Lessons
from the CLIMATE READY
ESTUARIES PROGRAM
NEW ENGLAND CLIMATE READY ESTUARIES
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Climate Ready
Estuaries in New
England
The Climate Ready Estuaries
program works with the National
Estuary Programs (NEP) and the
coastal management community
to: (1) assess climate change
vulnerabilities, (2) develop
and implement adaptation
strategies, and (3) engage and
educate stakeholders. CRE
shares NEP examples to help
other coastal managers, and
provides technical guidance and
assistance about climate change
adaptation.
Since 2008 CRE has worked with
the NEPs in New England on a
wide variety of local projects
that will help them individually
and collectively become better
prepared for climate change.
This brochure shares some of the
lessons from their CRE projects
that were shared at a June 2012
workshop in Boston hosted
by the Ocean and Coastal
Protection Unit of EPA Region
1. Additional information about
the projects is available in CRE's
annual progress reports or from
the respective NEP.
Integrate climate change into regular
activities
Work with partners to utilize existing planning mechanisms as an
opportunity to identify priorities in the context of climate change
and avoid planning fatigue.
The Casco Bay Estuary Partnership is working with land trusts
to incorporate climate change adaptation measures into their
conservation planning. For example, CBEP worked with the Western
Foothills Land Trust to identify conservation and stewardship
priorities that took climate change into consideration. They shared
their experience with other land trusts at an annual conference.
As part of its response to major
flooding in March 2010, the
Narragansett Bay Estuary Program
is working to identify and prioritize
adaptation opportunities along
the Lower Pawtuxet River and its
tributaries. The project is using a
prioritized approach that integrates
infrastructure, flow management, and habitat restoration to develop
projects that are expected to improve watershed and habitat function
while increasing river system resilience as flows change in the future.
The Piscataqua Region Estuaries
Partnership completed an assessment
of Oyster River watershed road
culverts to determine those that are
undersized for extreme precipitation
events that are starting to occur
more frequently. PREP engaged the
local Department of Public Works in
the early stages of the project and considered their priorities in the
development of a vulnerability assessment for local managers to use
when prioritizing infrastructure improvements.
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Coordinate with others
Bu/7d broad coalitions and peer-to-peer networks
to help accomplish project goals and ensure
non-duplicative efforts.
• The Long Island Sound Study's Sentinel Monitoring
Network is taking a multidisciplinary scientific
approach to monitoring ecosystems and species
in Long Island Sound to help measure the effects
of climate change. LISS is using a top down (global
and regional climate modeling) and bottom up
(site specific monitoring) process with significant
stakeholder participation through a bi-state work
group of federal, state, and local scientists and
managers.
• LISS recognized that local governments need help
getting the right agencies and organizations to
the table to do adaptation planning. They worked
with the town of Groton, the CT Department of
Energy and Environmental Protection, and ICLEI:
Local Governments for Sustainability to convene
95 people from federal, state, and local agencies
and organizations. They participated in a series
of workshops to focus on the latest climate
science, impacts,vulnerabilities, and strategies for
implementation of climate change adaptation.
• LISS took the lessons learned and various resources
that were utilized for the Groton climate change
adaptation planning project and developed a
"Connecticut Adaptation Resources Toolkit" to help
all Connecticut municipalities with their adaptation
planning.
Use new tools to gain insight
Develop innovative solutions by working with
partners who can share new methods and new
systems.
The EPA Office of Research and Development
worked with the Massachusetts Bays Program to
develop a novel method for using expert elicitation
to assess climate change vulnerabilities of salt
marsh sediment processes and sparrow nesting
habitat. Expert elicitation is a structured approach
for characterizing the current state of knowledge
on key questions of interest, especially when data
are limited, uncertainties are great, and more than
one conceptual model exists. Local experts helped
refine the method and used it to identify sensitive
pathways and tipping points within the system on
which to focus management.
• In their analysis of
sea level rise and
coastal flooding,
the Piscataqua
Region Estuaries
Partnership and
the Casco Bay
Estuary Partnership
relied on the technical expertise of the New
England Environmental Finance Center, based
at the University of Southern Maine, to use a
3-D visualization tool, COAST, to provide visual,
numeric, and presentation-based products to
support local adaptation planning.
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Pay attention to problems that will get worse
People are motivated when they are concerned that current problems will be heightened by
climate change.
The Piscataqua Region Estuaries
Partnership and the Casco Bay
Estuary Partnership worked
with local municipalities and
stakeholders to model the
impacts of sea level rise and storm
surge. They selected specific
locations, vulnerable assets, and
adaptation actions to model
using the COAST visualization
tool. CBEP focused on potential
damages to infrastructure, while
PREP focused on real estate
damages.
The Buzzards Bay National
Estuary Program is using LiDAR
mapping as a visual aid to educate
municipal officials and the public
about the impacts of sea level
rise, aid local decision making
in the construction of public
facilities, help set priorities for
land acquisition and protection,
and help inform local climate
change adaptation strategies.
The PREP's study of the Oyster
River watershed determined that
increasing development and
impervious surface coupled with
increasingly intense storm events
could overwhelm the existing
culvert infrastructure with large
volumes of water. PREP used the
results of the culvert assessment
and modeling to promote other
flood mitigation efforts, including
green infrastructure and low
impact development practices
to reduce stormwater runoff,
and to encourage restoration
of fish passage throughout the
watershed.
CLIMATE READY
ESTUARI ES
&EFK
o
I
V EARS
www.epa.gov/cre
EPA 841 -S-13-001
DECEMBER 2012
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