Partnership-Building and Identification of Collaborative Marsh Adaptation Projects
The Chesapeake Bay Program Climate Resiliency Workgroup hosted a one-day virtual workshop for more than 80 participants on January 19 to prioritize marsh adaptation projects that support coastal resilience, fish and wildlife habitat, and vulnerable communities in Virginia’s Middle Peninsula and Maryland’s Wicomico River areas. A workshop summary will be available in April. In the meantime, feel free to explore the pre-workshop materials, resources, and Draft Marsh Mapper.
Pre-workshop Materials
This workshop is the culmination of a Tidal Marsh Adaptation Project, which aims to prioritize marsh areas in Virginia and Maryland for significant investments to build resilience to effects of climate change, particularly sea level rise, that threaten coastal communities and habitats. A careful review of research, tools and outcomes that informed the project approach will help participants understand key discussion topics planned for the workshop.
To make the best use of discussion time with partners and thought leaders, please use the pre-workshop materials to:
- Learn about the approach for prioritizing marsh areas in Virginia and Maryland for research and implementation projects that can increase coastal resilience and habitat area, as well using existing tools and data to model scenarios that inform marsh adaptation planning.
- Project approach and focus area selection. Describes the methodology and data used to identify and target large-scale marsh areas based on need, and prioritization of focus areas based on opportunity for adaptive activity.
- Marsh adaptation scenarios and strategies. Describes how data informs potential adaptation strategies based on indicators of adaptive capacity, such as migration potential, marsh health, and potential partners.
- Familiarize yourself with the new collaborative marsh adaptation mapper, which provides a layered view of marsh adaptation data from a range of existing tools and data sources.
- Collaborative Tidal Marsh Adaptation Mapper. Direct link to tidal marsh adaptation mapper site.
- Data layer spreadsheet. Provides a detailed description of the data layers and sources that comprise the Collaborative Marsh Adaptation Mapper.
- See how the mapper data has been used to examine marsh adaptation scenarios in Guinea Marsh Complex (located on Middle Peninsula) and Wicomico River marsh areas.
- Guinea Marsh Complex scenario worksheet and scenario summary. Narrates an example marsh adaptation analysis of the Guinea Marsh Complex including instructions and screenshots for displaying data using the mapper.
- Wicomico River mapping analysis worksheet. Provides a high-level analysis of factors to support marsh adaptation strategies in the Wicomico River area.
- Learn more about the workshop topics and participants.
- Agenda. Overview of the workshop timeline and topics.
- Participant list. List of workshop registrants (as of 1/18/2024).
- Additional materials shared during the Middle Peninsula discussion of the workshop:
This workshop is funded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust in support of the Chesapeake Bay Program Climate Adaptation Outcome and planned by the Chesapeake Bay Program Climate Resiliency Workgroup and supported by Skeo Solutions.