Cooperative Agreement 98T97801

DESCRIPTION:THE AGREEMENT PROVIDES FUNDING TO THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COASTAL WATER RESEARCH PROJECT. SPECIFICALLY, THE RECIPIENT WILL DEVELOP LEVEL 3 FUNCTION ASSESSMENT TOOLS AND CREATE AN AUTOMATED DASHBOARD TO CONVERT EXISTING AND ONGOING STATE AND REGIONAL MONITORING DATA TO ACTIONABLE INFORMATION THAT CAN HELP AGENCIES EVALUATE WETLAND HEALTH, CONDITION, AND INFORM MANAGEMENT DECISIONS. THIS AGREEMENT PROVIDES PARTIAL FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $226,767. ACTIVITIES:TO DEVELOP THE AUTOMATED DASHBOARD, THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COASTAL WATER RESEARCH PROJECT WILL EXECUTE SIX DISCRETE TASKS. THE FIRST WILL BE PROJECT ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF A CONCEPTUAL WORKFLOW. THIS TASK WILL ENSURE THAT THE GRANT WILL BE PROPERLY MANAGED THROUGHOUT THE THREE YEAR PROJECT TIMELINE. THE NEXT TASK WILL COMPILE AVAILABLE ESTUARINE MONITORING DATA, QAQC THE INFORMATION, AND SYNTHESIZE IT, SO THE DATA CAN BE INCORPORATED INTO THE AUTOMATED DASHBOARD. THE NEXT TASK WILL DEVELOP FUNCTION ASSESSMENT INDICES. THESE INDICES WILL INCLUDE TARGET FUNCTIONS AND INDICATORS TO EVALUATE WETLAND HEALTH AND FUNCTION WITH CONDITION STATEMENTS TO STANDARDIZE EVALUATION OF MONITORING DATA AND STANDARDIZE ASSESSMENTS FOR FUNCTIONS. ADDITIONALLY, THE CONDITIONAL ASSESSMENTS WILL INCLUDE FIVE RESILIENCY AND SOCIAL FUNCTION ASSESSMENTS. SOME OF THESE FUNCTIONS WILL BE AUTOMATED INTO THE DASHBOARD. CREATING RESILIENCE BASED ASSESSMENTS WILL HELP FUTURE USERS OF THE DASHBOARD MAKE DECISIONS ON WETLAND RESTORATION AND ADAPTATION IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS LIKE FLOODING. AFTER CREATING ASSESSMENTS, TASK FOUR WILL FOCUS ON BUILDING THE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DASHBOARD AND TOOLKIT DEVELOPMENT. THE SYSTEM WILL AUTOMATE ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION SCORING CALCULATIONS TO GENERATE REAL TIME ASSESSMENT INFORMATION. ONCE THE TOOLKIT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED, THERE WILL BE A PILOT APPLICATION (TASK 5) AND OUTREACH (TASK 6) TO IDENTIFY ANY EFFICIENCIES AND PROMOTE USE OF THE TOOLKIT. SUBRECIPIENT:-THE GRANTEE WILL USE A PORTION OF THE AWARD TO CONTRACT MOSS LANDING MARINE LABORATORIES (MLML) AND UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA (UCSB) TO ASSIST WITH DATA ANALYSIS AND TOOL DEVELOPMENT. THE MAJORITY OF THE WORK THAT MLML AND UCSB WILL PROVIDE FOCUSES ON THE DELIVERABLES PROPOSED IN TASK 4. DATA ANALYSIS IS NECESSARY TO DEVELOP FUNCTION ASSESSMENT INDICES. THESE INDICES WILL INCLUDE TARGET FUNCTIONS AND INDICATORS TO EVALUATE WETLAND HEALTH AND FUNCTION WITH CONDITION STATEMENTS TO STANDARDIZE EVALUATION OF MONITORING DATA AND STANDARDIZE ASSESSMENTS FOR FUNCTIONS. ADDITIONALLY, THE CONDITIONAL ASSESSMENTS WILL INCLUDE FIVE RESILIENCY AND SOCIAL FUNCTION ASSESSMENTS. SOME OF THESE FUNCTIONS WILL BE AUTOMATED INTO THE DASHBOARD (TOOL) OUTCOMES:THE FOLLOWING ANTICIPATED DELIVERABLES ARE BROKEN DOWN BY TASK. DELIVERABLES FOR PROJECT ADMINISTRATION INCLUDE PROGRESS REPORTS, INVOICES, QAPP, DASHBOARD MOCKUP AND MEETING NOTES. AS A RESULT OF DATA SYNTHESIS AND COMPILATION, THE DELIVERABLES WILL BE A CLEAN ESTUARINE MONITORING DATASET AND OA/QC DOCUMENTATION. WHILE DEVELOPING ASSESSMENT FUNCTIONS, DELIVERABLES WILL BE INDICES FOR FIVE ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS, RESILIENCY, AND SOCIAL FUNCTION. ONCE THE FUNCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT DASHBOARD IS DEVELOPED, THERE WILL BE A PERMANENT URL AND TECHNICAL MEMO TO AID USERS DURING THE CASE STUDY. TO TRACK PROGRESS OF THE CASE STUDIES, THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST WATER RESEARCH PROJECT WILL WRITE A TECHNICAL MEMO WITH THE RESULTS AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM PILOT USER APPLICATION. FINALLY, DELIVERABLES FROM OUTREACH WILL BE THE PRESENTATIONS AND FACTSHEETS USED DURING EVENTS. GENERALLY, THE INTENDED BENEFICIARIES INCLUDE STATE AND LOCAL ESTUARINE AND MONITORING AGENCIES; COASTAL COMMUNITIES, AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC. THE TOOLKIT WILL HELP INFORM MANAGEMENT, REGULATION, AND RESTORATION OF ESTUARINE SYSTEMS USING L-3 ANALYSIS. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AUTOMATED DASHBOARD AND TOOLKIT WILL RESULT IN AT LEAST SIX ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES. THE FIRST I