1. Jamaica Bay Task Force
Science and Resilience Institute update
October 15, 2014

2. Updates
1. Institute mission and structure
2. Institute development
3. Research
4. Extension and community
5. Agency planning and coordination

3. 1 Institute mission
The Institute increases understanding of how disturbances impact natural and human
systems in urban watersheds through resiliency-focused research of Jamaica Bay,
and engages government and community stakeholders in the translation of that
knowledge toward a more resilient system.
Conducts research to:
• understand the temporal nature and robustness of the resilience of Jamaica Bay,
New York Harbor, Hudson Raritan Estuary and Gateway National Recreation Area,
• develop models for studying the fundamental nature of resilient systems, and
• determine how best to manage ecosystems to ensure resilience and sustainability;
•Provides technical assistance and guidance to the institute’s governmental partners,
including the National Park Service, New York City Parks and the New York City Department
of Environmental Protection; and
•Serves as a center for education and the dissemination of knowledge about processes that
affect resilience and contribute to the changes in the urban ecosystem.

4. 1 Consortium members
 City University of New York
 Columbia University
 Cornell University
 Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University
 NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
 New York Sea Grant
 Stevens Institute of Technology
 Stony Brook University (SUNY)
 Wildlife Conservation Society

5. 1 Institute structure
Institute
Public Agencies
Community Stakeholders

6. Institute development - Search for Founding Director
 Bill Solecki currently serving as the Interim Director
 Search for Founding Director is in the final stages
 Consensus that good candidates have emerged from the search
process. Plan is to have someone start sometime near the beginning
of the new year.

7. Institute development - Facilities
 Interim location of the Institute is on the campus at Brooklyn college
 Planning for a new facility on Jamaica Bay, location to be determined.
 The SRI will provide lab facilities for researchers and students, as well
as hold events and host visiting scientists.

8. Research projects

9. Research – Projects funded by 4 DOI/NPS Hurricane Sandy Mitigation Funding
 Goal: support research projects that will advance knowledge of resilience
in urban coastal ecosystems
 Priority research themes of selected projects
• climate change and resilient ecosystems
• water quality
• restoration science
• storm damage reduction
 Kick off meeting held September 23rd. Research duration for two years.
 Institute will be to help coordinate some of the outcomes of these efforts
into information that can be used in practice.

10. 3 Extension and community
• Public mission of the Institute emphasizes community engagement
around science
• Existing extension programs within the Consortium: Cornell
Cooperative Extension, CUNY-Sustainable Cities, Rutgers, and NY
Sea Grant
• Initial research and planning for an extension service program
supported by Rockefeller Foundation
• Community resilience needs assessment
• Building initial relationships through outreach
• Best practices research

11. Extension and community
Potential roles for extensions service program:
•Work with community partners to identify research priorities and establish good
working relationships between community groups and SRIJB scientists as well as
area managers
•Disseminate and translate science based research generated about JB to
community members
•Provide training, technical assistance, and resources to community partners
•Develop educational curricula

12. Resilience Practice Assessment report
Upcoming SRI@JB Report: “Resiliency Practice in the Jamaica Bay
Watershed: Building a Research and Policy Agenda for Action”
The purpose is to create a document of record:
• synthesize what is known about the resilience of the Jamaica
Bay watershed
• identify gaps in knowledge
• suggest future directions for the Science and Resilience Institute
at Jamaica Bay.
• policy-relevant not prescriptive
Interim Product – 31 December 2014

13. Planning and coordination

14. 4 Agency planning and coordination: RAND project
 Develop an integrated, cross-agency master plan scope for Jamaica Bay
in collaboration with the SRI Public Agency Council and Stakeholder
Advisory Council
 Create a participatory, stakeholder-informed decision framework and
decision support tool
 Use framework to evaluate tradeoffs among a variety of proposed
resilience strategies and projects
 Inform a longer-term research agenda to support adaptive management
and continued stakeholder engagement

15. 2 Members of the SRI Public Agency Council
City
State
Federal

16. Precedent: 2 2012 Louisiana Coastal Master Plan
Goals:
Flood risk reduction
Restoration and reversal of land
loss trend
Consideration of a wide range of
other issues

17. Precedent: 2 2012 Louisiana Coastal Master Plan
RAND’s decision support tool:
Compared and ranked individual
projects
Developed different combinations
of projects for comprehensive
strategy
Used interactive visualizations to
display tradeoffs and support
decisionmaking

18. Planning Process Timeline
Two-phase planning process
to develop a long-term master plan for Jamaica Bay
Phase I Phase II
5/14
Kickoff
6 months 12-18 months
12/14 4/16
• Set goals for long-term plan
• Identify candidate projects
• Build decision support tools
• Provide input to USACE
Reformulation Study
• Increase stakeholder engagement
• Expand analysis to assess contributions of projects
to goals (new modeling)
• Understand tradeoffs among goals
• Inform long-term agency decisionmaking
2

19. Thank you!
Please contact us with any questions:
Peter Vancura, program manager – pvancura @ gmail.com
Bill Solecki, Interim Director – wdsolecki @ gmail.com
Website: www.srijb.org