As we take a moment to reflect on this past year, we would like to share some accomplishments and milestones that the WRMP achieved in 2020.
- The WRMP Plan was completed and released in April! The Plan lays the foundation for the development of the program.
- The WRMP Cost Analysis was completed in February, consisting of estimated costs to advance science content development and inform the funding amount required for program start up and initial data collection.
- The Core Team formalized a process for projects and proposals to receive letters of support from the WRMP that is available at this link.
- The WRMP Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was formed and the TAC Charter was written. The TAC has focused on the overall WRMP Science Framework, the establishment of benchmark sites and the monitoring site network. A roster of TAC members can be found at this link.
- Our grant-funded project team, led by our partners at the San Francisco Estuary Institute initiated a fit-gap analysis for WRMP priority indicators and data sets.
- The San Francisco Bay National Estuary Research Reserve worked to advance WRMP science priorities in collaboration with a National Parks Conservancy team to pilot an alliance-scale vegetation map that will help with tracking future changes in our marshes due to sea level rise.
- The San Francisco Bay Joint Venture and Point Blue are creating a State of the Birds Framework for status and trend analysis of bird populations in the San Francisco Bay region. Both the alliance scale vegetation mapping and the State of the Birds framework will help inform the development of indicators for the WRMP monitoring network.
- A multi-agency team including US Environmental Protection Agency, SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the SF Estuary Partnership, was formed to develop a WRMP Permitting workshop for agency staff in partnership with the Consensus Building Institute, scheduled for January 2021.
- Social media outreach (#WRMPWednesday) took place weekly in September on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to promote the WRMP goals and partners and has continued monthly through December.
- Funding models of other relevant monitoring programs were researched, and a WRMP Funding Strategy was completed. We received input and consensus on the Funding Strategy from the Core Team and Steering Committee in November 2020.
- The WRMP Charter is in the process of development.
- In 2020, the Steering Committee met 5 times, the Technical Advisory Committee met 6 times, and the Core Team met monthly. To see the people who serve on each committee, visit this link.
Continuing thanks to the amazing community of restoration practitioners, regulators and scientists that have made this effort possible. We’d especially like to thank our funder, the US Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 for its continued support of the WRMP through the Wetland Program Development Grant.
Wishing you a safe, healthy, and peaceful new year.
Sincerely,
Heidi Nutters, Program Manager, SF Estuary Partnership
Kelly Santos, CA Sea Grant Fellow, SF Estuary Partnership
Photo: Kelly Santos
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