Strengthening Resiliency in Coastal Watersheds:
An Ecosystem Services and Ecological Integrity Decision Support System
S EPA
AED, Narragansett RI
The Taunton River watershed is the largest in the Narragansett Bay watershed. Due to previous work done in this
watershed and the large amounts of spatial data readily available it was chosen as a prime location to develop a pilot
coastal watershed resiliency decision support system (DSS).
The DSS is a spatially-explicit analytical framework developed for the Taunton River Watershed Network, US EPA
Region I and the Office of Water's Healthy Watersheds Program. The framework integrates 6 ecosystem services
(ES) which are considered important in strengthening watershed resiliency: protection against extreme
events/floods, water quantity protection, water quality protection, habitat protection, air quality protection and open
space conservation. The DSS integrates measures of ecosystem services and ecological integrity to provide
scientific support in decision-making to enhance watershed sustainability and resiliency. Watershed managers and
coastal communities can use this DSS to identify and prioritize conservation and restoration efforts within coastal
watersheds in the face of climate change and development while considering ecological outcomes as weii as
economic, social and environmental justice issues.
The landscape is divided into six focus areas - streams, riparian and upland freshwater wetlands, riparian and
upland forests, and saltwater riparian wetlands. Measurable indicators, or "factors", are defined to represent the
ecosystem services provided for each focus area. The DSS generates an overall score for each focus area
based on the scores calculated for each ES and each ES scoring factor. A default combined score is calculated
by weighing each ES score and each ES factor equally. The value of the DSS is that a user can change these
factors by modifying the weights and calculating a new combined score for each ES.
This table shows the ESs for freshwater riparian wetlands

Freshwater Riparian Wetlands.tbx
Freshwater Upland Wetlands.tbx
Instream.tbx
Riparian Forest.tbx
Saltwater Riparian Wetlands.tbx
Upland Forest.tbx
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ArcMap Application
One application was created for
technical users. It consists of an
ArcMap project and a set of toolboxes
- one toolbox for each focus area.
The user can modify multiple factors
and multiple ESs and generate a
score for each focus area unit. The
units are added to the map and color
coded with red, yellow or green
depending on the final score.
In the DSS, each of these factors can be changed by the
user. For instance, if a manager is only interested in
protection against flooding he could set the weight for
that ES to 1 and all others to 0. Each wetland then gets
a combined score based upon the totals of each ES.
Flood/Extreme Event Protection: default value = 0.2
Water Quality Protection: default value = 0.2
Habitat/Biodiversity Protection: default value = 0.2
Open Space Protection: default value = 0.2
Air Quality Protection: default value = 0.2
This table shows one ES for freshwater riparian wetlands and the factor weights that are important for its protection
Web Mapping Application
A second application was created for the
non-technical user. The web-based DSS
has the same capabilities as the technical
application. It is geared towards
stakeholders who do not have GIS skills.
No specialized software is required to use
this tool. The only requirement is to have a
web browser.
Flood/Extreme Event Protection
In the DSS, each of these
factors can be changed by the
user. For instance, if a
manager is only interested in
the effects of runoff potential
he could set the weight for that
factor to 1 and all other factors
to 0. Each wetland then gets a
combined score based upon
the totals of each factor.
Ecosystem Service Scoring Factors
Upstream drainage area: default value = 0.2
Runoff potential in upstream drainage area: default value = 0.2
Vulnerable downstream populations: default value = 0.2
Vulnerable downstream populations in floodplain: default value = 0.2
Vulnerable upstream population due to hurricane inundation: default value = 0.2
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