The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) currently operates and maintains water resource structures within many of the waterways that support anadromous fish species. USACE is required to assess the impacts and benefits to the environment of proposed water resource projects (i.e., levee maintenance or construction), including those to anadromous fish, during the planning process. Environmental assessments generally use ecological models to project changes to the environment under future without and future with proposed project plans. This report presents an evaluation of and application guidance for the general salmonid habitat model (salmonid model) to assist with those assessments. Potential applications of the salmonid model include assessing impacts from navigation, flood risk reduction, and hydroelectric operations as well as projecting environmental benefits from ecosystem restoration projects. The salmonid model can be used at multiple spatial scales, and it is sensitive to a range of proposed restoration actions. The model is generally applicable within watersheds that support anadromous fish species within the Pacific Northwest region of the US.

The purpose of this technical note is to develop a conceptual model that describes the critical processes, stressors, and interactions that affect coastal marsh dynamics within the Chesapeake Bay, as identified by subject matter experts, and then link those factors to specific management actions. Managing coastal marshes within Chesapeake Bay involves multiple stakeholders across federal, state, local, and nongovernmental agencies. Reaching consensus among large stakeholder groups can be difficult, since each has their own perspective and requirements for management. Mediated modeling is a technique that facilitates consensus building among stakeholders and provides a transparent roadmap for decision-making. This technical note describes how mediated modeling was applied to marsh management in Chesapeake Bay. On 4–5 May 2022, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Integrated Ecological Modeling Team (EcoMod) partnered for a multistakeholder mediated modeling workshop to (1) build a conceptual model that depicts the relevant processes impacting marsh dynamics, and (2) identify indicators that are necessary for tracking marsh conditions, which inform needed management strategies. This conceptual model provides the foundation for the development of a marsh management decision framework that will use indicators to identify marsh conditions that subsequently trigger management decisions.

This report documents the development of an integrated hydrodynamic and ecological model to test assumptions about island resilience. Swan Island, a 25-acre island in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, was used as a case study. An interagency, interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers came together in a series of workshops to develop a simplified resilience model to examine the ability of islands to reduce waves and erosion and the impacts to nearby habitats and shorelines. This report describes the model development process and the results from this first key step: model conceptualization. The final conceptual model identifies four main components: vegetative biomass, island elevation, waves/currents, and sediment supply. These components interact to form and support specific habitat types occurring on the island: coastal dunes, high marsh, low marsh, and submerged aquatic vegetation. The pre-and post-construction field data, coupled with hydrodynamic ecological models, will provide predictive capabilities of island resilience and evaluations of accrued benefits for future island creation and restoration projects. The process and methods described can be applied to island projects in a variety of regions and geographic scales.

This special report seeks to advance the field of ecological restoration by reviewing selected reports on the processes, procedures, and protocols associated with monitoring of ecological restoration projects. Specifically, this report identifies selected published herbaceous vegetation monitoring protocols at the national, regional, and local levels and then evaluates the recommended sampling design and methods from these identified protocols. Finally, the report analyzes the sampling designs and methods in the context of monitoring restored herbaceous vegetation at US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) ecosystem restoration sites. By providing this information and the accompanying analyses in one document, this special report aids the current effort to standardize data-collection methods in monitoring ecosystem restoration projects.

Swan Island is a 10.12 ha island located in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Because of its value as a natural wave break for the town of Ewell on nearby Smith Island, as well as the ongoing erosion and subsidence of the island, in 2019 US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)–Baltimore District placed 45,873 m³ of dredged sediment and planted 200,000 marsh plants. This restoration provided an opportunity to quantify the engineering (that is, resilience) and ecological performance of the island, postplacement. The lack of quantitative data on the performance of natural features such as islands has led to perceived uncertainties that are often cited as barriers to implementation. To address these data gaps, a multidisciplinary collaboration of five government entities identified project objectives and monitoring parameters through a series of mediated workshops and then developed a conceptual model to articulate those parameters and the linkages between them. This monitoring and adaptive management plan (MAMP) documents those monitoring parameters and procedures and can serve as an example for other scales, regions, and research questions. Documenting research and monitoring efforts may help to foster widespread acceptance of nature-based solutions such as islands.

