Modelling Ecosystem Services Trade-offs with Community Values to Inform Decision Making for Coastal and Estuarine...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Ecological Restoration
• Coastal Management

Background:

• Coastal and estuarine projects offer opportunities to improve human well-being through habitat enhancement.
• Integrating biophysical and social dimensions requires community-based decision support.
• Ecosystem services (ES) link ecological health to human benefits like recreation and subsistence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To employ the Remediation to Restoration to Revitalization (R2R2R) framework for analyzing social-ecological relationships in coastal projects.
• To relate ecological restoration to ecosystem services and community well-being.
• To assess community values and ecological outcomes for restoration alternatives.

Main Methods:

• Comparative analysis of contamination remediation and habitat restoration design alternatives for Mud Lake.
• Application of the R2R2R framework to link restoration to ecosystem services.
• Community values analysis to evaluate impacts on well-being.

Main Results:

• The mix of ecosystem services varied across decision alternatives, indicating trade-offs.
• Different alternatives resulted in distinct impacts on community well-being.
• Considering ecosystem services and community values aids equitable decision-making.

Conclusions:

• The R2R2R framework facilitates integrating ecosystem services and community values into decision support for coastal and estuarine remediation.
• This approach can mitigate negative impacts on well-being when ecological and social trade-offs exist.
• It fosters a community of practice for Great Lakes coastal restoration.