Disaster Response Planning in the National Estuarine Research - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Disaster Response Planning in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System: Applications for Marine Protected Areas Will Underwood Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Grand Bay NERR

What is the NERR System?

• Coastal Zone Management Act
• NOAA Sponsored Program in partnership with

state partner

• Core boundaries are defined as NOAA trust

resources

• Reserves are staffed and managed by state

partner/agency

Practice and Promote the stewardship of coasts and estuaries through innovative research, education, and training using a placed based system of protected areas. Water Quality Habitat Protection Climate Change

NERR Sectors

• Research
• Education
• Stewardship
• Coastal Training Program

What makes Grand Bay important?

• Marshes serve as

nursery ground

• Provides protection

from dangerous storm surge

• Marshes filter nutrients
• Commercial and

Recreational Fishing

• Outdoor recreation

Significant Resources

• Tidal and emergent marsh habitats
• Submerged aquatic vegetation
• Coastal transitional habitats
• Oyster reefs
• Cultural resources (Native American Middens)
• Shore and water bird foraging and nesting

habitat

• Fish and shellfish nursery habitat

How do we monitor the resources?

• Water quality monitoring
• Habitat mapping and change analysis
• Biological monitoring (emergent marsh,

submerged aquatic vegetation, mangrove)

• Sentinel Site monitoring

The YSI 6600 EDS Datasonde

NERRS Sentinel Sites

• Fine scale measurement of

marsh building processes

• ver time
• Monitoring of local water

levels

• Monitoring and tracking

changes in marsh vegetation over time

• All data referenced to a

common vertical datum (height/elevation)

• NERRS System Wide

Monitoring Program

• Graduate Research

Fellowship (GRF) Program

• Grand Bay NERR site

profile (ecological characterization)

• Coordinate research with

DMR, universities, NOAA, and NERRS

• Applied research to local

& regional issues

What are some natural stressors in Grand Bay?

• Hurricanes
• Erosion
• Changes in

freshwater inflow

• Invasive species
• Changes in

weather and climate patterns

Anthropogenic Stressors

• Excess nutrients
• Industrial Development
• Overharvest of fishery
• Loss of sediments

through dredging

• Prop scarring
• Decreased water quality
• Industrial disasters

Why are we worried about disaster response?

• We have a mandate to protect our resources
• We have the local knowledge about these

resources

• We are often the first to report disaster

situations

• Our protected resources are often near

industry

Mississippi Phosphates Spill

Bangs Lake

06-02-05 05-18-05 05-03-05 04-18-05 04-03-05 03-19-05 03-04-05 pH 8.00 7.00 6.00 5.00 4.00

TS Lee (Sep 2011)

Hurricane Katrina

Deepwater Horizon Response Timeline

• Rig Explosion- April 20th
• Booming Initiated- May 4th
• First Rig Debris/Tarballs- June 4th
• First Oil at Reserve- June 12th
• Temporary Cap Installed- July 15th
• Targeted Boom Removal Date- Aug 31st
• Response still ongoing in some areas

What we learned from “The Spill”

• Unprepared to integrate into incident

command (ICS) and local emergency

• perations
• Unsure of our role in response, both in our

state agency and at higher levels

• Staff were undertrained in response safety

and techniques

• Needed a centralized and systematic method
• f maintaining preparedness

What we don’t do…

• We are not first responders/medical

professionals/law enforcement

• While our job is to protect natural resources,

we don’t do that at the expense of human life and safety

Our Role in Disaster Response

• Provide relevant data and consultation

regarding natural resources

• Assist with transport/guidance of field crews

to protect critical natural resources

• Provide mapping information and support
• Serve as staging area as needed
• Host or provide trainings

Elevating Awareness

• Reserve boundaries were missing from

Incident Command Center maps

• Local Emergency Operations Center didn’t

understand/recognize our role in resource protection

• Local first responders held misconceptions

about what we do

• We needed a plan

• Directed funding from NOAA Disaster

Response Center to develop Disaster Response Plans for the 5 Gulf of Mexico NERRs

• Contracted with Tetratech consulting group to

develop these plans and a template for use around the NERR system

• Following Hurricane Sandy, additional

Reserves received funding to develop plans

Hazard and Incident Risk Assessment

• You can’t plan for every possible contingency
• Internal ranking of possible incidents and

disasters that could impact the resources you manage

• This ranking is only as good as the people in

the room

• Useful to involve local response community in

this ranking process

Hazard Potential Impacts [Focused on National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR)] Probability Indicator (0 to 1) Potential Impact Indicator (0 to 1) Probability Weight Potential Impact Weight Overall Ranking Relative Priority Life Health Property Environment Economy Physical Biological NERR Natural Resources

