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Education

Dune It Right Manual

The Dune It Right manual explains dune ecology. This tool is for anyone undertaking a dune restoration or rehabilitation project. It explains what species uses what parts of the beach, how to avoid damaging habitat and how to avoid creating a monoculture.

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Climate

Needs Assessment of New Jersey Business Owners

As part of the National Sea Grant Coastal Communities Climate Adaptation Initiative (CCCAI), NJSGC is developing and implementing an education and outreach campaign designed to promote long term planning that will educate waterfront property owners and associated businesses about the need to gain an understanding of climate change and consider the potential impacts associated with it when planning for the future. 

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Climate

Maryland Climate Science Communication Forum

Scientists in Maryland have published numerous studies on the impacts of climate change on the Mid-Atlantic region, but communicating the results of that research has proved difficult. Many residents in the state’s coastal communities lack a good understanding of the risks that climate change and sea level rise in particular pose to their way of life. In 2012, Maryland Sea Grant held a statewide climate change forum to inform efforts to share and discuss the findings of climate science with these communities.

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Climate

Special Magazine Report Examines Sea Level Rise and Coastal Hazards

Along much of the Mid-Atlantic coast, sea levels are rising faster than the global average. This trend has already been linked to intensifying storm surges, shoreline erosion, and the loss of wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay region. To educate residents of Maryland about the impacts of sea level rise and climate change in the Chesapeake region, Maryland Sea Grant formed a unique partnership with the regional news magazine, Bay Journal. This partnership resulted in a special issue of Maryland Sea Grant’s magazine, Chesapeake Quarterly, that was published in October 2014 and titled “Come High Water: Sea Level Rise and Chesapeake Bay.”

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Aquaculture

Remote Setting Training Program to Grow Oysters

Many leaders in Maryland have highlighted the importance of developing oyster aquaculture in the state: this industry supports local working waterfronts and also helps the state’s struggling seafood industry. Maryland Sea Grant Extension helped to bring about changes in state policy to make it easier for residents to obtain leases for aquaculture operations in Chesapeake Bay, creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs. To help them pursue those opportunities, Maryland Sea Grant Extension and its partners have developed a number of programs that help shellfish growers to obtain start-up funding for these ventures and to build and operate them successfully.

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Blue Carbon

Research Informs Management of Phragmites in Marshes

Maryland’s coastal wetlands provide diverse ecosystem services for the Chesapeake Bay region, reduce flooding risks, and help to improve local water quality. These natural communities, however, also face threats from rising sea levels and invasive species. Of particular concern is the non-native reed Phragmites australis, which has displaced native marsh grasses in many Mid-Atlantic wetlands in recent decades. To inform the management of this invasive reed, Maryland Sea Grant funded research to better understand how climate change might affect the growth of Phragmites populations around Chesapeake Bay.

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Education

Managing Live Bait Trade to Reduce Invasive Species

The introduction of aquatic invasive species to Chesapeake Bay, transported through the ballast water of cargo ships or by live animal and plant trades, can bring ecologically harmful consequences. To safeguard local ecosystems, Maryland Sea Grant supports programs that seek to prevent the establishment of new invasive species in the region.

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Education

Training Volunteers to Assist Chesapeake Bay Cleanup

Maryland and other states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are currently engaged in a multi-billion dollar effort to improve water quality by meeting Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) targets for nutrients and sediments. To accomplish this, municipalities around the region need help from trained and dedicated volunteers who can implement watershed restoration practices. Such practices include stormwater management tools like rain gardens and barrels.

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Climate and Hazard Adaptation

Tracking Harmful Algal Blooms Using Satellites

In May 2014, Maryland Sea Grant, in partnership with the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), held a workshop to explore the use of remote sensing for detecting harmful algal blooms in the Chesapeake Bay region.

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Coastal Economy

A Sustainable Working Waterfronts Toolkit

This website contains information, data, and tools that individuals, communities, and governments at all levels can use to develop, inform, and enhance their sustainable working waterfront initiatives. 

