Overview
Thriving habitats and abundant wildlife are key priorities in the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program (TBEP). The habitat report card is a two-page document that provides an accessible summary of habitat restoration, protection, and enhancement projects completed in each year, the historical context for these projects, and current status in achieving the short-term targets and long-term goals of the Tampa Bay Habitat Master Plan. Based on progress made each year, key priority habitats on which to focus restoration efforts are identified.
The habitat report card as a two-page summary PDF
Annual Partner Progress
Each year, dozens of partners working with the TBEP conduct habitat restoration, protection, or enhancement projects for native habitats in the bay and its watershed. Each of these projects are reported to the TBEP and added to the Tampa Bay Habitat Restoration Database.
The first page of the habitat report card summarizes the thousands of acres of habitat restored, enhanced, or protected by the TBEP and its partners since 1971. Starting in 2006, TBEP has reported habitat projects to the US Environmental Protection Agency, and this detailed information is being used to assess restoration progress and identify habitat types to target for restoration.
Partners can contribute to this database each year using an online form.
Habitat Status and Progress
The second page of the habitat report card summarizes progress towards short-term (2030) targets and long-term (2050) goals of the Habitat Master Plan and includes a “stoplight” graphic that can be used to easily understand current habitat status. Each color has a specific meaning for the habitat type that conveys the status in a given year in attaining the short-term target for 2030 and the trend in land use or habitat change between pairs of years. The number in each box shows the proportion of the target met in a given year, where less than one means the target is not met and greater than one means the target is met.
Green: Target is met, trending above 2030 target
Light green: Target is not met, trending above 2030 target
Yellow: Target is met, trending below 2030 target
Red: Target is not met, trending below 2030 target
The report card is also supported by a Shiny dashboard to view land use and habitat change over time. The dashboard can be used for a more detailed understanding of how the different native habitats have changed between years with available data. The dashboard includes tabular summaries, simple bar plots of change over time, and more complex “alluvial” plots that show how habitats have shifted between year pairs. Data download options are also provided.
The graphical and tabular content supporting the report card was created in an open source environment, with code available on GitHub. Additionally, the tbeptools R package also includes functions for creating the stoplight graphic. A detailed vignette provides the necessary information to reproduce this summary graphic. The source code for the Shiny dashboard is also available on GitHub.
