Coastal Resilience and Regional Adaptation
About
Coastal areas in the Southeast offer unique training and testing opportunities, provide critical access to the ocean for military operations and are also increasingly vulnerable to coastal hazards due to rising sea levels, frequent and intense storms, and shoreline erosion. Other challenges, such as drought, flooding, and extreme temperatures, connect across watersheds from inland to the coast throughout the region. These hazards are amplified when incompatible land uses such as urbanization are rapidly spreading across the landscape. To address these interconnected threats, the Coastal Resilience & Regional Adaptation Work Group (CRRAWG) fosters collaboration among partners to build capacity, develop plans, share resources, and implement projects that increase resilience across the defense landscape. By advancing regional solutions, CRRAWG helps safeguard critical infrastructure, sustain operational capabilities, and ensure long-term access to mission-essential coastal environments.
Strategic Objectives
- Advance partnerships and capacity for joint installation and community planning to strengthen military readiness and resilience to natural hazards and address resource management challenges.
- Explore how weather-related events and changing environmental conditions are influencing threats to military readiness and identify opportunities to collaborate across the SERPPAS network.
- Assist in the improvement and use of geospatial tools that can advance military readiness and community resilience planning and actions.
- Support the development, implementation, and evaluation of nature-based solutions for installation resilience projects benefiting military missions and communities in the southeast.
- Facilitate the advancement of regulatory efficiency and consistencies for community-based projects that benefit military installations and missions.
- Advance the goals of the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI) and the Marsh Forward Plan.
Work Group Lead
Michelle Covi is the Coastal Resilience Liaison at University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant working regionally in the Southeast to connect Sea Grant programs with military community coastal resilience projects through a partnership with SERPPAS and the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program.
Michelle comes to Georgia after six years as a coastal resilience lead in the Virginia Sea Grant extension program with Old Dominion University and six years with a coastal hazards center at East Carolina University where she also completed her Ph.D. in Coastal Resources Management. Michelle is a UGA alumna, having received her master’s degree in zoology (marine science) after completing research at the UGA Marine Institute. She lives on her husband’s family farm in Hartwell, Georgia, just a couple of miles from the Savannah River
Resources
Documents
Websites
South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative
Sea Grant-REPI Coastal Resilience Liaison Program
Resources and Tools for Coastal Resilience in Southeast Defense Communities
REPI 101 Primer
USACE South Atlantic Coastal Study
Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center
Gulf of America Alliance
NOAA Sea Level Rise Viewer
NOAA Coastal Resilience and Restoration
NCICS-Precipitation Frequency
Podcast - Shore Up the Defense: Coastal Science Goes Tactical!
News
See How The Southern Forest Network Connects
10/1/26
Keeping Forests has created a Network Explorer interactive map for partners from their 2023 Social Network Analysis (SNA) data. Keeping Forests asked 80 of its partner organizations to describe how they collaborate, critical issues driving their work, and the most available and needed resources to create impact.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Ecological Transformations of Coastal Wetlands of the Conterminous United States in Response to Contemporaneous Sea-Level Rise
8/3/26
A new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey examines how coastal wetlands across the contiguous United States are responding to rising sea levels. Researchers analyzed hundreds of wetland sites to understand where wetlands are keeping pace with sea-level rise and where they may be at greater risk of submergence and loss. The findings can help inform coastal conservation, restoration, and management efforts.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Mangrove Presence is Associated with Lower Rates of Coastal Wetland Loss at Marsh-Mangrove Ecotone
7/5/26
A new study from multiple universities assesses the main drivers of wetland loss in northeast Florida. To examine the drivers of wetland loss in northeast Florida, researchers performed a land use change detection analysis using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and examined the role of distance to shore, mangrove presence, and boat wake energy on marsh-to-water conversions.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
North American Wetlands Conservation
6/1/26
The Department of the Interior announced $44.79 million in funding for the North America Wetlands Conservation Act, approved by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission. This funding enables USFWS and its partners to conserve, restore, or enhance 185,203 acres of vital wetland and upland habitat for migratory birds across the country.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI) State Roadmaps
5/1/26
The South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI) released State Road Maps to identify and prioritize the objectives, actions, focus areas, pathways, and partners needed to implement the regional SASMI plan at the state level. Implementation teams are led by a state-based organization and comprised of local, state, and federal partners who work with communities and key stakeholder groups to develop action-oriented roadmaps for SASMI’s four-state region.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
The North Carolina Artificial Reef Program
5/1/26
The North Carolina Artificial Reef Program completed two major reef enhancements in Morehead City at offshore reefs off Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke during May 2026. The reefs, designated AR230 and AR-250, each received approximately 1,500 tons of recycled concrete pipe and boxes that are on the seafloor, creating new habitat and improving public recreation opportunities off the Outer Banks.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Events & Webinars
- Assessing the Effectiveness of Total Water Level Visualizations and Compound Flood Products
-
October 9, 2026
Virtual - Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) Short Course
-
October 13 - November 12, 2026
Virtual - Informational Webinar for: NOAA 2026 Federal Opportunity for Advancing Coastal Flood Protection
-
October 20, 2026
Virtual - Link coming soon - 13th U.S. Symposium on Harmful Algae
-
October 25 - 29, 2026
Cedar Rapids, IA - 80th Annual SEAFWA Conference
-
October 26 - 30, 2026
Nashville, TN - 16th Biennial Longleaf Conference
-
October 27 - 30, 2026
Williamsburg, VA - 2026 S.C. Marine Educators Association Conference
-
November 6 - 8, 2026
Charleston, SC - 2026 Gulf Resilience Community of Practice Annual Meeting
-
November 16 - 18, 2026
Beaumont, TX - North Carolina Coastal Conference
-
November 17 - 18, 2026
Chapel Hill, NC