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 (coming soon)
News
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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Interior and Defense Departments Launch Readiness and Recreation Initiative to Preserve Green Spaces, Enhance Recreation Opportunities around Military Installations
3/21/23
America the Beautiful Challenge 2023 Request for Proposals
3/3/23
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), through anticipated cooperative agreements from the Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is pleased to announce the America the Beautiful Challenge (ATBC) 2023 Request for Proposals (RFP). The ATBC vision is to streamline grant funding opportunities for new voluntary conservation and restoration projects around the United States. This RFP consolidates funding from multiple federal agencies and the private sector to enable applicants to conceive and develop large-scale, locally led projects that address shared funder priorities spanning public and private lands. In year two of the ATBC approximately $116 million will be awarded in nationwide funding to conserve, connect and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife upon which we all depend.
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National Coastal Resilience Fund 2023 Request for Proposals
2/16/23
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) is pleased to announce the 2023 National Coastal Resilience Fund (NCRF) Request for Proposals (RFP). NFWF will make investments in planning, design, and implementation of natural and nature-based solutions. The goal is to enhance protections for coastal communities from the impacts of storms, floods, and other natural coastal hazards and to improve habitats for fish and wildlife. NFWF will award approximately $140 million in grants to create and restore natural systems to increase protection for communities from current and future coastal hazards and improve habitats for fish and wildlife species.
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2022 National Coastal Resilience Fund Recipients Announced
12/15/22
NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) today announced a record investment in projects that will help communities prepare for increasing coastal flooding and more intense storms, while improving thousands of acres of coastal habitats. The funding, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and private sector partners, provides more than $136 million to support 88 natural infrastructure projects in 29 states and U.S. territories.
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1 Million Acres of Southeast Salt Marsh Move Closer to Protection
6/9/22
Pew Charitable Trust’s published its latest blog post about the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative. The blog post provides updates on SASMI’s progress including the virtual workshop held earlier this year.
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Events
March 2023
- 2023 Catalyst Fund: Informational Webinar
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March 28, 2023
May 2023
- 2023 SERPPAS Principals Meeting
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May 18 - 19, 2023
Jacksonville, FL