U.S. Department of the Interior Grant: Building Predictive Model for Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Post Hurricane Sandy

This project will model the effects of a ¿super storm¿ on the vegetation communities of coastal habitats in the Northeastern United States, and predict the impact of future storms, as well as those units most in need of restoration/management to restore resilience.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 5, intends to make a sole source award of a cooperative agreement to the University of Delaware. This project was previously vetted and approved for funding by the Department of the Interior. Criteria for funding was based on the projects ability to yield the greatest return on investment by taking advantage of existing science and regional planning tools for resiliency and by working with states, cities, communities, and partners who contribute to the goals of restoring and rebuilding national wildlife refuges and other federal public assets, and to increase resiliency and the capacity of coastal habitat and infrastructure and to withstand future storms and to minimize the damage incurred. The University was selected based on its unique qualifications, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) complex in the Mid Atlantic using Thematic Mapping and building a model for identifying future prevalence and post-Sandy as well as future sea-level rise scenarios for improved management of saltmarsh resiliency. The appropriation for this project is the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act of 2013, Public Law 113-2.