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Education

Coastal Toolkits: Beach Toolkit

Part of the Florida Water Access site, the Beaches Toolkit contains an outline of common law tools for addressing public beach access, as well as resources for public and private managers of beachfront property.

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Education

Coastal Toolkits: Boating Toolkit

Part of the Florida Water Access site, the Boating Toolkit contains legal information about rights of navigation, anchoring and mooring, boating laws and regulations, derelict vessels and conservation.

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Great Lakes

Hopes for Habitats

Working with Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and local anglers, Pennsylvania Sea Grant involves high school students from Central Career and Technical School in building structures to improve fish habitat in Lake Erie. 

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Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development

Bringing New Jersey Sand Dunes to Life

The Dune It Right manual is designed to be an evolving resource for anyone planning dune restorations. It uses NJSGC research and researchers to bring the most relevant data and methods for restoring dunes along New Jersey's intensely developed shore. 

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Climate

Are We Ready for the Next Hurricane?

A symposium at Hofstra University was held to share a NOAA Coastal Storm Awareness Program-funded project that explored the cultural and language barriers that may have hindered evacuation efforts in Long Beach, NY. 

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Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development

’05 Sea Grant Knauss Alum Kristin Rusello

Since I didn't have a marine science or oceanography background, the Sea Grant Knauss fellowship opened the door for me at NOAA and within policy. It can also do this for others.”

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Climate

Champions of Climate Adaptation

Leaders who are helping their coastal communities adapt to sea level rise, increases in heavy precipitation and flooding need additional technical, human and financial assistance to do so, according to a report by a 2014 New Hampshire Sea Grant Doyle Fellow.

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Aquaculture

Bringing Together the Seafood Industry and Tourism in Maine

Tourists are increasingly interested in experiences that allow them to support and connect with the people and places that they visit. Maine Sea Grant is facilitating such experiences by assisting with the creation of oyster farm tours, combining the tourism and fisheries industries that already exist in Maine. 

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Healthy Coastal Ecosystems

Coastal Ocean Hypoxia Model

A large percentage of South Carolina’s economy is driven by the popularity of beaches as tourist destinations.  Hypoxic (low-oxygen) conditions have been documented in the nearshore coastal waters of Long Bay, South Carolina, during summer months over the past several years.  To maintain a healthy environment for recreation it is necessary to assess the impacts of land use on groundwater discharge to the area.  Researchers measured radon activities of shallow beachface groundwater and nearshore bottom waters to estimate mixing rates and submarine groundwater discharge in Long Bay.  They successfully developed a mixing model based on these measurements, which helped determine that natural phenomena such as limited mixing and submarine groundwater discharge (both previously overlooked) can significantly influence nearshore water quality and lead to hypoxic conditions.  This model can be applied to other types of marine environments to help determine the causes of hypoxia, and as such could be a valuable tool in maintaining coastal water quality, especially in highly developed (urban) areas. 

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Education

South Carolina Community Resource Inventory

Community leaders, decision-makers, and staff need detailed knowledge of the resources their community possesses in order to make informed planning decisions that enhance the community while protecting the quality of the environment. Developed in partnership with Clemson University’s Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, the S.C. NEMO Program, Carolina Clear, and the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Community Resource Inventory provides an atlas of natural and cultural resources available in South Carolina coastal communities.

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Climate

Climate and Salinity Intrusion Decision Support Tools Developed for the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin

Reduced river flows during drought threaten fresh water supplies in coastal areas because the lower flows allow the salt water wedge to penetrate further inland from estuaries than is normal.  During droughts over the past decade, some coastal drinking water systems and industries monitored threats to fresh drinking water and industrial water intakes due to this salinity intrusion; some have even had to periodically take intakes offline due to high salinities that can damage drinking water treatment systems and industrial equipment. To help decision-makers understand how the frequency of salt water intrusion events may change under future precipitation and sea level scenarios, the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments center at the University of South Carolina, and the USGS S.C. Water Science Center adapted an existing decision support system for salinity intrusion in the coastal Yadkin-Pee Dee river basin by adding climate model-based precipitation scenarios and increments of sea level rise to the Model 2 (PRISM2) decision support tool.  This modification is significant in that it allows water managers to explore how often salt-water intrusion events may occur in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River basin under conditions influenced by ongoing and future climatic change.

