1. Stephen Sempier, Chris Boyd, Meg Goecker and LaDon Swann Alabama Water Resources Conference Orange Beach, Alabama September 6, 2012

2. Defining Hydrological Restoration Photo credit: Meg Goecker- IMSG “remove or modify anthropogenic barriers to restore historic tidal estuarine and freshwater exchange to benefit coastal and marine fisheries habitat”

3. Goals  Partnership  Components Inventorying Restoring Monitoring Photo credit: Meg Goecker- IMSG

5. Basic Criteria for Inventory  Gulf of Mexico  Match definition  5 acres or more  Less than $5 million  20-year life span

6. Collect Basic Information  Collect uniform information about potential projects  Meeting with Sea Grant Agent  One hour per project  Sea Grant Agent uploads project

7. Inventory Form: Background and Project Submission  Location  Acres restored  Type of habitat(s)  Historical information  Description of barrier  Cost Photo credit: NPS.gov

8. Inventory Form: Ownership, Benefits and Partners  Private versus Public  Adjacent to conservation area(s)  Species benefited  Ecosystem services  Volunteer opportunities  Funding partners Photo credit: NOAA 2010, Returning the Tide

9. Map Barrier and Impact Area

10. Projects in Inventory

11. Use of Inventory: Restoration Sponsors  NOAA  State Agencies  Sea Grant  NRDA  Non-Governmental Organizations Environmental Religious  Others Photo credit: NOAA 2010, Returning the Tide

13. Request For Proposals  Guidelines Match definition of hydrological restoration Up to $100,000 1:1 match Gulf of Mexico  Competitive Review Process  2013 RFP closed August 17 th Two projects may be selected

14. Bayou St. John

15. Upper Apalachicola Bay

16. Tampa Bay

18. Monitoring Plan Development  Panel of experts  Four categories Hydrology/Structure Nekton Vegetation Soil  Core parameters  To be released soon

19. Core Parameters Hydrology/StructureBiotic  Assessment of Barrier Removal  Water Salinity  Inundation Area  Open Water Benefit  Nekton (presence/absence)  Vegetation (coverage by species)

20. Acknowledgements  NOAA Restoration Center  Criteria Panel  Gulf-wide Sea Grant Extension Network  Monitoring Panel

21. Chris Boyd: cboyd@ext.msstate.edu Meg Goecker: Meg.Goecker@noaa.gov Steve Sempier: stephen.sempier@usm.edu This presentation was supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Restoration Center under NOAA Grant NA10NMF4630080, Mississippi ‐ Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, Florida Sea Grant College Program, Louisiana Sea Grant College Program and Texas Sea Grant College Program. The statements, findings, conclusions and recommendations do not necessarily reflect the views of these organizations.