This PDF file contains an appendix of the report ERDC/EL TR-22-XX "General Freshwater Mussel Habitat Model: Development and User’s Guide"

In this report, we describe how aspects of existing freshwater mussel indices of biological integrity can be modified to fit within the planning paradigm established for developing and certifying ecological models for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ planning purposes. Herein, we present examples of using freshwater mussels for biological monitoring, how to calculate their associated IBIs specific to their region of origin and their potential use in ecosystem restoration planning. Additionally, we present general conceptual models that may be used in ecological model development and environmental benefits analysis for projects that focus on freshwater mussel habitat restoration.

The use of natural habitats for coastal protection (also known as Nature-Based Solutions or NBS) in place of engineered structures like breakwaters and seawalls can yield a wide range of ecological and economic benefits. Despite these advantages, NBS are not commonly implemented for shoreline protection due to uncertainty over the amount of protection afforded by each unique feature and how protective capacity and ecological benefits are likely to change over time as NBS mature and adapt to changing environmental drivers. Here, we highlight the recent restoration of Swan Island in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA, and the collaborative approach used to evaluate post-construction performance, as a framework for quantitative evaluation of NBS projects. At Swan Island, 60 000 cubic yards of dredged sediment were used to elevate and restore the island's footprint with an emphasis on increasing its protective and ecological benefits and long-term resilience to sea-level rise. Five entities have leveraged resources to quantify the benefits and efficacy of island restoration by conducting pre- and post-restoration monitoring, which supports the development of an integrated, simulation model that includes three "measured" system parameters: wave height, vegetative biomass, and island profile (i.e., elevations). The model will be used to predict island performance under a range of different system scenarios and used to inform adaptive management options. Results will demonstrate the efficacy of leveraging natural and engineered processes to restore island systems while providing a framework for quantifying NBS. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:42-48. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC). This article has been contributed to by US Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.

Land managers need reliable metrics for assessing the quality of restorations and natural areas and prioritizing management and conservation efforts. However, it can be difficult to select metrics that are robust to sampling methods and natural environmental differences among sites, while still providing relevant information regarding ecosystem changes or stressors. We collected herbaceous-layer vegetation data in wetlands and grasslands in four regions of the USA (the Midwest, subtropical Florida, arid southwest, and coastal New England) to determine if commonly used vegetation metrics (species richness, mean coefficient of conservatism [mean C], Floristic Quality Index [FQI], abundance-weighted mean C, and percent non-native species cover) were robust to environmental and methodological variables (region, site, observer, season, and year), and to determine adequate sample sizes for each metric. We constructed linear mixed effects models to determine the influence of these environmental and methodological variables on vegetation metrics and used metric accumulation curves to determine the effect of sample size on metric values. Species richness and FQI varied among regions, and year and observer effects were also highly supported in our models. Mean C was the metric most robust to sampling variables and stabilized at less sampling effort compared to other metrics. Assessment of mean C requires sampling a small number of quadrats (e.g. 20), but assessment of species richness or FQI requires more intensive sampling, particularly in species-rich sites. Based on our analysis, we recommend caution be used when comparing metric values among sites sampled in different regions, different years, or by different observers.

Coefficients of Conservatism (C-values) are used in Floristic Quality Assessment to evaluate the level of anthropogenic disturbance of a given natural area and exist for much of the United States; however, there is a gap in the southwestern United States. We aim to close this gap by establishing C-values for the flora of the Middle Rio Grande floodplain in New Mexico. We compiled a list of species found in the floodplain (n = 621), and two regional botanists assigned C-values on a scale from 0 to 10 (0 reserved for nonnative taxa and the least conservative native taxa, and 10 being the most conservative). We used correlation analysis to examine the relationship of C-values assigned between botanists as well as shared species between Colorado and New Mexico. There was a significant, but weak, positive correlation between C-values for the two states, highlighting ecoregional similarities and providing a basis of comparison for our C-values. Descriptive statistics indicate the range of C-values assigned are consistent with the disturbance history of the region.