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Data & Assessments

Governors’ South Atlantic Alliance Data Portal

The Governors’ South Atlantic Alliance (GSAA) Data Portal is an online toolkit and resource center that consolidates available state, regional, and federal datasets into one location for Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. This allows users of the Portal to learn about the region’s data resources, explore a robust repository, and visualize these data via the Portal tools. Developed by the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) with NOAA support through the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, the GSAA Portal provides a foundation for long-term collaborative planning in the South Atlantic region for a wide range of coastal uses.

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Education

Low Impact Development in Coastal South Carolina: A Planning and Design Guide

Many coastal decision-makers lack the expertise, guidance, and resources to implement low impact development (LID) techniques for mitigating stormwater impacts. The S.C. Sea Grant Consortium assisted with the development of an LID manual specific to coastal South Carolina that provides guidance on overcoming barriers to implementing best management practices. The project team organized stakeholder workshops, research roundtables, and provided technical assistance with the development of the guide.

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Climate

Southeast and Caribbean Climate Community of Practice

The Southeast and Caribbean Climate Community of Practice (CoP) brings together individuals from local, state, and federal governments, academia, non-profit organizations and the private sector in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the Caribbean to apply climate science and assess how coastal communities and ecosystems can adapt to the impacts of climate variability and change. The CoP provides a forum for sharing lessons learned and best practices related to climate communication and adaptation. The CoP also provides education and networking opportunities to its members and their stakeholders to increase knowledge and awareness of climate science and to coordinate and perform outreach, extension, and communication related to climate change and its impacts in the Southeast and Caribbean region.

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Education

South Carolina Guide to Beachfront Property

Many residents of South Carolina and beyond aspire to live at the beachfront.  To better prepare people seeking beachfront homes (as well as those already enjoying life at the beachfront) regarding specific hazards and regulations, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, with significant contributions from the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, has produced the South Carolina Guide to Beachfront Property. Included is information on typical hazards homeowners are likely to face (hurricanes, erosion, flooding, wind, and earthquakes), insurance information, and important state regulations regarding construction and renovation practices. 

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Climate

Assessing vulnerability to sea level rise in Beaufort County, S.C., using facilitated dialogue and visualization tools

The S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, in partnership with the Beaufort County Planning Department, Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments program, Social and Environmental Research Institute, and North Carolina Sea Grant, provided a participatory opportunity for Beaufort County to begin preparing for flooding associated with sea level rise. The project team utilized several available tools to engage local stakeholders in the process. A focus group participated in the Vulnerability and Consequences Adaptation Planning Scenarios process to identify local consequences of sea level rise and explore potential adaptation strategies. Sea level rise visualizations developed with data from NOAA’s Digital Coast Sea Level Rise Viewer tool helped stakeholders understand the risks of future coastal flooding due to rising seas. Public workshops were held to get broader input on adaptation strategies. A final report has been compiled for consideration by Beaufort County Council. This project has initiated a process of community learning that will increase the capacity of Beaufort County to adapt to sea level rise.

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Planning and Coastal Intelligence

South Carolina Coastal Communities Initiative Mini-Grants Program

With the vast majority of land-use decisions made at the local level, community officials are instrumental in influencing and directing development and conservation efforts. The S.C. Coastal Communities Initiative is a collaborative land-use planning and water quality small grants program for local decision-makers.  The purpose of the Initiative is to assist coastal communities with the development and implementation of land management policies and practices to reduce polluted stormwater runoff, protect local natural resources, and encourage sustainable development. Coastal communities participating in the Initiative are eligible to receive grants ranging from $2500 to $5000 to address a variety of issues related to open space preservation, natural resource-based planning, water quality management, alternative transportation, sustainable community planning and design, and zoning ordinances and regulations.

