Federal, state, tribal, and local entities are tasked with managing their potential risk from coastal flooding, hazards, and storms, identifying activities towards mitigating that risk, and prioritizing which actions to propose for financial and leadership-level support. Those funding the on-the-ground work are often tasked with evaluating and selecting from proposals that may lack innovation or offer a limited understanding of how different possible actions will perform in combination.

NOAA’s Effects of Sea Level Rise (ESLR) Program has spent the past nine years incentivizing the collaboration of interdisciplinary teams across the country to advance the science and tools needed to inform coastal managers of available solutions to mitigate coastal hazard risk, while holistically considering built and natural infrastructure. However, there is a need to integrate these efforts with other funding opportunities that support on-the-ground implementation of projects. Ultimately, this will help maximize federal investments by evaluating management options for flood and storm hazard scenarios using the most advanced science available. 

This talk will highlight some of the ongoing projects funded by NOAA’s Effects of Sea Level Rise (ESLR) competition, with an emphasis on work currently taking place in the Gulf. We will discuss a range of federal program-level considerations, from identifying science gaps to facilitating science advancement and application at local and regional scales. Projects presented will demonstrate pathways for successful collaboration, as well as strategies and lessons learned for connecting cutting-edge science to coastal communities and stakeholders. Topics discussed will span permitting, scenario planning, understanding the performance of nature based solutions, and facilitating cross-sector engagement.