Thought this might be useful for the GIS crowd too

 

 

Meg McGaffin

GIS Analyst

City of Milford CT

70 West River St

Milford, CT 06460

[log in to unmask]

203-783-3393

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greetings,

 

Connecticut has now become the first state in the nation to complete a future salt marsh assessment down to the parcel scale for its entire coastline!  After developing a salt marsh advancement model with the University of Connecticut (Hoover et al. 2010), The Nature Conservancy’s Coastal Resilience Team in Connecticut has just finished a Salt Marsh Advancement Zone Assessment for all 24 coastal municipalities along Connecticut’s coastline.  Never before have we collectively had such detailed, parcel-scale information specifically designed to provide decision makers and stakeholders with the following:

 

• Where and how much salt marsh advancement occurs on existing open space (refuges, parks, preserves, etc.) and will require progressive management (green);

 

• Where and how much salt marsh advancement occurs on currently unprotected and undeveloped parcels (green);

 

• Where and how much conflict there will likely be in the future between the existing built environment (roads, airports, schools, neighborhoods, businesses, etc.) and daily tides (red).

 

 

Why is it so important to have parcel-scale results for salt marsh advancement zones?  Ultimately, that is the scale at which land use decisions and policy implications are and will be realized.  Our hope is that this information will help to add more specificity to the overall goal of building community resilience along Connecticut’s coast (see blog for further detail - “How Resilient Coastlines Build Safer Communities”). 

 

To access the Salt Marsh Advancement Zone Assessments for your community please click here and scroll down.  Hard copies of these reports are available upon request. 

 

To review the Salt Marsh Advancement Zones along with a comprehensive suite of ecological and socio-economic data please link directly to the Coastal Resilience Tool for Connecticut.  Please take a minute to watch a 1-minute tutorial to help guide you through the “Future Habitat” and “Community Planning” Applications once on the Coastal Resilience Tool.

 

We owe a great deal of respect and gratitude to friends and colleagues that provided information and local knowledge to help turn this dream into a reality.

 

Best,

 

Adam Whelchel and Amanda Ryan

 

Please consider the environment before printing this email

Adam Whelchel, Ph.D. Director of Science [log in to unmask] (203) 568-6296 (Phone) (860) 970-8442 (Mobile) (203) 568-6271 (Fax)   nature.org/connecticut

The Nature Conservancy Connecticut Chapter 55 Church Street, Floor 3 New Haven, CT 06510

 

 

 

 

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