The Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) has been selected by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) to receive a grant award of $340,000 to implement a program that will disseminate much-needed coastal resiliency decision science and tools, maps and monitoring results to decision-makers and communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.  The effort is in response to the impact of Superstorm Sandy on the coast, and the need to prepare the coastal region for the effects of future storms and sea level rise.
 
MARCO has identified a range of priority strategies for increasing resiliency in the five Mid-Atlantic states, including: risk communication; nature and nature-based infrastructure; and information sharing. It will work closely with the LCC to develop a project plan that addresses these priorities as refined by each MARCO member state by building off the investments that are being made in the two Superstorm Sandy mitigation projects.
 
MARCO’s Climate Change Action Team (CCAT) is taking the lead on scoping the project for MARCO. The CCAT is supporting the development of a work plan that will lay the framework for project implementation, which will include working with partners and the LCC to initiate and pursue projects that support this important coastal resilience initiative. MARCO recognizes the need to conduct an up-front inventory and evaluation of existing resilience planning and implementation efforts in the region; this project will provide a clear value added by complementing and not duplicating on-going activities.
 
The LCC is funding this program for both the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. The Northeast program will be implemented in tandem to MARCO’s effort and will be administered by the Northeast Regional Ocean Council (NROC).
 

Image at Top: The beginnings of Superstorm Sandy in Asbury Park, New Jersey.  Photo by Anthony Quintano.
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