Nicole Faghin, Coastal Management Specialist
Kevin Decker, Coastal Economist
Nicole Faghin, Coastal Management Specialist
Nicole Faghin, Coastal Management Specialist, Ian Miller, Coastal Hazards Specialist and Sue Blake, Water Resource Educator
Kevin Decker, Coastal Economist
Preparing our communities for resilience along the coastline of Washington is a top priority of Washington Sea Grant. As the culminating product of the 3-year Washington Coastal Resilience Project (WCRP), WSG partnered with Washington Department of Ecology to create a new website for the Coastal Hazards Resilience Network (CHRN) that included a site-specific interactive “Risk Reduction Project Mapper.” The mapper offers users a way to learn about coastal hazards science, with the hopes that, through education and understanding, coastal disasters might be reduced.
Washington’s coastlines hold a plethora of economic, environmental, social, and cultural heritage benefits for our state and Tribal Nations. The state’s coastal areas are also heavily populated, thus making them vulnerable to natural hazards such as flooding, landslides and earthquakes. Climate change and rising sea levels will only compound the frequency and severity of these hazards, and far-sighted community planning and project design will be vital in facing these impacts effectively.
Another key product of the WCRP project was the sea level rise data visualizations created by WSG and the WCRP team, which produced updated probabilistic sea level rise projections for the entire coastline of Washington State. University of Washington Climate Impacts Group created a tool to visualize the projections, together the WCRP provided planners and jurisdictions with critical new tools for coastal resilience planning.
Bridget Trosin, Coastal Policy Specialist
Ecosystems, infrastructure and people will be impacted by the phenomenon of climate change and rising sea levels. The King Tides Program and community events inform coastal dwellers about twice-yearly extreme tides. Citizens’ photos of king tides are posted on the website.The website helps local communities and decision makers visualize the challenges we will face as the climate changes.
More information:
Nicole Faghin, Coastal Management Specialist
With climate change comes impacts to our coastlines from storm surges and rising sea levels. Planning for climate change is an important priority for Washington’s coastal communities. For professionals planning ahead to address sea level rise, WSG specialists offer a course through the Coastal Training Program.
Course materials include adaptation tools and methods, flood impact and risk-reduction planning, climate-change and sea-level-rise communication strategies and inundation mapping strategies. Courses are taught in conjunction with NOAA’s Office of Coastal Management.
Contact Nicole Faghin at faghin@uw.edu.
Melissa Poe, Social Scientist
Key initiatives include surveys, focus groups and participatory risk assessments with several Washington communities whose wellbeing is tied to marine resources. Information about social and cultural variables such as food security, cultural practices, livelihoods and a community’s sense of place help to identify anticipated and cumulative threats.
Carrie Garrison-Laney, Coastal Hazards Specialist
Ian Miller, Coastal Hazards Specialist
WSG has teamed with state and federal agencies working at the forefront of tsunami research and outreach to help prepare Washington coastal communities for the next tsunami. Washington is vulnerable to tsunamis from both local and distant earthquakes, and there is geologic evidence for past tsunamis in many Washington locations. Because of this, tsunami hazard awareness and planning is a number one priority for community resiliency. WSG’s coastal hazard experts Ian Miller and Carrie Garrison-Laney collaborate with state and county emergency managers and maritime groups around the state and give public presentations focused on education and preparation.