The General Anadromous Fish Habitat Model (now the General Salmonid Habitat Model) was developed to

The coastal islands and marshes of Chesapeake Bay USA, are disappearing along with the ecosystem services and infrastructure/shoreline protection they provide. To counter such losses, the USACE Baltimore District is restoring historic island footprints using dredged sediments. Islands constitute an important natural and nature-based feature (NNBF) that meet the 'triple win outcomes' of USACE's Engineering With Nature (EWN) initiative, by providing economic, social and environmental benefits. Here we highlight the restoration and monitoring of Swan Island using 61,000 cubic yards of dredged sediment. The creation/expansion of Swan Island, is expected to produce significant benefits in terms of ecosystem services, increased resilience to future sea level rise, and abatement of erosive losses to an adjacent coastal community. The pre- and post-restoration monitoring and model development by project partners will serve to quantify the benefits and efficacy of the island restoration thereby facilitating island restoration as a viable NNBF option in the future.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/2kvSVcH2KuE

Salmonid species are critically important ecologically, socially, and economically for North American coastal regions. Alterations to the structure (e.g., channelization) and function (e.g., sediment transport) of estuaries, rivers, and streams have greatly impacted these species, many are now listed as federally threatened or endangered. As part of environmental compliance procedures and policy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is required to assess the impacts and/or benefits of proposed water resource projects (e.g., levee maintenance, ecosystem restoration, etc.) to the environment. The USACE is required to predict and quantify environmental benefits using models to justify federal investment in ecosystem restoration projects. The purpose of this effort is to develop a general model or model framework that can be used during the USACE planning process that will serve as a unified standard Salmonid model. The primary purpose of the model will be to project future environmental benefits that will result from proposed restoration measures. Additionally, the model needs to be sensitive to different combinations of restoration measures in order to assist the USCAE in the planning and decision making process. This report presents the results of the first phase of model development using the mediated model development process.

Environmental management decisions increasingly rely on ecological models to forecast outcomes of management actions. Models are becoming increasingly complex through the integration of processes from multiple disciplines (e.g., linking engineering and ecological models). These models are often viewed as mysterious, baffling black boxes, which can lead to mistrust, misinterpretation and/or misapplication of model results. Numerical models have historically been developed without decision makers, coordinating partners, or stakeholders playing active roles in model development, which further complicates communication. Ultimately, mistrust of models and associated outputs can lead to poor decision-making, increase the risk of ineffective decisions, and lead to litigation over decisions. Improved ecological model development practices are needed to increase transparency, include stakeholders and decision makers throughout the entire modeling process from conceptualization through application, and overcome common communication barriers. Building from participatory modeling and prototyping methods, we have developed a workshop approach for applied ecosystem modeling problems that cultivates a foundational understanding of ecological models through hands-on, interactive model development. In this workshop environment, interdisciplinary and interagency working groups co-develop models in real-time which demystifies technical issues and educates participants on the modeling process. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize a repeatable mediated modeling workshop and identify its utility in overcoming major communication challenges of integrated modeling for complex environmental problems. The workshop approach informs modeling teams of the complexity facing decision-makers, creates a sense of model ownership by participants, builds trust among partners, and ultimately increases “buy-in” of the eventual decision.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study to identify the highest risk aquatic nuisance species currently established in either the Mississippi River Basin or the Great Lakes Basin and prevent their movement into a new basin. The Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study focuses specifically on aquatic nuisance species movement through the Chicago Area Waterway System, a multi-use waterway connecting the two basins. In support of Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study, we conducted a qualitative risk assessment for 33 aquatic nuisance species over a 50-year period of analysis based on the probability of aquatic nuisance species establishing in a new basin and the environmental, economic, and sociopolitical consequences of their establishment. Probability of establishment and consequences of establishment were assigned qualitative ratings of high, medium, or low after considering the species' current location, mobility, habitat suitability, and impacts in previously invaded systems. The establishment and consequence ratings were then combined into an overall risk rating. Seven species were characterized as posing a medium risk and two species as posing a high risk to the Mississippi River Basin. Three species were characterized as posing a medium risk to the Great Lakes Basin, but no high-risk species were identified for this basin. Risk increased over time for some aquatic nuisance species based on the time frame in which these species were considered likely to establish in the new basin. Both species traits and the need to balance multiple uses of the Chicago Area Waterway System must be considered when identifying control measures to prevent aquatic nuisance species movement between the two basins.

