SERDP's Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP)

RC-1413

Objective

RC-1413 Project Graphic 1

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

Critical military training and testing lands in coastal and estuarine areas are increasingly placed at risk because of development pressures in surrounding areas, impairments due to other anthropogenic disturbances, and requirements to comply with environmental regulations. The Department of Defense (DoD) intends to enhance and sustain its training and testing assets and to optimize its stewardship of natural resources through an ecosystem-based management approach. To expand its commitment to improving military readiness while demonstrating the science behind ecosystem-based management on DoD facilities, SERDP has made a long-term commitment of at least 10 years to fund research and monitoring projects that support the sustainability of military training and testing in these ecologically and economically important ecosystems.

To accomplish the above goal, SERDP has launched the Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP) at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Camp Lejeune, like all Marine Corps installations, has a single and exclusive use: military preparedness. Camp Lejeune provides an ideal platform for DCERP because it integrates coastal barrier island, estuarine, marsh, and terrestrial ecosystems. RTI International (RTI), headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, is leading the DCERP research and monitoring effort and has assembled a diverse team of discipline experts with many years of experience working together on coastal/estuarine ecosystem projects.

DCERP is designed to conduct mission-relevant and basic and applied research in support of an ecosystem-based management approach. The program’s primary goal is to enhance and sustain the military mission by developing an understanding of coastal and estuarine ecosystem composition, structure, and function within the context of a military training environment. Specific DCERP objectives include the following: (1) develop appropriate conceptual and mechanistic ecological models to guide research, monitoring, and adaptive management feedback loops; (2) identify significant ecosystem stressors, their sources (on and off Camp Lejeune), and their level of impact on Camp Lejeune’s ecological systems; and (3) incorporate stressor and other ecological indicator information into the models, with an aim to develop more effective management guidelines for sustainable ecosystems.

RC-1413 Project Graphic 2

Conceptual Ecological Model for Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

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Technical Approach

Phase I of DCERP will be an initial six- to nine-month planning phase that will result in three products: (1) an overarching, mission-relevant, research strategy document, (2) a baseline monitoring plan, and (3) a detailed research subproject plan. Several workshops will be conducted to acquire technical and stakeholder input during this phase. To set the context for the above planning and to facilitate better understanding of ecosystem state and dynamics, Camp Lejeune and its surrounding environment will be subdivided into five distinct, but interdependent ecosystem modules: aquatic-estuarine, coastal barrier, marsh, terrestrial, and air.

These modules will be linked by nesting each within a common regional land-air-seascape setting. Cross-cutting research projects, including geospatial-based ecosystem modeling and biogeochemical synthesis analysis, will qualitatively capture transport mechanisms via air and water pathways. The baseline monitoring plan and research plan will be designed with an integrative and hierarchical approach that transcends air-land-water boundaries to study the effects of changes across ecosystems. These plans will facilitate incorporation of Camp Lejeune’s ongoing research and monitoring projects, and the plans’ multimedia design will illuminate underlying system processes, identify stressor-specific indicators of system change, and specify critical system process thresholds that could potentially threaten sustainability.

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Benefits

The successful implementation of DCERP will foster a greater understanding of Camp Lejeune’s biologically diverse coastal barrier island, estuarine, marsh, and terrestrial ecosystems and their interactions with military training activities. This understanding will aid in the long-term management and sustainability of these ecosystems, which will enhance and maintain the military mission. Because of the adaptive nature of DCERP, data resulting from this program’s research and monitoring efforts will increase the ability of resource managers to perform assessments and implement appropriate management responses to potential environmental impacts arising from military activities or natural disturbance events. In addition, DCERP’s monitoring metrics and techniques likely will be transferable to other ecologically similar sites. To effectively implement DCERP findings, the program’s results will be incorporated into Camp Lejeune’s Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2012)

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Project Documents

Symposium & Workshop

FY 2013 New Start Project Selections

FY 2013 New Start Project Selections for the Environmental Solicitation

Points of Contact

Principal Investigator

Dr. Patricia Cunningham

RTI International

Phone: 919-316-3722

Fax: 919-541-7155

Program Manager

Resource Conservation and Climate Change

SERDP and ESTCP

Project Documents

Document Types

  • Fact Sheet - Brief project summary with links to related documents and points of contact.
  • Final Report - Comprehensive report for every completed SERDP and ESTCP project that contains all technical results.
  • Cost & Performance Report - Overview of ESTCP demonstration activities, results, and conclusions, standardized to facilitate implementation decisions.
  • Technical Report - Additional interim reports, laboratory reports, demonstration reports, and technology survey reports.
  • Guidance - Instructional information on technical topics such as protocols and user’s guides.
  • Workshop Report - Summary of workshop discussion and findings.
  • Multimedia - On demand videos, animations, and webcasts highlighting featured initiatives or technologies.
  • Model/Software - Computer programs and applications available for download.
  • Database - Digitally organized collection of data available to search and access.

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