Collaborative project:

Climate Variability and Coastal Community Resilience

Testing a National Model of State-Based Outreach

Sea Grant programs in Oregon and Maine are collaborating on a two-year effort to help the nation's coastal communities understand and prepare for climate change.

The project is supported by a $290,000 grant is from NOAA's Sectoral Applications Research Program .

Leading the project is Joe Cone, assistant director of Oregon Sea Grant and head of its communications team. The project aims to develop and test a model of public outreach about climate change that may ultimately be used by Sea Grant programs in all US coastal and Great Lakes states.

Outreach in the two states will be directed toward and involve public and private decision-makers such as city managers, county planners, private developers, bankers, and realtors. Surveys, focus groups, and interviews will be used to determine information needs and strategies. Advisory committees representative of the intended audiences have been formed.

Oregon and Maine have similarities and differences with respect to anticipated climate change effects and the communities and economic interests that will likely be most affected. As a result, collaboration and complementary outreach efforts between the two states are expected to yield insights about critical information needs and effective outreach strategies that may be applicable to other states.

While climate change is grabbing public attention and will be a focus of the project, shorter-term climate variability, over years and decades, is already having an impact on the physical features and habitats of coastal zones. These impacts are worsened by increased development and use of the coast, particularly in low-lying, hazard-prone areas.

Coastal residents and d ecision-makers need to better understand the challenges of adapting to climate variability locally in order to lessen its effects and make their communities more resilient.

Sea Grant Extension faculty in both states will build upon their close historic ties with coastal communities to lead the outreach efforts. Oregon Sea Grant Extension faculty members involved in the project include Patrick Corcoran, Michael Harte, and Shawn Rowe. From Maine Sea Grant, participants include Susan White, Esperanza Stancioff, and Kristen Whiting-Grant. Nathan Mantua of the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group is also part of the Oregon team.

Oregon Sea Grant Web resources: