Going GREEN Lecture: Coastal Resilience Action Plan

Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/94400357813

Going GREEN Lecture: Coastal Resilience Action Plan

Galveston Bay is a large, shallow, estuary on the upper Texas Gulf Coast fed by coastal streams and bayous, including Spring Creek and the San Jacinto River. The Bay and its surrounding watershed are a complex, interconnected system. Galveston Bay provides resources and ecosystem services for the nearly six million people in the dynamic Houston-Galveston metropolitan area. The Galveston Bay Estuary Program (GBEP) was created in 1989 and is managed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). GBEP is one of 28 National Estuary Programs administered by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and one of two estuary programs in Texas. GBEP works to preserve Galveston Bay for generations to come.

Recently the Houston Advanced Research Center worked with GBEP and its stakeholders to develop a Coastal Resilience Action Plan. Coastal resilience is the ability of our coastal economic, social, and ecological systems to withstand change and bounce back from disaster. Estuaries are dynamic environments with constantly changing tides, salinity, fish and wildlife populations, and habitats that migrate across landscapes. This discussion will provide an overview of the stressors the expert stakeholders identified that Galveston Bay will be facing now and in the future, the risks associated with those stressors, and suggestions for action to help adapt to or mitigate those risks.

SPEAKER: Dr. Stephanie Glenn is the Vice President of Research-Water at HARC, specializing in ecology and hydrology. She is responsible for the development and supervision of projects to improve the sustainable management of water and ecological resources. Stephanie leads a team of scientists, sustainability experts and support staff that work to incorporate independent research into advancing scientific solutions relating to climate and water issues. In addition to her leadership activities, Stephanie’s research focuses on the analysis and dissemination of data relating to water quality and quantity, watershed health, climate impacts on water and the health.