SAVE THE DATE! 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

TOPIC: 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.  These habitats 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 they help reduce storm damage to our valuable coastal areas by absorbing high wind and wave energy. The panel will share concerns related to today’s coastal wetlands and the future potential impacts resulting from sea level rise.  Opportunities for conserving coastal wetlands and the possibilities for landward migration to maintain these critical features of 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 if you plan on attending to beachSAMP@etal.uri.edu.