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Education

South Carolina Coastal Information Network

Forging and maintaining outreach and education partnerships is vital to building and sustaining effective and pertinent outreach programming. The South Carolina Coastal Information Network (SCCIN) enhances coordination of coastal community outreach efforts in South Carolina by avoiding duplication of efforts and minimizing the number of meetings/workshops that community leaders and staff are asked to attend, leveraging scarce resources, and maximizing program benefits and expected outcomes. Through the SCCIN, members strive to provide quality training and educational materials to coastal decision-makers and the public in an effective and efficient manner.

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Native Hawaiian fisherman casting net from shore
Hawaii

Ka Wā Ma Mua, Ka Wā Ma Hope

The University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program took the initiative over 10 years ago to form a partnership with the Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge and Awaiaulu to help make Hawaiian language newspapers articles from the 1800’s and early 1900’s accessible to the general public. 

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Tsunami-detecting DART buoy
Delaware

Tsunami Preparedness Week 2015

Tsunamis have been a reality for coastal communities for as long as humans have lived near the shore. NOAA Sea Grant has been working with coastal communities for many years to help residents understand tsunami risks, reduce their vulnerability and respond quickly.

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NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured the center of a developing Nor'easter located off North Carolina's Outer Banks on Jan. 26
Climate

New York Sea Grant is Tracking ‘Great Lakes Nor’easters’

New York Sea Grant received funding from NOAA's Coastal Storms Program through a Sea Grant competition to study historic storm events along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. The project will create a climatological event database to better assist risk projection to help communities increase their storm event resiliency. 

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Alaska

Bowhead Whales, a Unique Community, and One Sea Grant Agent in the Far North

While many Sea Grant agents work with commercial fisheries, Sheffield’s role is unique. There are few commercial fisheries in the north of Alaska – the primary fishery there is a subsistence one. A study done on Saint Lawrence Island, in the southern Bering Strait, found that 80 percent of the population ate only subsistence food an average of 5 days per week.

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Education

Georgia Sea Grant launches new legal program

Georgia Sea Grant has partnered with the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia to create the new Georgia Sea Grant Legal Program. This program offers students at University of Georgia School of Law the opportunity to work with legal and policy experts to address challenging environmental questions facing policymakers in coastal Georgia communities.

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Extension

Feeling the squeeze: Florida Sea Grant provides multiple tools to help coastal communities balance competing demands for water access

Is there room on the water for everybody? If coastal communities are to remain sustainable, residents, visitors, policy makers, and regulators need new methods and information sources to harmonize the growing demand for access to their beaches and waterways. Researchers and extension specialists at Florida Sea Grant are making that challenge a priority.

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California

Video cameras paint a clearer picture of rockfish recovery

Rockfish were overfished in the 1970s and 1990s, and Rockfish Conservation Areas were put in place. Little is known about the species distribution within the conservation areas now. A team put together by California Sea Grant and The Nature Conservancy hopes to better understand the distribution so that resource managers may allow for more fishing opportunities.

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California

Santa Barbara Area Coastal Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment for Coastal Communities

The Santa Barbara Area Coastal Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment for Local Communities (SBA CEVALC) is aimed at assisting the Cities of Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and Goleta and the County of Santa Barbara in planning for adaptation to climate change. Three of the state's leading ecological and climatological research programs including: the UCSB Coastal Long-Term Ecological Research Project, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and USGS, are accomplishing the project in close collaboration with the three cities and County. Community input is integral to the project with staff from relevant city/county departments participating through workshops and review.

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Great Lakes

Plastic fibers emerge as Lake Michigan pollutant

Microbeads have drawn a lot of public and political attention since 2012, when researchers from New York and Wisconsin discovered millions of the tiny particles in several Great Lakes. But this new study suggests microfibers may be an even larger concern in at least a few areas.

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Real Estate Q & A
Education

Coastal Brochure

Are you considering buying property near the water?  A new brochure from Woods Hole Sea Grant, Questions and Answers on Purchasing Coastal Real Estate in Massachusetts  is now available.  This brochure focuses on questions you should ask (and where to find the answers) as a potential purchaser of coastal real estate.  This resource provides information about permitting, erosion and erosion control structures, flood insurance, and much more.

