Watershed level effects of multiple ecosystem restoration projects

Abstract

This assessment in the Narragansett Bay demonstrates a transparent, defensible method to characterize ecosystem restoration projects in a watershed over large spatial scales. The project team compiled multiple completed projects in the Narragansett Bay watershed including salt marsh restorations, fish passage, and dam removals. The approach included the following: identifying and locating restoration projects, utilizing existing data resources for spatial information, quantifying the gains in area and distance, and extrapolating the potential for collective watershed benefit in fish populations, productivity, water quality and carbon sequestration. In total, 177 projects were identified as being implemented between 1999 and 2015: fish passage restoration (46), marsh restoration (35), eel grass restoration (22), shellfish restoration (43), and other projects (31). The collective efforts to improve fish passage have resulted in more than 800 km of newly accessible river herring habitat in the Narragansett Bay watershed.