Genetic Differentiation and Phenotypic Plasticity of Forest Herbaceous Species in Iowa, Central United States

Summary Shortcuts to measuring biodiversity enable prioritization of conservation effort in the face of limited time, personnel and funding. The conservation umbrella approach focuses management effort according to individual species that may confer protection to a larger community. This approach can help guide the management agenda towards attainable goals by maximizing conservation returns per unit effort. The development of the umbrella index has shown promise in identifying umbrella species in terrestrial ecosystems but has received little attention with respect to the management of wetland ecosystems. We used the umbrella index to assess the umbrella potential of vascular plants and dragonflies (Odonata) from 15 wetland impoundments in northern Mississippi, USA. The presence of adult odonates was determined by repeated visual surveys and plant lists were compiled from 50 plots per site. Umbrella schemes, or the sites occupied by top umbrella species, missed large numbers of beneficiary species and occurrences. With one exception, umbrella schemes failed to optimize conservation returns relative to randomized schemes in both assemblages. Also, umbrella schemes approximately equalled the performance of non‐umbrella schemes both overall and for species with a low rate of occurrence. Low occurrence rates in both assemblages may have hindered umbrella index performance because the index assumes that species with moderate occurrence rates have the most umbrella potential. Cross‐taxon analyses (Mantel tests and McNemar tests) suggested transferability of plant and dragonfly umbrella schemes, and non‐random association between the plants and dragonflies in these wetlands. Synthesis and applications. Despite the questionable performance of umbrella schemes in our study, the use of a quantitative ecological tool such as the umbrella index instead of political or popularity criteria is strongly recommended for future selection of umbrella species. The results of cross‐taxon analyses supported growing evidence for spatial and functional relationships between wetland macrophytes and adult odonates. We suggest that the more easily measured assemblage can be used to set priorities for wetland conservation planning in circumstances where human resources are constrained.

We evaluated a potential index for quantifying wetland floristic quality, based on the Floristic Quality Assessment Index (FQAI) developed and tested in other regions of the United States. Principal reasons for this study were 1) FQAI is based on plant species’ coefficients of conservatism, which are unavailable for most of the world and 2) FQAI value calculation mathematically neglects exotic (non-native) species. The index that we evaluated, termed the Floristic Assessment Quotient for Wetlands (FAQWet), incorporated components of total species richness, wetland affinity of species present, and the contribution of native versus exotic species to wetland vegetation quality. Thus, this index incorporated factors demonstrated to be influenced by the degree of human activity on the landscape while including both native and non-native plant species, and it used information that is readily available for most plant species encountered in wetlands of the United States. Adequacy of this index at representing perceived human influence on wetlands was evaluated by sampling vascular plant assemblages in 53 wetlands across northern Mississippi, USA. Correlation of FAQWet scores with semi-quantitative disturbance indicators suggested that FAQWet Index calculations weighted by proportion and frequency of native species performed best overall and were comparable with the currently used FQAI, although all indices displayed low correlation with indices of human activity. Analyses of individual components of the disturbance index, along with information on hydrogeomorphology and hydrologic alteration, helped account for some unexplained variation in the relationship between floristic quality and disturbance. For example, there were more exotic species and a lower overall degree of wetland affinity in vegetation of depressional wetlands than in lake fringe and riverine wetlands. The most important benefits of the FAQWet index in these studies were a lack of correlation with total plant species richness (unlike the FQAI), a stronger correlation with non-native species richness than was the case with the FQAI, and the ease of obtaining wetland indicator status and nativity status for FAQWet calculations. Results also highlighted the potential danger of ignoring exotic species in floristic assessments because of the relatively strong correlations of non-native species richness with human activity, hydrologic impairment, and floristic index scores.