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Aquaculture

New Legal Research Report Provides Overview of State Oyster Restoration Policies

The permitting processes for oyster restoration projects can be challenging to navigate, as a maze of state and federal programs may apply. A new legal research report, released by the National Sea Grant Law Center and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program, hopes to make these processes a little more easy to navigate by providing an overview of the permitting programs in 21 states.

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'02 Knauss Alum Angela Gustavson
Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development

’02 Sea Grant Knauss Alum Angela Gustavson

“I use the skills I gained from my experience as a Knauss fellow on a daily basis in my career. The writing and policy analysis skills that I developed as a fellow have been critical. In addition, while at the Commission, we worked with 16 commissioners with diverse backgrounds to develop a consensus report. The experience of working with a group like that to evaluate stakeholder input, discuss policy ideas and develop recommendations has been valuable.”  – Angela Gustavson

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Emily Vuxton 2012 Knauss Alum
Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development

’12 Sea Grant Knauss Alum Emily Vuxton

I use so many of the skills and experiences I gained as a Knauss fellow at my current position. I remained in the Army Corps after my fellowship and I continue to work with many of my former coworkers. I learn new things every day about my agency.

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'04 Knauss Alum Jess Maher
Environmental Literacy and Workforce Development

’04 Sea Grant Knauss Alum Jessica Maher

“I truly believe the opportunity that I was given as a Knauss Fellow has led to the fact that I have been in D.C. for 10 years. My job in Sam Farr’s office gave me the launching pad for my career that ultimately led to the White House,” – Jessican Maher 

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Tipping Points and Indicators
Great Lakes

Tipping Points and Indicators

Tipping Points and Indicators, a research and extension program for Great Lakes coastal communities, helps local decision makers identify impacts of land-based activities that threaten the sustainability of ecosystems in their watershed. This program includes a web-based decision support syst​em (tippingpointplanner.org) and facilitated forum to explore policy and management interventions necessary to keep coastal ecosystems from reaching critical tipping points and moving to unstable conditions. 

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Announcements

Sea Grant Tools Help Communities Become More Resilient

This National Sea Grant Resilience Toolkit allows people to learn about tools from across the entire Sea Grant network giving users the opportunity to adapt tools for their own local needs. Each entry includes a description of the tools, a link for more information, and a point of contact.

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A Community Self-Assessment to Address Climate Change Readiness
Climate

A Community Self-Assessment to Address Climate Change Readiness

The purpose of this assessment tool is to provide community leaders, administrators, planners, engineers, public work directors, and natural resource managers with a simple method in the form of a checklist divided into nine different categories to review their community's particular vulnerabilities to climate trends and to identify priority areas to focus on through planning and projects. The goal of this tool is to help communities in the Great Lakes region identify and address vulnerabilities through education and planning to help reduce the impacts and costs of climate change-related damage through adaptation policies and procedures.

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The Watershed Game
Extension

The Watershed Game

The Watershed Game is an interactive tool that helps community leaders understand the connections between land use, clean water and their community.  Participants learn how a variety of land uses impact water and natural resources and learn how their choices can prevent adverse impacts.  

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Listening to sturgeon "thunder"
Great Lakes

Sturgeon Thunder

Lake sturgeon have been on the planet for 150 million years. Despite that long residency, scientists are still learning about these fish, the largest found in North America. An enduring question is what contributes to their survival skills. Answer: Sound. As one factor anyway.

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High water
Climate

The land also rises (and falls)

Vertical land movement, caused by sediment settling, groundwater extraction, and tectonic forces, can boost or reduce the local effects of global sea level rise.  Conventional wisdom says that the offshore collision of two continental plates is pushing up Washington’s and Oregon’s coastlines. This assumption may make coastal communities complacent about climate change and sea level rise. Using tidal-gauge and GPS readings, Washington Sea Grant’s Ian Miller and colleagues have found that vertical land movement actually varies dramatically along Washington’s shores. While the Olympic Coast’s northwest corner is rising, the land is actually subsiding as little as 30 miles down the coast – and along densely populated Puget Sound. Communities need local data to prepare for rising seas.

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