Mission-Aransas NERR Ecosystem Based Management Tool Demonstration Project : An Integrated Approach to Land Use Planning in Aransas County

Increased population growth in coastal areas can result in pollution, habitat loss and degradation, overfishing, invasive species, and increased threats due to coastal hazards. Understanding the linkages between land use strategies and their effects on coastal-marine ecosystems is critical to the development of sound land use policies that minimize impacts from population growth and maintain the social, economic, and ecological values of our coasts. A unique partnership of local, state, and federal agencies; academic institutions; and non- and for-profit organizations worked together to develop an integrated land-sea planning toolkit that assists planners/resource managers in applying ecosystem based management to land use planning.