Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is the only National Park dedicated to the performing arts. Performance structures on the 130 acre property include a 7,000-person main stage. The park includes protected stream, meadow, and forest patches in the urban Washington, DC landscape. Noise from the Dulles Toll Road threatens the primary function of the park as a performance venue and is a major management concern.

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Environmental management is not practiced in a vacuum. Effective stewardship of natural resources requires the adoption of multiple objectives set forth by diverse groups of stakeholders with varied perspectives and interests. Within this management landscape, integrated environmental assessments provide a useful framework for evaluating resources and directing management efforts.

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Southwest Australia has warm temperate water with a mixture of tropical influences from the Leeuwin Current and cool southern waters. This mixing of tropical and temperate water results in diverse seagrass communities occurring in a wide variety of coastal habitats. Almost half of the world's ~60 seagrass species can be found along this 1,500 km of coast. Seagrasses are important to the marine environment as they stabilise sediments and trap nutrients, helping to maintain water quality.

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Estuaries are transition zones where rivers meet the ocean, creating an environment with large seasonal fl uctuations in temperature, salinity, and light. These difficult growing conditions provide some unique challenges for seagrasses. In southwest Australia, estuaries are usually closed by a sand bar at the mouth, cutting them off from the ebb and fl ow of the tide for long periods. Winter rains flow down-river into the estuaries, raising the water level until it breaks through the sand bar.

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On the south coast, a diverse range of seagrasses grow in habitats protected from the full force of waves by islands and headlands. South coast seagrasses grow on silica sand to a depth of about 30 m and on carbonate sand beyond 30 m depth. Many seagrasses grow in these sheltered zones, including most of the species found on the west coast. Beyond the shelter of the headlands, waves roll in from the open ocean and seagrasses are subjected to very high wave action.

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Along some 600 km of the west coast, a line of offshore islands and submerged reefs provides protection from the full force of ocean swell and zones of sand deposition. The longitudinal reef and islands remain from former coastlines drowned by rising sea levels - the most recent rise was about 6,000 - 12,000 years ago.

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This poster details the importance of developing a scientifically rigorous, spatially explicit ecosystem health report card on Chesapeake Bay and its watershed to facilitate coordination and feedback between monitoring, management and research. A pilot study was conducted in July 2003 on the Patuxent and Choptank Rivers using a novel stable isotope technique (see "Assessing Nutrient Sources" newsletter below) together with more traditional water quality monitoring techniques.

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This poster summarizes the key features of the seagrass communites in the Bocas del Toro archipelago, Panama. Seagrass meadows within this region are strongly influenced by their proximity to coral reefs, mangrove forests and coastal rivers. Reef, mangrove and river inputs influence sediment type and water clarity, two very important factors affecting the occurrence and abundance of seagrass meadows.

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This poster presents data from the lagoons along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, a region undergoing appreciable growth. The region is characterized by karst limestone without appreciable surface drainage or rivers. However, there are various submarine springs and fissures that deliver runoff to coastal waters. The tropical seagrass Thalassia testudinum was sampled near the developed regions of Cancun as well as in the Puerto Morelos lagoon to the south.

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