Restoration priority setting: Now can we consider recovery potential?

Funding for restoration is always limited, thus priority-setting is inevitable but difficult.  Recovery potential should be a primary consideration in restoration programs whose primary purpose is to bring about recovery.  Comparative methods to aid restoration planning can lead to better restoration investments that restore valuable waters earlier, more consistently, more cost-effectively, and in more places.  To aid priority-setting among impaired waters, EPA’s national TMDL program developed an indicator-based method for comparing relative recovery potential among large numbers of impaired waters or watersheds.  Demonstration studies involved Illinois impaired waters, a native fish habitat prioritization study in the middle Atlantic states, and an ongoing region-wide screening of HUC12 watersheds across the southeastern US.  The screening method selects ecological, stressor, and social context indicators appropriate to the geographic area, and develops summary scores along these three axes to allow comparison based on any or all three sub-scores. Resources compiled on an EPA Web site to assist states and others include the methodology, literature database, indicator reference sheets, data management and scoring tools, and results plotting software.