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Resources and Tools for Coastal Resilience in Southeast Defense Communities

The following resources and tools provide guidance for defense communities interested in understanding and planning for coastal hazards. Resources include everything from data on vulnerable sites in the Southeast to planning and training resources to case studies highlighting steps taken by other vulnerable communities to advance their resilience.

Managing climate-related risks and opportunities:

The U. S. Climate Resilience Toolkit is a website developed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and partners on behalf of the U. S. Global Change Research Program, a federal program mandated by Congress and made up of 13 member agencies including Department of Defense (DoD). A complete list of tools with the ability to search with filters is available on the website. A good place to start exploring coastal resilience on the site is here.

Searchable lists of tools and resources for climate resilience and adaptation are available from:

Featured tools for coastal defense communities

Coastal County Snapshots infographics are generated based on user selected locations and focus (special flood hazard or economy) using U. S. Census, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and NOAA data to help users identify flood resilience. The snapshot is directly connected to NOAA’s Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper that visualizes the people, places and natural resources at risk to flood in a particular location.

FEMA’s National Risk Index has coastal flooding risk scores as well as many other natural hazards a community can explore. The site includes a mapping function to allow users to choose a location and generate a risk report.

Advancing Resilience for Defense Communities is a framework to guide defense communities for planning in partnership with military installations. A guidebook includes planning and funding resources.

Collaborating Your Way to Coastal Resilience is a quick reference sheet prepared by NOAA to help communities identify people to know and partnership opportunities with FEMA, NOAA and State Emergency Management programs to foster coastal resilience.

Natural infrastructure resources

Building Resilience to Climate Change Through Off-Base Natural Infrastructure Solutions was developed by the DoD Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program to provide information about how Natural Infrastructure Solutions can be used in defense communities to help military installations and ranges as well as communities adapt to climate change and maintain military readiness. It provides guidance on how to develop REPI projects and successful examples.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Engineering with Nature™ program has developed guidance and tools to help managers explore locations that would benefit from natural infrastructure projects.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation led the development of the Coastal Resilience Evaluation and Siting Tool (CREST) in cooperation with NOAA, UNC Asheville and in consultation with the USACE and NatureServe to provide a tool for identifying and prioritizing areas suited to nature-based solution for coastal resilience.

Coastal Resilience is a program developed by The Nature Conservancy, NOAA, university, and private partners to integrate a decision support tool with a community engagement approach used by practioners around the world. Each state or international location has locally tailored information and applications. The focus is on natural infrastructure solutions and features a Living Shoreline application that is used in their North Carolina map explorer.

Coastal Restoration Toolkit from Restore America’s Estuaries provides high level educational information to help communities develop a coastal restoration project from concept to proposal to deal with flooding, coastal erosion, water quality issues, invasive species and restore wildlife habitats.

Natural Infrastructure on the NOAA’s Digital Coast platform provides a comprehensive approach to helping communities consider nature-based solutions to their coastal hazards risks. Included among the resources are a Guidance for Considering the Use of Living Shorelines and NOAA Habitat Restoration Center’s Living Shorelines Projects Map with almost 200 examples of projects around the country.

Naturally Resilient Communities is a guide to nature-based solutions including case -studies of successful projects from across the country developed by a partnership of professional associations, non-profits and private industry.

Resources developed by other communities in the Southeast

North Carolina Coastal Communities Resiliency Guide is a web portal that is designed to walk the user through key steps for effective community-level resiliency planning. Local examples demonstrate each of the steps in resiliency planning.

Enhancing Coastal Resilience with Green Infrastructure from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources describes practices and policies communities can adopt to make use of natural infrastructure and less susceptible to flood damage. The guide is designed to be a resource for local governments, regional planners, developers, property owners, and community members.

Living Shorelines educational portal for South Carolina provides basic information about living shorelines, guidance for methods of development and regulatory information.

PLACE:SLR The program for local adaptation to climate effects: sea level rise is a network and resource for individuals and organization in the Northern Gulf of Mexico region including Florida, Alabama and Mississippi to build coastal resilience. The resource includes Living Shorelines cost-benefit analysis and tools designed for the Gulf states.

 

Information or assistance

Michelle Covi, Coastal Resilience DoD Liaison at mcovi@uga.edu

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