The Gulf Coast Vulnerability Assessment (GCVA) is evaluating the vulnerability of mangroves, barrier islands, oyster reefs, and tidal emergent marshes (and the species associated with them) to climate change, sea level rise, and urbanization across the northern U.S. Gulf of Mexico. The project originated out of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance’s Habitat Conservation and Restoration Priority Issue Team (HCRT PIT). It is being spearheaded by the four Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) along the Gulf Coast. State leads for the HCRT serve on the GCVA’s Core Planning Team and have actively shaped its direction. In the initial phase of this project experts, from U.S. Geological Survey, the Nature Conservancy, NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service among others, are dividing the Gulf Coast into subregions to assess how resource vulnerability and the contributing factors vary spatially. Consequently, experts are needed from these regions to inform the assessment. The team is committed to ensuring that results from the GCVA will be used to inform Gulf-wide adaptation strategies and help prioritize areas where more research is needed.
If the initial phase of the GCVA is evaluating a habitat or species that you have studied or managed, then please be the voice for your resource and region and join the group. You can do this by completing an assessment template. More information about participation can be found here. Visit the Gulf Coast Vulnerability Assessment group located on any of the four LCC websites (see below) to see a map of how the Gulf has been divided for this project and a list of the species and habitats being evaluated. You can also contact Amanda Watson, the GCVA Coordinator, by email (email@example.com) or phone (228-688-3746).
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