Photo credit: Sanpisa Sritrairat

Coastal Hazards Organizational Resilience Team (COHORT)

Need help with a coastal hazard issue or want to connect with the team? Fill out our survey form by hitting the button above and we’ll get back to you shortly.

You are also welcome to contact COHORT staff directly. Their email addresses are listed at the bottom of this page.

The goal of the COHORT is to strengthen the hazards resilience efforts of coastal communities and Tribes by enhancing local capacity. In particular, the COHORT provides targeted support for vulnerable, underserved, and Tribal populations.

The COHORT does this by:

1. Engaging with community and Tribal leaders, staff, residents, and visitors to understand local resilience needs, priorities, and challenges across Washington’s diverse coastlines and using this information to continually adapt and improve the state’s coastal resilience efforts. 

2. Educating and providing information and technical assistance related to coastal natural hazards, climate change adaptation, and other topics related to community and ecological resilience. 

3. Spearheading the sharing of information, supporting new collaborations, coordinating across agencies, and building partnerships that span different sectors, jurisdictions, and geographic scales. 

4. Connecting local project proponents with federal and state funding to support projects, programs, and research that build local capacity, address coastal hazards risks, and create additional benefits for communities, economies, and the environment. 

5. Bolstering local capacity through targeted project support for locally led resilience efforts, with a focus on supporting Tribal and community driven processes to identify and advance resilience priorities.  

The COHORT was established in 2023 as a direct response to coastal communities’ request for the state to help address the growing severity of natural hazards, which include flooding, erosion, sea level rise, landslides, and a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami event.

In 2016-17, the William D. Ruckelshaus Center conducted the Washington State Coast Resilience Assessment, which explored long-term resilience opportunities in response to growing concerns about the impacts to Tribes, coastal communities, infrastructure, and the natural environment from coastal hazards. Washington faces severe and costly damage to life and property from coastal hazards and climate change. Many communities and Tribes facing the biggest impacts are overburdened and underserved and may not have the resources to undertake large-scale resilience projects or capacity building activities. Competing for and managing federal and state grants can also pose significant challenges for communities whose staff are already stretched thin.

A conclusive finding was that the state has a responsibility to help address this resource gap for vulnerable and underserved populations across the Pacific Coast, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound. The COHORT builds upon the work of the Resilience Action Demonstration (RAD) Project, which piloted the COHORT concept between 2019-2021. After the initial success of the RAD, and with support from the Washington Coastal Marine Advisory Council (WCMAC), the Department of Ecology requested funding to create the COHORT, which was approved by the Washington State Legislature in 2023.

The COHORT member agencies were identified by communities as four initial entities that have the interest, expertise, mission, and capacity to provide integration and elevation of coastal resilience efforts. Additional agencies and organizations collaborate and coordinate with the COHORT to support this work.