Changes in Maryland's climate system will likely have far-reaching impacts, most notably those associated with rising sea level, increasing temperatures, and changes in precipitation patterns. Acknowledging the increasing likelihood and magnitude of these impacts and their associated risks is necessary to protect both natural and man-made environments for years to come.

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Agriculture is the largest commercial industry in Maryland, employing about 350,000 people, on almost 13,000 farms covering two million acres. With increasing impacts of climate change, water management will become a larger concern, rising temperatures, carbon dioxide, and ozone will increase stress on nearly all crop and livestock species, and pests and diseases, such as soybean rust will likely plague farmers in the future.

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Following the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, seven Oil Spill Commission Action (OSCA) commissioners released their first report in April 2012— Assessing Progress: Implementing the Recommendations of the National Oil Spill Commission . It provided recommendations for making offshore energy production safer, improving oil spill response, and addressing the impacts on people, economy and the environment.

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The participatory engagement of stakeholders is perhaps the most important component of the planning and development of an MPA. Meaningful engagement depends on the ability of practitioners to build a healthy, lasting, and trustful relationship with stakeholders, including local communities. The approaches described in this guidebook are intended to help practitioners navigate this process of stakeholder engagement.

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This is the fifth annual West & Rhode Rivers report card. It presents data and information on six different ecological health indicators. It also gives examples of what the public can do to improve health of the rivers.

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This report card is an assessment of the aquatic health of the Eastern Bay, Choptank, Miles, and Wye Rivers, and is based on data collected by the Midshore Riverkeeper scientists and Midshore Creekwatchers. It is the third annual report card which discusses the status of river health in the midshore during 2012 based on five different indicators.

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Old Woman Creek, on the south-central shore of Lake Erie, is one of Ohio’s few remaining examples of a natural estuary and is designated as a National Estuarine Research Reserve and a Ohio State Nature Preserve. It is the only Great Lakes freshwater estuary in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and is managed cooperatively by NOAA and the ODNR.

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Pipe Creek is a small tributary to Sandusky Bay on the south-central shore of Lake Erie. The Pipe Creek watershed is largely developed by a combination of urban and agricultural land uses. Pipe Creek is best known for its 97 acre State Wildlife Area located at the mouth of Pipe Creek, which was constructed in the early 1990s as a mitigation site for wetlands destroyed by development elsewhere.

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Reduction of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and suspended sediment (SS) load has been a principal focus of Chesapeake Bay Watershed management for decades. To evaluate the progress of management actions in the Bay's largest tributary, the Susquehanna River, we analyzed the long-term seasonal trends of flow-normalized N, P, and SS load over the last two to three decades, both above and below the Lower Susquehanna River Reservoir System.

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The narrow coastal area of Lami Town, Fiji, is surrounded by steep hills with three rivers flowing to the ocean, making it highly susceptible to flooding and erosion. This technical report provides greater detail of the cost-benefit assessment of four adaptation scenarios to reduce Lami Town's vulnerability to flooding and erosion, both of which are projected to increase due to climate change.

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