in the Great Lakes Coastal Assembly’s Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Conservation Framework. offsite link
Initial model development and calibration were completed in FY22 for five training geographies, one within each of the five Great Lake basins, with a focus on the Lake Erie and the Huron to Erie Corridor offsite link (see figure). The FY24 project expands upon this work by completing a full analysis of the remaining lake basins and refining the FY22 modeling approach in support of the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Conservation Framework. NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management is partnering with the Great Lakes Coastal Assembly offsite link framework workgroup on this project.
Funding:
FY2024: $275,000
FY2022: $275,000
Contact: Brandon.Krumwiede@noaa.gov
Partners: Great Lakes Coastal Assembly