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
State Roadmaps Released by the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI)
4/1/26
Implementation teams led by a state-based organization and comprised of local, state, and federal partners worked together with communities and key stakeholder groups to develop action-oriented roadmaps for each of the SASMI states.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
NOAA Coastal Risk Finder
3/31/26
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a Coastal Risk Finder tool that allows users to customize their sea level rise and coastal flood scenarios to learn who and what is at risk.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Conserving Iconic Coastal Habitat In South Carolina’s Grand Strand
3/31/26
South Carolina will gain a new state park and heritage preserve thanks to a $4 million NOAA grant. The South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism used the award to purchase 107 acres of critical coastal habitat near the Little River and Atlantic Ocean, safeguarding undeveloped carrier island, salt marsh, and maritime forest ecosystems.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program released its 2026 Report to Congress
3/20/26
The Department of War’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program released its 2026 Report to Congress, highlighting two decades of protecting mission-critical capabilities. From FY 2003–FY 2025, REPI leveraged $1.7 billion, alongside $1.5 billion in partner contributions, to safeguard more than 1.4 million acres across 41 states and territories.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
New Mapping Tool Can Help South Carolina Prepare for Sea-Level Rise
2/10/26
A new interactive mapping tool is empowering South Carolina’s coastal communities to visualize how salt marshes may shift inland as sea levels rise, enabling more informed planning for climate impacts.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
National Coastal Resilience Fund
1/1/26
NFWF is funding two projects in the Northwest Florida Sentinel Landscape through its National Coastal Resilience Fund. Pensacola and Perdido Bays Estuary Program was awarded $1.38 million for final design and permitting of a major stream restoration on Carpenter Creek.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Events & Webinars
- Georgia Association of Conservation Districts (GACD) Annual Meeting
-
August 23 - 25, 2026
Young Harris, GA - Restore America's Estuaries 2026 Coastal & Estuarine Summit
-
September 22 - 25, 2026
San Francisco, CA - 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 - North Carolina Coastal Conference
-
November 17 - 18, 2026
Chapel Hill, NC
SERPPAS Meetings
August 2026
- Fall 2026 SERPPAS Steering Committee Meeting
-
August 19 - 20, 2026
Atlanta, GA