Technical Note
Coastal Resiliency Considerations for America’s Four Coasts: Preparing for 2100
Ram Mohan and Thomas Herrington
With rising seas come several challenges for our coastlines, including the need to maintain waterways, ports, and harbors; military and infrastructure resiliency; and the protection of valuable coastal ecosystems. This technical note examines coastal resiliency needs and challenges along America’s four coasts – Great Lakes, East, Gulf and West coasts, with a review of select case studies. Latest tools for resiliency and adaptation planning are reviewed and presented. Undoubtedly, there is a need for regulation to promote beneficial use of dredged sediments to improve coastal resiliency, including, but not limited to, aligning navigational dredging schedules with coastal protection needs. Permitting of these projects can be challenging as projects are typically reviewed by regulatory agencies as “disposal” or “placement” projects, as opposed to ecosystem restoration projects, which provide a distinct ecological uplift benefit. Quantification of benefits resulting from resiliency projects continues to be an area that needs more analytical tools and project data. The paper concludes with a discussion of future directions, including areas of additional research, and data gaps.
Keywords: Coastal resiliency, coastal protection, ecosystem restoration, natural and nature-based features, engineering with nature, beneficial use