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Supporting Coastal Community Resilience through Nature-Based Solutions
Citation:
Yee, S., R. Kashuba, AND E. Eisenhauer. Supporting Coastal Community Resilience through Nature-Based Solutions. Cumulative Impacts Research Grantee Workshop, Research Triangle Park, NC, May 14 - 16, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
EPA ORD is specifically working together with Crisfield to explore natural infrastructure options that can help augment some of the other grey infrastructure ideas to help with storm surge and wave attenuation and erosion prevention. This research is designed to directly inform on-the-ground decisions about nature-based strategies may work to improve the coastal resilience of Crisfield. This research is being co-developed with the Crisfield community to inform decisions and implementation of natural infrastructure strategies, including by understanding community values to ensure research is measuring and modeling the things Crisfield cares about.
Description:
EPA is working with the town of Crisfield, Maryland to explore potential natural infrastructure strategies, such as marsh restoration, sand dunes, living shorelines, artificial reefs, and living breakwaters that Crisfield could consider to address storm resilience or other community goals. Research is focused on identifying: "What kinds of Nature Based Strategies (NBS) can help protect Crisfield from storm surge?" and "What are the social and economic co-benefits of potential NBS?" to Crisfield. This presentation provides a high-level overview of the types of nature-based strategies suggested for Crisfield based on matching known success criteria for storm surge and erosion prevention from the literature with conditions in different parts of Crisfield's offshore ecosystems and marshlands. Additionally, initial results from a document analysis and stakeholder workshops to identify potential ecosystems services benefits of NBS of greatest relevance to Crisfield are presented. Next steps for the research include data analysis and modeling of potential storm surge and other ecosystem services benefits to compare different NBS strategies.