The University of Rhode Island has been awarded $870,000 in funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) for data gathering to build upon the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council’s (CRMC) Shoreline Change (Beach) Special Area Management Plan (SAMP).
U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) announced the funding, which will also include $3.25 million toward the habitat restoration and coastal resilience work in the state’s salt ponds, $400,000 toward pilot projects in Newport, North Kingstown and Warwick studying coastal community resilience planning, and six other related projects throughout the state.
“As climate change, sea-level-rise, and coastal storms continue to change our coastline, we need a sense of the impacts and a long-range plan to adapt,” Reed said. “ URI and CRMC have been at the forefront of developing a Shoreline Change Special Area Management Plan (Beach SAMP) that will provide science-based policies and planning tools to improve the state’s coastal resiliency. This project will bolster the effort, enhance coastal resiliency in the state, and provide as model for coastal areas nationwide.”
URI’s coastal resiliency project will inform and build upon the ongoing efforts of the Beach SAMP, and will allow the SAMP team to start a detailed baseline characterization of Rhode Island’s south shore. The funding will also go toward the continued study of the conditions along the state’s shoreline, which will ultimately result in CRMC policies on how to best plan for and manage the state’s response to sea level rise and unprecedented changes in climate.
The state will also provide a $358,622 match.
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Press Release, June 18, 2014