Responding to Our Changing Shorelines

This week, the habitat restoration team has been at work on projects that will help create resilient shorelines along the Bay. In Warwick, we have been removing pavement at the ends of roads where they dead-end on the shoreline. Many of these roads were damaged during recent storms, or are under water at very high tides. The pavement was located in areas that would otherwise be wetland, and they provide important public access points to the shoreline. We have been able to preserve the public access paths while creating an area for stormwater to infiltrate and for plants to grow. See this article in the Warwick Beacon.

These projects are part of a larger effort for Save The Bay and the Coastal Resources Management Council to adapt to rising sea levels and coastal flooding. As our shorelines retreat, removing infrastructure from harm's way is an important way to save money and protect the public. We are also helping salt marsh to remain and transition to new areas.

Another project has been taking place at King's Park in Newport. This pubic beach has also been eroding as sea level rises, and the park often floods during high tides and storms. Natural erosion control is being created with sand filled coconut fiber envelopes that protect the shoreline. This low-lying area of Newport, near Wellington Avenue often floods when water backs up through the storm drains and into the neighborhoods. This article in Newport This Week helps to explain the project.

Stillhouse Cove in Cranston gets an Adaptive Makeover

In case you missed it, last week was National Estuaries Week. We kicked off the week with our annual Beach Slam at Goddard Memorial State Park, and continued with the christening of our new education vessel the Elizabeth Morris. The habitat restoration staff was also in full swing with a project at Stillhouse Cove in Cranston. This small park north of Pawtuxet Village is the site of one of our recent salt marsh restoration projects were we cleared tidal creeks to allow fresh water to drain from the upper marsh.

This most recent project helps to address erosion issues at the upland edge of the marsh where it meets the bluff. Wave action and storm damage had caused the bluff to become eroded and undercut, threatening the loss of portions of the park. The steep bluff was graded to a more dissipated slope, and soil lifts or "burritos" as they are sometimes called, were installed to support the bank and new vegetation.

This project was part of our work to identify opportunities to protect shorelines naturally and help create a more resilient coastline. As sea level rises, it will be important to create places where wave energy can be dissipated and where shorelines can adapt to changes. The newly graded area will be planted and will support habitat values while protecting the shoreline.

It might be a long winter for coastal homeowners

I am in West Virginia for a conference and have been watching storm footage from the Mid-Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay this week. This video from Nag's Head North Carolina shows that we should pay attention to Nor'Easters just as much as hurricanes. Extra-tropical storms often last for several days and occur over several tidal cycles, allowing waves to chew away at the coast as storm surge penetrates further inland. Hurricanes are few and far between in New England, but extra-tropical lows are a yearly occurance. We tend to think first of the destructive power of hurricanes which have often accelerated and have weakened by the time they reach us. This power is concentrated, but occurs over hours rather than days.

The Mid-Atlantic coast is now facing a winter with no sand reserve on their beaches to buffer further winter storm damage. What little sand has accumulated over the summer or has been replaced through nourishment is largely gone. Rows of houses have been lost, and the season has just begun. Millions of dollars of renourished sand has gone offshore (some of which will return with time). Estuaries, such as the Chesapeake and Narragansett Bay funnel wind driven water into their upper watersheds causing erosion of salt marsh and floodplains - problems not only for ocean facing beaches, but for rivers and coves as well.

Rhode Island needs to position itself to withstand prolonged winter storm events. Our work to protect and restore salt marsh and coastal buffers is incredibly important. We are also developing a living shorelines policy for Rhode Island to create buffers where shorelines have already been structurally hardened. We need room to retreat, but we also need to soften our edges. Look for more soon about our new program and read about living shorelines on this NOAA web page, and on this page from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.