Resilient Cape Cod Update

The Cape Cod Commission is working with the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Waqouit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the Town of Barnstable to develop a tool and public outreach program to investigate the environmental and socio-economic effects of local and regional coastal resiliency strategies.

The first two rounds of Resilient Cape Cod stakeholder meetings were held in December and January. Nearly 100 participants from across the Cape attended to learn about coastal vulnerability and adaptation strategies, while also providing feedback to inform the creation of a coastal resiliency planning tool.

Researchers from the University of Rhode Island have been hired to evaluate ecosystem services impacts and to identify relevance of ecosystems and ecosystem services on property values. A contractor will be hired to develop a web-based decision support tool, which will provide complex coastal hazard data and inform the user about adaptation strategies and their impacts.  The tool will assist local decision makers and improve coastal management.

This work is made possible by a National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant awarded in 2016. Supporting agencies include the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Sea Grant Program, Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management.