Year two of the Great Marsh Resiliency Planning Project is currently underway, according to the Ipswich River Watershed Association.
With funding from the Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Program, administered by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, the planning project is an effort to reduce the risk to coastal communities from storms, flooding and sea level rise, by increasing the resiliency and strength of the natural systems upon which these communities often depend.
In 2015 municipal task forces from each of the six coastal towns in the region, Salisbury, Newburyport, Newbury, Rowley, Ipswich and Essex, identified and prioritized areas in their communities that are most vulnerable to flooding, storms and sea level rise.
Ipswich River Watershed Association and National Wildlife Federation staff are now editing and revising each of the coastal communities’ vulnerability summaries.
“Comments made at the Great Marsh Symposium and Salisbury community meetings, both held in November, have been very helpful to the process, ” the Association said.
Community meetings will be held later this spring to update the public on the strategies and tools the task force members identify.
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