CRMC Climate Change
Adaptation Actions
James Boyd
Climate change is making itself known
around the globe in numerous manifestations. Warming oceans, rising sea levels,
ocean acidification, extended heat waves
and droughts, and abnormally heavy precipitation with extended duration are creating
floods of historic magnitudes, among other
climate induced changes. From a coastal
zone management perspective, perhaps no
other factor associated with climate change
is more problematic than sea level rise and
its impacts along the coastline. The Rhode
Island Coastal Resources Management
Council (CRMC) continues to be concerned
about the impacts that climate change and
sea level rise are having on our coastal communities and has taken actions to address
this issue.
Rhode Island and other coastal areas face
huge challenges in adapting to sea level rise
in the coming years. Climate change and Damage at Carpenter’s Beach, Matunuck from Super Storm Sandy. Photo: James Boyd.
sea level rise will profoundly change the
shoreline we know today. Sea level has already risen nearly confirms these earlier findings for sea level rise projections.
10 inches at the Newport, RI tide station since 1930 and is Dr. Jon Boothroyd, a coastal geologist at the University of
projected to be over three feet by 2100. Inland areas that used Rhode Island, has been on the forefront of monitoring sea
to be flooded only on rare occasions are now being flooded level rise in R.I. and has worked closely with the CRMC in
more regularly on the monthly high tides as a result of helping to provide the scientific information needed to plan
increasing sea levels. Coastal storms and their storm surges for future changes in the coastline and address shoreline eroare now impacting more properties because rising sea levels sion, especially along our beaches.
In addition to its adoption of the Climate Change and Sea
allow flooding to reach farther inland. In addition, coastal
shorelines are rapidly changing with increased erosion due Level Rise policy, the CRMC has been actively engaged in
to sea level rise. Beaches are retreating inland exposing resi- numerous committees and workgroups to assist in the State’s
dential and commercial properties and public infrastructure effort to confront climate change and develop an adaptation
like roads, waterlines and sewer pump stations to more action plan. As part of the General Assembly’s formation of
potential damage. The terms shoreline erosion, sea level rise the Climate Change Commission in 2011, the CRMC serves
and coastal flooding are now much more on the minds of our on two of its subcommittees; Natural Resources and Habitat,
State’s citizens, especially following the devastating impacts and Key Infrastructure and Built Environment. CRMC staff
members, along with other state agencies and entities, are
of Super Storm Sandy this past October.
The CRMC adopted its Climate Change and Sea Level Rise assisting these subcommittees of the Commission to develop
policy as part of Section 145 of the R.I. Coastal Resources reports and baseline conditions data. Eventually the work
Management Plan (RICRMP) in January 2008. The policy of these subcommittees will be used by the Commission to
specifies that the CRMC will implement climate change generate a state-wide adaption action plan. The work of the
throughout the RICRMP, where appropriate, to prepare the Climate Change Commission will also provide key inforState in its adaptation efforts and help to develop coastal mation to the CRMC to incorporate into the state coastal
resiliency. The findings within Section 145 indicate that, management program.
The CRMC, working with partners at the URI Coastal
based on scientific observations and modeling, we can
expect an increase in sea level of between three and five feet Resources Center/RI Sea Grant, the URI Environmental
by the end of this century. More recent scientific information Data Center and Department of Geosciences, the Statewide
Narragansett Bay Journal
www.nbep.org
Spring 2013
1
Planning Program and The Nature Conservancy, developed
a pilot project in 2011 with the Town of North Kingstown to
evaluate sea level rise impacts and vulnerability of coastal
properties and public infrastructure as well as salt marsh
migration. The project resulted in the development of an
online state-wide digital elevation model using a compilation
of existing light detection and radar (LiDAR) datasets and a
bathtub model for sea level rise scenarios of 1, 3 and 5 feet,
along with the 1938 hurricane surge. In addition, saltmarsh
migration was assessed under these scenarios using the Sea
Levels Affecting Marsh Migration, or SLAMM, model. All
these mapping products are available on the RI Sea Grant
webpage: seagrant.gso.uri.edu/coast/slr_tools. More importantly, this information is helping North Kingstown better
prepare for the future by using the information to plan
future public infrastructure improvements and public safety
measures.
Based on the success of the North Kingstown pilot project,
the CRMC applied for and received in August 2012 a National
Ocean Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant under
the Coastal Ocean Climate Adaption program. This NOAA
grant is funding a collaborative effort between the CRMC,
URI Coastal Resources Center/RI Sea Grant, The Nature
Conservancy and the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine
Research Reserve to evaluate sea level rise impacts to coastal
marshes for all of the State’s 21 coastal communities. The
information developed from this new effort will assist the
state and local communities in planning to protect important natural resource and economic assets.
The CRMC adopted Shoreline Change maps in 2007.
