Coastal Resilience and Regional Adaptation
About
Extreme weather events and changes in environmental conditions, including hazards such as hurricanes, flooding, sea level rise, and wildfires, put military readiness, natural resources, communities, and working lands at risk. These serious threats to mission assurance and mission-essential functions require collaboration to successfully enhance resilience across geographical and governance boundaries.
The SERPPAS Coastal Resilience and Regional Adaptation Work Group fosters collaboration among Federal, State, and local partners to build capacity, develop plans, share resources, and implement projects that increase resilience for military installations and communities. With a specific focus on comprehensive planning and integrating natural infrastructure into the resilience strategies, the Work Group provides significant benefits to all partners and their respective missions. This increase in shared knowledge, resources, and tools will serve to better conserve and protect our people, our military installations, our lands, waters, and wildlife, our towns and cities, our forests and farms, our economic opportunity, and our quality of life.
Regional collaboration and coordination on resilience strategies will help sustain the military mission by: minimizing loss of coastal training infrastructure or interruption of operations; minimizing the potential for new coastal species placement on the endangered species list and/or critical habitat designated in the vicinity of military installations; prioritizing watershed protection for increased water supply resilience and flood mitigation; minimizing damage to storm water systems and other utilities shared between bases and communities; and increase the effectiveness of joint installation and community planning for and adapting to severe climate change impacts.
Strategic Objectives
- Continue building partnerships and capacity focused on connecting DoD installations and surrounding communities on resilience planning and actions, with an initial focus in coastal areas.
- Enhance the SERPPAS Good Map by adding resilience- related data that will help identify vulnerabilities to climate and weather-related risks as well as identify further research and data gaps needs.
- Develop plans and implement projects involving nature-based solutions, such as living shorelines, oyster reefs, and saltmarsh conservation, based on DoD and community vulnerabilities and natural and cultural resource benefits.
- Develop and share resources on authorities, funding, and tools from key federal and state agencies focused on resilience to changing environmental conditions to assist on the ground projects and identify future needs.
- Continue to explore how extreme weather and changing environmental conditions are influencing the other SERPPAS focus areas and identify opportunities to collaborate.
- Explore opportunities to evaluate and measure success of nature-based, natural infrastructure solutions in lessening vulnerabilities to climate and weather-related events impacting military installation resilience.
- Consider how best to expand and include participation of Federal, State and local partners that are focused on community resilience but have not historically been part of the SERPPAS community.
Work Group Lead
Michelle Covi is the Coastal Resilience DoD 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
Work Group Presentations
Websites
Coastal Resilience DoD Liaison Program
Federal and State Funding for Coastal Resilience in Defense Communities
REPI Resilience Primer
USACE South Atlantic Coastal Study
Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center
Defense Coastal/Estuarine Research Program (DCERP)
Gulf of Mexico Alliance
How to Consider Climate Change in Coastal Conservation
South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative
News
The U.S. Department of Defense Adapts to Climate Change - The Podcast
7/24/23
In episode 189 of America Adapts, Doug Parsons attended the U.S. Department of Defense Climate Resilience Workshop in St. Louis, Missouri. The DoD extended an invitation to Doug to conduct interviews with key leaders within the DoD and their external partners who are actively involved in adaptation planning around military installations.
Visit the SERPPAS News Archive
Grant Will Help Bolster Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort from Erosion. Here's How.
5/22/23
NOAA selected The Nature Conservancy for a $6.2 million grant to fund South Carolina coastal resilience and habitat restoration projects, a chunk of which will help Marine Corps Air station Beaufort address erosion near a housing area. The funds will be used to build oyster-castle living shorelines consisting of interlocking concrete blocks that become living reefs as oyster larvae attach to them and grow all while helping reduce wave energy and erosion along the shoreline.
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New Plan Would Save Future of 1 Million Acres of Salt Marshes Along Southeast U.S. Coast
5/16/23
U.S. military, conservationists, and community leaders embrace natural solutions to help stave off flooding and erosion with the release of the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative conservation plan.
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Plan Unveiled to Protect Future of 1 Million Acres of Salt Marsh Along U.S. South Atlantic Coast
5/16/23
A coalition of more than 300 military and government officials, community leaders, conservationists, scientists, fishermen and others today released a plan to save the future of a million-acre expanse of salt marsh stretching from North Carolina to east-central Florida.
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NCDOT nears completion on its first living shoreline project
3/23/23
The North Carolina Department of Transportation has partnered with the North Carolina Coastal Federation on a living shoreline project along the causeway between Swansboro and Cedar Point to protect N.C. 24. This living shoreline, expected to be completed this summer, is one of three being built along the causeway with the other two managed by the NC Coastal Federation. The first living shoreline was completed in July 2022 and the third will be built sometime this year. This project was pointed out to SERPPAS Principals during the mobile meeting of the 2022 Principals Meeting in Beaufort, NC.
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Sentinel Landscapes Partnership Designates South Carolina Lowcountry Sentinel Landscape in the Longleaf Pine Range and Celebrates Recent Accomplishments
3/22/23
The Sentinel Landscapes Partnership designates a new sentinel landscape in the longleaf pine range - the South Carolina Lowcountry Sentinel Landscape, releases the 2022 Sentinel Landscapes Accomplishments Report, and celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the partnership.
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Events & Webinars
- Climate-Driven Changes in Prescribed Fire in the Southeastern U.S.
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September 26, 2023
Webinar (hosted by NOAA/NIDIS) - Partnerships to Advance Climate Resilience in Sentinel Landscapes
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October 11, 2023
Webinar (hosted by REPI) - 77th Annual SEAFWA Conference
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October 15 - 18, 2023
Corpus Christi, TX - REPI Project Insights Across Regional Partnerships
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November 8, 2023
Webinar (hosted by REPI)