Seagrass ecosystems are attracting attention as potentially important tools for carbon (C) sequestration, comparable to those terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems already incorporated into climate change mitigation frameworks. Despite the relatively low C stocks in living biomass, the soil organic carbon pools beneath seagrass meadows can be substantial.

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New York Harbor is a large, iconic and complex body of water that has been extensively modified to support the development of a megacity. These modifications have affected the shorelines, water flow, water quality, habitats and living resources of the harbor. Changes in topography and bathymetry have altered the landscapes and seascapes of the region, largely to support an active shipping port and intense human settlement.

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Located approximately 35 miles south of Washington, D.C., Prince William Forest Park occupies 15,000 acres in Prince William County, Virginia. The park is the largest protected area in the region and is the third largest national park in the state of Virginia. It is also the largest example of a Piedmont forest in the national park system, and serves as a sanctuary for a diversity of plants and animals which are threatened by increasing development in northern Virginia.

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Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is a 117-acre park located approximately 18 miles west of Washington, D.C. in Vienna, Virginia. Established in 1966, the park was designated as the first national park for the performing arts. The park provides a natural sanctuary for native bird, plants, and animal species in a developing region. The natural resources of Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts were assessed using the Vital Signs Framework.

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This report card was produced in December 2015 by The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and represents a joint effort of graduate students and faculty in the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences program at the Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg and the Integration and Application Network. The report card provides an assessment of stream health in the Upper Potomac Headwaters region upstream of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

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The aim of this report card is to provide a transparent, timely, and geographically detailed assessment of 2014 Coastal Bays health. Coastal Bays health is defined as the progress of four water quality indicators (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, dissolved oxygen) and two biotic indicators (seagrass, hard clams) toward scientifically derived ecological thresholds or goals.

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This companion document to the report card contains information about data sources for all indicators, summary of analysis methods, and scoring details for each of the six America’s Watershed Initiative goals, and for two watershed wide indicators. Additional information regarding the goals is included to provide greater detail and discussion than is possible in the report card document.

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In 2014, the Meyer Memorial Trust brought together more than 20 university, agency, and technical experts to help create the first Willamette River report card. With support from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, the team of experts identified key indicators to capture a current picture of river health against which to measure future changes. Overall, the Willamette River scored a B-.

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The Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers (CSCs) and their managing organization, the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center at the U.S. Geological Survey, have chosen the emerging climate science field of Ecological Drought as a research focus area. This newsletter highlights the outcomes of a two-day workshop held in Fairbanks, Alaska, as part of a series of meetings at each of the nation’s eight CSCs.

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This poster outlines the project objectives and goals, three areas of focus, and requests input from nontraditional monitoring groups.

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