These maps are aerial photographs with erosion rates provided along shoreline segments at 100 meter intervals and
cover the entire Rhode Island shoreline, with the exception
of Block Island. Block Island, however, will be added in the
near future. The maps are available on the CRMC website
at: www.crmc.ri.gov/maps/maps_shorechange. This work
was completed by Dr. Boothroyd and a graduate student,
Rachel Hehre, to show how the shoreline has changed since
1939. In the last decade serious coastal erosion has occurred
along some shoreline areas. Most noticeably and recently
in the news is the erosion problem evident along the Matunuck shoreline in South Kingstown. The headland beach has
eroded so severely that commercial and residential structures,
along with a segment of Matunuck Beach Road, are threatened by undermining and are in danger of toppling into the
ocean. During Super Storm Sandy, several cottages at nearby
Carpenter’s Beach washed out into the ocean, while many
more cottages were damaged by storm surge and pounding
waves. A plan has been prepared to move the front two rows
of cottages back into the upland area of the property and
create more beachfront as a storm buffer. The Town of South
Kingstown is also planning to move its current beach facility
An example of coastal marsh migration with 3-feet of sea level rise in Wickford Cove, North Kingstown. Map: James Boyd.
Narragansett Bay Journal
www.nbep.org
Spring 2013
2
in Matunuck to a more inland location to minimize its risk
to storm damage. These are examples of adaptation efforts to
reduce vulnerability to sea level rise.
The CRMC has developed draft Experimental Coastal Erosion Control regulations that will provide property owners in
limited areas of Matunuck and Misquamicut to install experimental techniques on a temporary basis to evaluate their
effectiveness at reducing shoreline erosion. A public workshop has been scheduled for early March to provide public
input on the draft regulations, which are expected to be
adopted this spring. Concurrently, the CRMC is working on
a longer-term solution by embarking on a new Special Area
Management Plan (SAMP). It will be called the Shoreline
Change (Beach) SAMP with a public informational meeting
to be scheduled soon. The initial work of the Beach SAMP
will provide the scientific data and information necessary to
develop state policies for addressing coastal erosion throughout the State, especially along our vulnerable south shore
and Block Island. The Beach SAMP will evaluate coastal
inundation as a result of sea level rise and storms, shoreline
erosion, and recommendations and methods to address these
impacts. Difficult and costly decisions will have to be made.
Beach nourishment, retreat and in some cases fortification
with structural protection will be balanced with protecting
public and private investments, the public’s right to access
the shoreline, and our important coastal resources.
In addition to the efforts described above, the CRMC has
been working with numerous partners on other climate
change initiatives, as follows:
•RI Flood Awareness Climate Change Taskforce (RIFACCT) –
Informal workgroup convened in 2009 consisting of the
State Building Commissioner, the RIEMA State Floodplain
Coordinator, RI Flood Mitigation Association, CRMC and
the URI Coastal Resources Center/RI Sea Grant to facilitate
the adoption of ASCE 24-05 and the inclusion of Coastal A
zones into the RI State Building Code, and to educate the
building trade practitioners and municipal officials. See:
www.riema.ri.gov/prevention/floods/FACCT.
•RI StormSmart Coasts – CRMC has worked with partners
to helping RI decision makers in coastal communities
address the challenges of storms, flooding, sea level rise,
and climate change. Gives coastal decision makers a definitive place to find and share resilience-related resources
and provides tools for collaboration. RI network promotes
exchange among RI coastal decision makers to connect and
collaborate. See: ri.stormsmart.org. Supported by NOAA,
EPA, Northeast Regional Ocean Council, RI Sea Grant,
CRMC, and RIEMA.
•Development of a Living Shorelines Program – CRMC
and Save The Bay are researching alternatives to hardened
shorelines to provide salt marsh habitat, identify important
buffer zone and setback areas for variance restrictions.
•Aquaculture – CRMC collaborating with DEM, Department of Health, URI and RWU to develop initiatives to
Narragansett Bay Journal
assess climate change impacts through shellfish disease
monitoring, temperature monitoring for coastal pond
aquaculture sites, and through the Biosecurity Board in
managing shellfish movement to control the spread of
shellfish disease within the state.
•Northeast Regional Ocean Council – CRMC participating
in climate change adaptation and coastal hazards resilience
issues to provide opportunities for regional collaboration
and exchange. See: collaborate.csc.noaa.gov/nroc/hazards.
•Watershed Counts – CRMC collaborating with many other
state agencies agencies and organizations contributing to
activities to support climate change indicators and annual
assessment report. See: www.watershedcounts.org.
The forthcoming Shoreline Change (Beach) SAMP will
be another effort led by the CRMC that will be focused on
obtaining the scientific data and information necessary to
support sound policy decisions to address coastal erosion
and inundation problems. Using a similar approach as was
used in developing the Ocean SAMP, we expect this new
effort will again become a national model for dealing with
coastal zone management issues, in this case the adaptation
to climate change-induced impacts along our shoreline. The
CRMC, working with the many involved state agencies and
other partner groups, will help to keep the public and decision-makers informed on sea level rise and coastal erosion
issues, especially as conditions change with time. We will
also provide updates and engage the public on adaptation
efforts being pursued to address the many challenges that
face us in the coming decades.
~James Boyd is a coastal policy analyst at the Rhode Island Coastal Resources
Management Council.
Volunteers from Roger Williams University’s Osyter Gardening for Restoration and Enhancement program (ORGE) release osyters in Town Pond in
Portsmouth, R.I. Photo: Lesley Lambert.
www.nbep.org
Spring 2013
3