New Hampshire Estuaries Project - Programs

To measure the effectiveness of management plan Action Item implementation, the NHEP's Technical Advisory Committee has developed a NHEP Monitoring Plan that defines environmental and administrative indicators of estuarine quality and outlines a strategy for communicating the status of those indicators to stakeholders. The core component of the NHEP's Monitoring Program involves tracking environmental indicators, which are measurable markers that help interpret the condition of the environment and how it changes over time.

For each environmental indicator, the NHEP has developed a numeric target based on the goals and objectives in the Management Plan. Some targets are fixed thresholds (e.g., water quality standards), while other targets are related to trends over time.

The NHEP currently tracks 30 different environmental indicators of water quality, shellfish resources, land use, and critical species and habitats. The NHEP also gathers and analyzes data on 20 other supporting variables that are used to understand the causes behind trends in the indicators. Administrative indicators, which are more qualitative and do not have specific goals, track programmatic progress toward implementation of the Management Plan.

Environmental Indicator Reports

The NHEP Coastal Scientist compiles and analyzes data from state, federal, and university monitoring programs that are relevant to the NHEP environmental indicators. The status and trends of the indicators are presented to the NHEP’s Technical Advisory Committee, Management Committee, and to the public. Current environmental indicator reports are:

Water Quality - 2006(.pdf/3.1MB)

Shellfish - 2005 (.pdf/508KB)

Critical Habitats and Species - 2006 (.pdf/2.4MB)

Land Use and Development - 2006(.pdf/5MB)

RELATED REPORTS

Monitoring Program Inventories

The NHEP maintains an inventory of local, state, federal and university monitoring programs in New Hampshire’s estuarine and coastal environment. Read Inventory (.pdf/146KB)

Also the NHEP maintains a similiar inventory for freshwater monitoring programs. Read Freshwater Monitoring Program Inventory (.pdf/3.2MB)

Any questions regarding the NHEP Monitoring Program should be directed to Phil Trowbridge, NHEP Coastal Scientist at (603) 271-8872.