Page 125 - Mapping the Nation: Taking Climate Action

community meetings held over several years to discuss mitigation and adaptation options. Once the group determined viable options, the commission organized the information in an Adaptation Strategies database, which was made available on the Resilient Cape Cod project website. "The strategies all have a fact sheet that accompanies them," Senatori said. "It looks at the costs and the scale— deployable at a site, a neighborhood, or the region—and it also includes some of the advantages and disadvantages of using that particular strategy." Interactive App Presents Options To engage the community in the Resilient Cape Cod project, the commission needed a way for people to explore the strategies and weigh potential benefits or costs. It developed the Cape Cod Coastal Planner, an interactive, online app residents can use to visualize the local impact of sea level rise and erosion, along with different mitigation approaches. The app encompasses all 15 communities of Cape Cod, transcending community boundaries to include affected areas of the diverse region. Users of the Cape Cod Coastal Planner can select the shoreline stretch that most affects their home, then see a vulnerability level for every spot along that area of the coast. They can explore anticipated effects of sea level rise, locations of critical facilities and infrastructure across the area, and predictions of future erosion or sediment movement. The tool also identifies flood zones and SLOSH potential for Category 1, 2, 3, and 4 storms. The Cape Cod Coastal Planner presents mitigation techniques, including beach nourishment (to add sediment directly to the beach), living shoreline formation, dune creation, "undevelopment" (to remove existing structures from eroding areas), and even inaction—to simply do nothing. Each strategy layer includes an estimate of the approximate cost to implement, the expected life span of the project, and the impact on the local ecosystem. "The online decision support tool that we created is a communications platform as well as a decision support tool," Senatori said. "It's an opportunity for us to educate stakeholders about the different adaptation strategies . . . and also to have decision-makers understand some of the trade-offs." Piloting Preparedness Planning In addition to aiding individual awareness, the Cape Cod Coastal Planner supports town leaders who must create comprehensive plans. "We piloted the planner in the town of Barnstable," Senatori said. "It's been a really great opportunity for stakeholders to explore the impacts of certain strategies and to see what they would actually look like. It's been really effective as a communication tool." As the largest town on Cape Cod and one of the most vulnerable to erosion on the northern side of the Cape, Barnstable was a natural choice for the pilot project. The commission held community meetings and workshops to discuss strategies and used the planner to compare scenario outcomes. Attendees also provided valuable feedback on future planner updates. The pilot project helped Barnstable residents understand their weaknesses and strengths. Vulnerabilities to coastal erosion, sea level rise, and severe weather events are balanced by the town's public safety assets, such as the regional Cape Cod Hospital, two airports, a regional emergency shelter, and an advanced emergency alert system. Moving forward, the commission is continuing to develop tools that help residents understand environmental risks and trends. Currently, efforts are under way to map historic storm paths to better predict and plan for future storm events. "The State of Massachusetts has really taken a leadership role in coping with climate hazards," Senatori said. "I think it's only a matter of time before we have another hurricane that could be potentially catastrophic for our region, and we're going to be prepared when the time comes." 124 Coastal Flooding