Managing the Watershed and Bay
October 27, 2008This chapter of the status and trends report looks at the management component of the Narragansett Bay ecosystem. Comprehensive assessment of a complex system like the bay and its watersheds is not simple. We can measure water chemistry in much of the Bay and count some commercially important fisheries and other species. We can map major physical changes to the land, bay shorelines, and rivers, and we can follow the rise and fall of some habitats. We can, with many caveats and simplifications, report on “environmental” expenditures and institutional responses.
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Environmental Expenses in Massachusetts
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Environmental Expenses in Rhode Island
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Expendature in Rhode Island and Massachusetts over the past decade (Click on image to enlarge)
Taken separately, these elements often tell an encouraging story. Public support for environmental protection remains consistently high as demonstrated by passage of local and state-wide bond issues (Trust for Public Land 2007). In Rhode Island, the state has slowly begun instituting (and funding) more comprehensive and timely water quality monitoring, and is implementing strong stormwater and wastewater programs, including mandated nutrient reductions from 11 treatment plants discharging to Narragansett Bay. The Blackstone River Coalition and the John.H. Chafee Blackstone Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission are major advocates for returning to a fishable, swimmable Blackstone River, and in the Taunton River watershed, numerous watershed groups are developing visions of development compatible with community preservation and protection of basic resources such as water supply. Throughout the entire region, new organizations are emerging to take responsibility not only for environmental advocacy, but also for building their own abilities to manage environmental resources as tools and training become more readily available.
But cobbling these stories together does not the whole story make, nor does it give us an assessment of overall system health.
Partly this is because we still lack basic data on the interaction of Bay and watershed, including an integrated monitoring framework to measure trends in key aspects of the Bay/watershed ecosystem. But even more, it is because we have neither the agreement on the environmental goals that would enable us to interpret information when we do have it, nor clear public consensus on needed actions. In many cases, even where actions have been taken, there is no mechanism for follow-up or reporting on the effectiveness of such actions. This chapter of the report summarizes past and ongoing attempts to address the need for more integrated and transparent management, and documents the status of key recommendations proposed repeatedly over the years, including identifying potential indicators to help answer basic questions about our impacts on the condition, trends, and causes of problems in this treasured ecosystem.