Strengthening the resilience of Washington’s coastal communities through collaboration, education, and knowledge exchange

Local and Regional Resilience Initiatives

Across Washington’s shorelines, coastal resilience initiatives at the local and regional scale have paved the way for responding to and preparing for coastal hazards in clever ways. This section highlights some of these resilience initiatives.

To view a map of several projects related to these resilience initiatives, click here.

Puget Sound Parcel-Scale Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment

Desctiption:

Between 2020 and 2022, a team from Washington Sea Grant and Coastal Geologic Services developed a quantitative sea level rise vulnerability approach for coastal parcels on Puget Sound. The goals of the project were to construct, calculate, and map a sea level rise vulnerability index that:

  1. Accounts for potential impacts to both the built environment (homes, roads, and critical infrastructure) and the natural environment (coastal habitats);
  2. Uses only publicly-available data;
  3. Is based on exposure to both erosion and flooding;
  4. Provides insights about differences in vulnerability between individual parcels in Puget Sound;
  5. Enables new insights about the spatial distribution of vulnerability in Puget Sound, and helps to prioritize locations where vulnerability is highest.

    More Information: Learn more about the Puget Sound Parcel-Scale SLR VA here. 

    Resilience Action Demonstration Project (RAD)

    Desctiption:

    The Washington Coast Resilience Action Demonstration Project (RAD) was a two-year (2019-2021) partnership between the Washington State Department of Ecology and Washington Sea Grant that provided multi-organizational hazards assistance to communities on the Pacific Coast of Washington and laid the groundwork for future coastal resilience efforts.

    Funded by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, the RAD was a direct response to urgent needs voiced by coastal communities and Tribes to help them build local capacity to address coastal hazards issues while strengthening the long-term social, economic, and ecological resilience of the Pacific Coast. The RAD demonstrated how the state can help rural communities access funding opportunities and also played a key role in informing the Washington Coastal Marine Advisory Council (WCMAC) coastal resilience recommendations to the Governor in July 2021.

    More Information: Learn more about the RAD here. 

    Washington Coastal Resilience Project (WCRP)

    Desctiption:

    The Washington Coastal Resilience Project (WCRP) was a three-year (2016-2019) effort that increased the state’s capacity to prepare for natural events that threaten the coast, including sea level rise, storm surges, wave impacts, and shoreline erosion. The project team consisted of Washington Sea Grant, the Washington Department of Ecology, the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, The Nature Conservancy, and eleven additional institutional partners.

    More Information: Learn more about the WCRP here.

    Baker Bay and Grays Bay: Community-Based Coastal Resilience Action (Bay-to-Bay)

    Desctiption:

    The Baker Bay and Grays Bay: Community-Based Coastal Resilience Action (referred to as the Bay to Bay project) was a three-year (2021-2024) initiative that sought to assist locally-led efforts to reduce changing water level’s impacts on people and habitats of Baker and Grays Bay, located in the Lower Columbia River Estuary. This project focused on the Washington side of the lower Columbia, looking at current flooding and potential future sea level rise impacts, how they relate to existing issues, and how to best respond to address present and future issues simultaneously in accordance with community visions and scientific information, in order to build a resilient system.

    More Information: Learn more about the Bay-to-Bay project here. 

    Island County Sea Level Rise Strategy Study

    Desctiption:

    With the release of updated sea level rise projections for Washingtonin 2018, Island County knew they wanted to further address sea level rise in their Shoreline Master Program (SMP). Island County decided to focus heavily on education and outreach to incorporate sea level rise considerations in their SMP and other local planning efforts. The County worked with Washington Sea Grant and graduate students at the University of Washington to develop a scope of work for a sea level rise strategy study. The study provided two important tools for Island County to pursue resilience efforts through its planning department as well as other county departments: Best Practicies for Sea Level Rise Adaptation and Community-Based Resilience Planning Framework. 

    More Information: Learn more about the Island County SLR Strategy Study here. 

    Willapa Erosion Control Action Now (WECAN)

    Desctiption: The Willapa Erosion Control Action Now (WECAN) community forum was established in 2015 to provide a means of coordinating action to address the ongoing erosion issues along the north shore of Willapa Bay in Pacific County, Washington. This webpage provides information for WECAN and other interested parties on upcoming meetings and recent announcements, as well as details on ongoing and completed projects, relevant news articles and reports, and other resources.

    More Information: Learn more about WECAN here.