Calculating Compensatory Restoration in Natural Resource Damage Assessments: Recent Experience in California

Hampton, Steve; Zafonte, Matthew

doi:10.1061/40761(175)75

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The conceptual basis and mathematical framework for HEA and REA are well documented, though REA is less frequently described (Desvousges et al 2018;Hampton and Zafonte 2002;NOAA 2006;Peterson and Kneib 2003). For NRDAs, REAs are customized on a case-specific basis to address project characteristics, while maintaining the basic framework that defines a REA.…”

Section: Description Of Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although REAs and HEAs are a frequent component of NRDA cases in the U.S. and have supported a multitude of government claims, few peer-reviewed papers present detailed applications (but see Peterson and Kneib 2003 for marine examples and Dunford et al 2004 for a wetland example). Several publicly available reports and conference proceedings provide some detail on model inputs and methods for wetland HEAs or REAs, but data-derived justifications for model inputs and model assumptions are not well documented, particularly for the quantification of anticipated restoration benefits (Cosco Busan Oil Spill Trustees 2012; Desvousges et al 2018;Gala et al 2008;Hampton and Zafonte 2002;Michel et al 2002;Stratus Consulting and Toxicological, and Environmental Associates, Inc. 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Modeling Coastal Marsh Restoration Benefits in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Fricano¹,

Baumann²,

Fedeli³

et al. 2020

Estuaries and Coasts

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Extensive salt marsh restoration is expected in the northern Gulf of Mexico over the next several decades, funded in part by settlements from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Understanding the ecological benefits of restored marshes over time is integral to setting appropriate restoration targets and performance criteria and in determining the restoration area needed to achieve desired restoration goals and offset quantified natural resource injuries. We present a method for quantifying anticipated ecological benefits associated with marsh restoration projects, particularly marsh creation or enhancement through the placement of dredged material, in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Using salt marsh vegetation (percent cover, aboveground biomass, and belowground biomass) and indicator faunal species (periwinkle snails and amphipods) as representative marsh community components, we used resource equivalency analysis (REA) to model projected ecological benefits over time and quantified total net project benefits for a hypothetical marsh creation project in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. Sensitivity analysis of the resulting model suggests that the recovery trajectories for each marsh component were the most important drivers of modeled restoration benefits and that model uncertainty was greatest for marsh fauna, which has limited data availability compared to marsh vegetation and high natural variability. Longer-term monitoring at restored restoration sites and/or targeted monitoring of older restoration projects would reduce variability in the recovery trajectories for the marsh community components examined in this case study and improve the reliability of the REA model for projecting benefits associated with salt marsh restoration.

show abstract

Section: Description Of Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Coastal Marsh Restoration Benefits in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Fricano¹,

Baumann²,

Fedeli³

et al. 2020

Estuaries and Coasts

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…REA is a resource-toresource method that references the number of organisms lost and gained, and HEA is a service-to-service method that references habitat area lost and gained [42]. The two methods are algebraically identical and are used to calculate the quantity of compensatory restoration that will generate natural resource services equivalent to service losses due to an injury [24,26,[41][42][43][44]. Service losses and compensatory benefits are quantified in non-monetized units such as discounted service-acre-years (DSAYs).…”

Section: Valuation Of Lost Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to these complications, most injury assessment studies use indicators of ecological services [40] rather than measuring ecosystem services directly. Thus, in an NRDA, the quantity of compensatory restoration required to offset service losses as a result of an injury is not calculated by directly measuring a comprehensive suite of ecosystem services, but is instead often determined by habitat equivalency analysis (HEA) or resource equivalency analysis (REA) [26,[41][42][43][44]. REA is a resource-toresource method that references the number of organisms lost and gained, and HEA is a service-to-service method that references habitat area lost and gained [42].…”

Section: Valuation Of Lost Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coral reef metrics and habitat equivalency analysis

Viehman¹,

Thur²,

Piniak³

2009

Ocean & Coastal Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tWhen coral reefs held in United States public trust are injured by incidents such as vessel groundings or oil spills, a natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process may be conducted to quantify the resource service loss. Coral cover has been used as an indicator metric to represent lost services in habitat equivalency analyses for determination of compensatory restoration. Depending on the injury and habitat, however, lost services may be more comprehensively represented by alternative approaches such as composite metrics which incorporate other coral reef community characteristics, or a resourcescale approach utilizing size-frequency distributions of injured organisms. We describe the evolving state of practice for capturing coral reef ecosystem services within the natural resources damage assessment context, explore applications and limitations of current metrics, and suggest future directions that may increase the likelihood that NRDA metrics more fully address ecosystem services affected by an injury.Published by Elsevier Ltd.

show abstract

Refining the Use of Habitat Equivalency Analysis

Thur

2007

Environmental Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When natural resources are injured or destroyed in violation of certain U.S. federal or state statutes, government agencies have the responsibility to ensure the public is compensated through ecological restoration for the loss of the natural resources and services they provide. Habitat equivalency analysis is a service-to-service approach to scaling restoration commonly used in natural resource damage assessments. Calculation of the present value of resource services lost due to injury and gained from compensatory restoration projects is complicated by assumptions concerning the within-time period crediting of losses and gains. Conventional beginning-of-period accounting leads to an underestimate of the loss due to injury and an overestimate of the gains from compensatory projects in cases with linear recovery projections. The resulting compensatory requirement is often insufficient to offset the true loss suffered by the public. Two algebraic equations are offered to correct for these estimation inaccuracies, and a numerical example is used to illustrate the magnitude of error for a typical, though hypothetical, injury scenario.

show abstract

Calculating Compensatory Restoration in Natural Resource Damage Assessments: Recent Experience in California

Cited by 8 publications

References 7 publications

Modeling Coastal Marsh Restoration Benefits in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Modeling Coastal Marsh Restoration Benefits in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Coral reef metrics and habitat equivalency analysis

Refining the Use of Habitat Equivalency Analysis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About