Upcoming Beach SAMP Stakeholder Meeting

Sea Level Rise and the Conservation of Salt Marshes: Issues and Opportunities for Coastal Planning in Rhode Island

DATE: Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014
TIME: 6-8 pm
LOCATION: URI Narragansett Bay Campus, Coastal Institute (Building #6 on this map http://www.gso.uri.edu/about-gso/campus-map)

TOPIC: Our coastal wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth. They are extremely important for wildlife, contributing greatly to Rhode Island’s valuable commercial and recreational fisheries, they purify water, and help reduce storm damage to our coastal areas by absorbing high wind and wave energy. Unfortunately, our coastal wetlands are very susceptible to impacts from climate change, particularly sea level rise. Projections show that RI could lose one-half of its existing coastal wetlands with three feet of sea level rise.  Join us and learn about the potential impacts to our coastal wetlands and the landward migration possibilities of these wetlands in RI’s coastal communities.

PRESENTERS:

Wenley Ferguson, Save the Bay – Current status of coastal wetlands, monitoring efforts and observations from the field on the impacts of sea level rise
Kevin Ruddock, The Nature Conservancy – Overview of Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM)
James Boyd, RI Coastal Resources Management Council – Summary of SLAMM results, including projected wetland loss/gain, statewide wetland impacts and use of SLAMM maps/data in future planning and management decisions at the state and local level
Caitlin Chaffee, RI Coastal Resources Management Council – Using SLAMM to assist in planning, policy and coastal wetland restoration efforts

Please RSVP for this event to beachSAMP@etal.uri.edu.