Coastal Habitat Integrated Mapping and Monitoring Program (CHIMMP)

Salt marshes and mangroves provide valuable ecosystem services to coastal communities in Florida. Coastal wetlands stabilize shorelines, filter surface water runoff, sequester large amounts of organic carbon, and provide important fisheries habitat. However, the statewide extent of coastal wetlands is shifting. Future sea-level rise is expected to cause fragmentation of salt marshes and loss of acreage where hardened shorelines, coastal development, and other obstacles prevent the landward migration of salt marsh vegetation. Mangrove distribution is also changing and mangrove forests are encroaching into marsh habitats in response to climate change and sea-level rise. Thus, a coordinated statewide mapping and monitoring program was deemed necessary to better understand and protect Florida’s vulnerable coastal habitats and the numerous species that depend upon them.

The Coastal Habitat Integrated Mapping and Monitoring Program (CHIMMP) began in 2013 with support provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida’s Wildlife Legacy Initiative, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s funding support of Florida’s State Wildlife Grants Program. This funding aims to support the study of high-priority coastal habitats and meet the requirements of the State Wildlife Action Plan. Additional funding was provided through grant agreements from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Coastal Management Program, by grants provided by the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awards.

The goals of CHIMMP include bringing together representatives from mapping and monitoring programs across the State in order to increase communication, minimize duplicate efforts and identify data gaps, needs, and priorities. Multiple workshops have been held at the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida and online to bring together coastal wetland scientists and managers from across Florida.

Learn more about the CHIMMP workshops.

Workshop participants and CHIMMP partners collaborated to write a statewide technical report that was published in 2017; the complete report is available below. This report summarizes regional mapping and monitoring programs for salt marshes and mangroves as well as the status of coastal wetlands in Florida. Selected chapters from this report have been updated since that time. These updates are web-published below; once all chapters are updated, a second version of the technical report will be compiled and published.