Featured mission: Preserving and monitoring eelgrass habitats

Looking toward Kittery Point and the existing eelgrass beds and the mouth of the Piscatuqua River on the border of Maine and New Hampshire - PREP Communications staff, Sierra Kehoe/LightHawk.

The federal government designated eelgrass as an Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) and a Habitat of Particular Concern under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1996. The designation as EFH requires federal agencies to consult with NOAA Fisheries on ways to avoid or minimize the adverse effects of their actions on eelgrass. Assessing eelgrass habitat is essential to adjust management practices across the watershed.

Eelgrass provides a number of important ecosystem functions, including foraging areas and shelter to young fish and invertebrates, food for migratory waterfowl and sea turtles, and spawning surfaces for multiple species. By trapping sediment, stabilizing the substrate, and reducing the force of wave energy, eelgrass beds also reduce coastal erosion. In fact, eelgrass forms the base of a highly productive marine food web. The unique habitat also produces food and oxygen, improves water quality by filtering polluted runoff, absorbs excess nutrients, stores greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide, and protects the shoreline from erosion. 

LightHawk has partnered with the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership for a multi-year effort to guide management of eelgrass habitat in the Great Bay estuary and immediately off the coast of New Hampshire. PREP's work is driven by input from a diverse and talented group of stakeholders in three different committees and is supported and implemented by a wide-ranging group of partners and 52-municipalities. Their initiatives to preserve and monitor the Great Bay and Hampton-Seabrook estuaries rely upon the collective action of many partners, constructive collaboration, and shared successes to use best management practices (BMP's) to enhance water quality to help sustain this critical species.

VP Kent Wein adjusting camera and strut mount on his Husky. Photo J.Milne/LightHawk.

During this flight, multiple areas within the Great Bay estuary were captured using GoPro video cameras. PREP Communications staff, Sierra Kehoe remarked, "This project wouldn't be possible without the flight donated by LightHawk. Their technical expertise, talent for logistics, and generosity have allowed the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) to continue monitoring the keystone species of eelgrass. This flight was my first time viewing the Great Bay Estuary – the place I live, work, and play in – from above. What an incredible and awe-striking experience! Thank you, LightHawk, for your continued support and generosity."

Special thanks go out to volunteer pilot Kent Wien traveled from Poughkeepsie the day before the flight in order to fly the mission at the lowest possible tide.