Building Resilience to Challenges and Disruptions

Sea-level has risen over 6 inches in the past 20 years on the Mississippi and Alabama coast. This rate is accelerating and outpacing sea-level rise (SLR) in most other places in the country, making it a concern to our communities. Through funding from the NASEM Gulf Research Program, three teams are working to research the drivers of this acceleration in our region. This will include updated sea level rise projections to better reflect the observed acceleration in SLR. In order to disseminate these results to stakeholders, our team is working to translate these research findings to provide the information needed by local decision makers and create a digital tool to share this information. This comprehensive extension project works with these researchers to ensure fidelity to the science but ensure uptake and usability by non-technical potential end users. 
This presentation will provide an overview of local SLR science and the gaps this research aims to address so that audience members will have a better understanding of the current state of SLR knowledge in our region. Then we will provide an overview of our approach to the creation of this tool through iterative co-production with scientists and extension professionals, the types of information we expect to provide to decision makers through this project, how we anticipate this information can be used in local communities and an overview of the timeline for this project. We will also share how stakeholders can provide feedback and insight into their needs for SLR related information to our project team. From this presentation attendees should understand new SLR tools and information that will be available when this project is complete. 

Understanding accurate water levels are critical for a broad range of project types from ecosystem restoration to waterfront development. This presentation will highlight a broad overview of available water level information, tools, and analyses, including long-term datasets, predictions, tidal datums and offsets, storm surge scenarios, and the impacts of future Sea Level Rise projections. The importance of present and future water level conditions will be discussed as it relates to planning, design, performance, and adaptation of new projects and existing systems. Examples of data from coastal Mississippi will be included. Topics include marsh migration, engineering design water level scenarios, potential pitfalls, adaptation strategies, and more.

The forest sector in the U.S. southern coastal states faces increasing challenges due to sea level rise (SLR) and extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, storm surge, and high tide flooding. However, despite these threats, it is insufficiently understood how they might affect forestry infrastructure and the overall availability of timber for wood-processing mills, which hinders effective mitigation strategies and resilience-building efforts. 
This study addresses the urgent need to respond to the potential consequences of SLR on wood-processing coastal mills. Interactive tools and applications were developed using Geographic Information System technology to identify vulnerable mill locations, analyze transportation networks, and assess the SLR impacts on timber availability within 25-, 50-, and 75-mile timber hauling distances in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Transportation network analyses were conducted to determine the effects of SLR on timber procurement zones by incorporating trucking transportation routes and distances, trucking time, bridges, and regional SLR scenarios projected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Inaccessible road segments were incorporated as barriers to assess potential SLR impacts on coastal mills and timber availability for procurement and/or salvage. 
The findings, disseminated through interactive online tools, including story maps and dashboards, are designed to help decision-makers develop strategies to forecast and mitigate SLR's negative impacts on the coastal forest sector. These strategies include optimizing timber hauling routes to reduce transportation costs and identifying resilient locations for new mills and bioenergy facilities. This presentation showcases the key steps in transportation network analyses using publicly available coastal datasets. The developed geospatial workflow can be adapted for other economic sectors and coastal facilities. Our goal is to provide vulnerable coastal communities with the tools needed to enhance their resilience to SLR and other coastal challenges.

Community's RISE is a multifaceted project which focuses on enhancing community resilience to sea-level rise in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Sea-level rise is projected to disproportionately impact coastal communities and residents throughout Northern Gulf of Mexico however many coastal residents and decision-makers often lack education and information about sea-level rise and how we can become more resilient to these changing conditions. This project increases understanding of sea-level rise and resilience within coastal communities by utilizing multiple outreach and education methods designed to target specific audiences within a community. This project also evaluates the effectiveness of various types of sea-level rise education and outreach.


Community's RISE includes three focal project areas designed to engage different audiences in sea-level rise science and resilience. Educator workshops prepare teachers and their students with curriculum and lessons designed to inform students about what sea-level rise is and how it affects them. Community Connection Dialogues connect engaged residents with municipal officials who are actively working on addressing sea-level rise and flooding to increase community participation and understanding of ongoing resilience projects. Pop-Ins increase participation from previously unengaged community members by using fun games and activities to familiarize residents about the concept of sea-level rise. Collectively, these three distinct types of sea-level rise education and outreach will enable students, teachers, residents, decision-makers, communities, and municipalities to understand sea-level rise and how to prepare for current and future flood risks.