Local/Regional Business

Hurricane 3 3 3 1 1 2 2 3 1 0.75 50% 50% 88 High Coastal Erosion 1 1 1 1 1 0.17 50% 50% 58 Medium Severe Storms 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 0.75 0.38 50% 50% 56 Medium Offshore Oil Spill 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.5 0.38 50% 50% 44 Medium Riverine Flooding 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 0.5 0.38 50% 50% 44 Medium Invasive Species 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.5 0.33 50% 50% 42 Medium Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.5 0.33 50% 50% 42 Medium Vessel Grounding 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.5 0.33 50% 50% 42 Medium HazMat (other than oil) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.5 0.33 50% 50% 42 Medium Lightning 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.5 0.33 50% 50% 42 Medium Wildland Fire 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.5 0.33 50% 50% 42 Medium Tsunami 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 0.25 0.50 50% 50% 38 Low Earthquake 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 0.25 0.46 50% 50% 35 Low Tornado 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 0.25 0.46 50% 50% 35 Low Aircraft Crash 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.25 0.38 50% 50% 31 Low Rail HAZMAT 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.25 0.38 50% 50% 31 Low Law Enforcement Emergency 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.25 0.38 50% 50% 31 Low Medical Emergency 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.25 0.38 50% 50% 31 Low Structure Fire 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 0.25 0.38 50% 50% 31 Low UXO/Live Fire 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.25 0.33 50% 50% 29 Low Potential Impact Descriptions Life Loss of human life [staff, visitors, researchers (registered, unregistered), persons working or recreating within NERR boundaries]. Health Human Injury or illness [risk to staff, visitors, researchers (registered, unregistered), persons working or recreating within NERR boundaries] Property Damage to buildings and infrastructure (buildings, roads, roofs, vehicles, boats, piers, transformers, power lines, etc.) Environment Impacts to the environment Physical Coastline, cultural resources, wetlands, barrier islands, rivers, other landforms and waterways Biological Animal and plant life (sea grass, protected species, reefs, plankton, etc.) Economy Economy considered at three levels NERR Impacts to NERR operations and ability to accomplish its mission - research, stewardship, education, outreach Natural Resources Impacts to natural resources protected by the NERR in terms of species and habitat impacts, aesthetics, fishing, and other economic uses Local/Regional Resources Impacts to NERR natural resources that have an impact on local/regional economy - hotels, gas stations, shops, etc. tied to tourism/fishing/recreational/natural resource driven economy

Stakeholder Meeting

• Local resource professionals, industry, local

industry and response community

• Clearly establish definitions…our “resources”

are not the same as their “resources”

• Educate responders about natural resources at

risk

• Describe vulnerability of long term research

plots and equipment

• Need to communicate more regularly with

industry and responders

• Developed fact sheets outlining vulnerable

resources for responders

• Established lines of communication with local

government and EOC

What a plan will do for you…

• Centralize contact information for agencies,

responders, and responsible parties

• Provide a systematic course of action for

responding to incidents and disasters

• Clearly define chain of command and areas of

responsibility

• Identify training needs and training schedules

for staff

Introduction

• Purpose
• List of plans
• Basic site information
• Authorities for response
• Scope
• Assumptions

Emergency Planning Factors

• Resources at risk

people infrastructure natural resources

• Hazards
• Emergency Capabilities

Operations

• Mitigation
• Preparedness

planning, training, exercising, equipping

• Response

NIMS, facilities, awareness, roles and assignments, priorities and planning, communication

• Recovery

damage assessment and recovery

Continuity of Operations

• How will you continue post storm
• Emergency supplies
• Personnel needs
• Equipment needs

Plan Maintenance and Appendices

• Living document, should be reviewed annually

at a minimum

• Exercising capabilities is important
• Appendices should include contacts, hazard

specific procedures, emergency capabilities, training and work plans, response forms, maps, etc.

• Plan success related to effort and ongoing

maintenance and training to maintain capabilities

• Communication with responders will be best

method of ensuring resource protection

• Incident Command System can reinforce chain
• f command in seemingly minor incidents
• Culture of preparedness can increase staff

safety and increase protection of resources

Questions?

• will.underwood@dmr.ms.gov