CRISFIELD, MD - The final nature-based solutions community workshop marks a premature conclusion for the partnership between the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development and the city of Crisfield.
About two years ago, a team from the EPA's Office of Research and Development began working with city officials to develop potential interventions to protect the bayside community from flooding.
Jennifer Merritt is Crisfield's climate resilience and project consultant. She said the decision to present findings in September was made when the EPA announced in July of this year that it would eliminate the Office of Research and Development.
"They've worked really hard to get as many results to us as possible right now," Merritt said.
The EPA team, assisted by a contracted engineering services company, Tetra Tech, presented the details of their research and recommendations at the Corbin Center in Crisfield on Thursday night.
The final results include the top 6 implementable nature-based solution projects designed for Crisfield.
- Long Point and Cedar Island Marsh Sanctuary living breakwaters
- Northwest Cedar Island marsh restoration and edging
- Great Point living breakwater
- Central Janes Island marsh restoration and edging
- North Janes Island dune restoration
- Central Janes Island offshore oyster reefs
The Business, Economic and Community Outreach Network or BEACON at Salisbury University, facilitates experiential learning opportunities for students.
"Beacon came in to be a local partner to help facilitate these events," BEACON Director John Hickman said.
Student workers helped coordinate workshops and gather community feedback. Environmental sciences students collected memories from Crisfield community members to craft an oral history of flooding's impact.
Hickman described nature-based solutions as building resilience through augmenting or adding to pre-existing natural resources.
"Resiliency overall takes a long while, so part of that is getting public input on what the public's opinion is of things that the city may look at," Hickman said.
The nature-based solutions team hosted two climate resilience academies while working with Crisfield.
"We have a community that is much more aware of what needs to be done and how to do it," Merritt said of the community engagement component of the project.
The Nature-Based Solutions project was designed separately from but complementary to the Southern Crisfield Flood Mitigation Project, which lost $36 million in canceled Federal Emergency Management Agency funds in May.
While the Southern Crisfield Flood Mitigation project would occur within the city, the proposed nature-based solutions are outside Crisfield on state property.
Merritt said the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has been aware and supportive throughout the project.
Despite the results culminating from two years of work rather than the intended three, city officials told WBOC that Crisfield is now better positioned to be competitive in grant applications.
"Without this scientific research and evidence that those projects can be beneficial and without breaking down what those projects would involve and what the cost would be, there is no way to plan for or apply for funding these projects," Merritt said.
Find more information about nature-based strategies for coastal resilience in Crisfield and the project findings.