Washington state’s Department of Ecology and Washington Sea Grant collaborated with partners to  launch a new Coastal Hazards Resilience Network (CHRN) website. The portal provides a pathway to avoiding disasters by orienting users to coastal hazards science, providing examples of how communities across Washington are responding, and offering connections to important resources and people who can provide assistance. 

Why is it important to understand coastal hazards?

Washington’s marine shorelines provide a wealth of economic, environmental, social, and cultural heritage benefits for our state and Tribal Nations.

Yet, the state’s coastal areas are heavily populated and inherently vulnerable to dynamic coastal processes, which cause natural hazards such as:

• Flooding (coastal & riverine)
• Erosion and deposition
• Landslides
• Earthquakes
• Tsunamis

Climate change and rising sea levels will magnify the frequency and severity of  coastal hazards. These expected changes threaten coastal infrastructure, public access to beaches and parks, damage commercial, residential and industrial areas, reduce natural resource production, and have consequences on the environment. Forward thinking  community planning and project design will help avoid and prepare for these impacts.

What role does the CHRN play?

Established in 2013, Washington’s Coastal Hazards Resilience Network serves as a resource for strengthening the resilience of Washington’s coastal communities through collaboration, education, and knowledge exchange. The CHRN is a community of practice, comprised of over 100 members from local and Tribal governments, state and federal agencies, private and nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions. CHRN seeks to improve regional coordination and integration while using effective partnerships to provide the resources needed to move from information to resilience action.

Featured tools of the new website

Coastal Hazards Risk Reduction Project Mapper

The interactive Mapper makes  regional risk reduction examples readily available, which will help potential projects succeed. We hope that these case studies and lessons learned will answer questions about your project, building a network of people supporting resilient coastal communities and ecosystems.

Sea level rise data visualizations

In 2018, CHRN members produced updated probabilistic sea level rise projections for the entire coastline of Washington State. Our partners at the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group (CIG) created a tool to visualize these sea level rise projections. By using this tool (available on both CHRN and CIG’s website), you can visualize how sea levels may change over time, and get explanations of what the datasets mean. Then, the CHRN website’s tools to learn where and how future water levels may impact your location. 

Get involved in the network!

Interested in joining the Coastal Hazards Resilience Network? It’s simple, we invite more participation!

Just send us an email at wacoastalnetwork@gmail.com