Coastal Hazards

Situated at the edge of where the last major glacier covered parts of North America, the Massachusetts shoreline has an extremely varied orientation, as well as diverse and spectacular geologic landforms. The vulnerability of the coastline to the chronic forces of regular storm activity and to the catastrophic forces of northeasters and hurricanes is a continual concern to those who live, work, and manage the coast. The risk of damage from winds, waves, storm surge, and flooding continues to rise as the level of coastal development increases. The need to make better decisions about where to build and what to do to protect existing development has become more critical. CZM works to protect lives and property, to preserve the beneficial functions of coastal resource areas, and to ensure recreational access to this magnificent shoreline. The priorities of the Coastal Hazard Program are to develop state policy, provide technical assistance, and generate and distribute tools, maps and other data about the geologic features and processes which characterize coastal hazards within the Massachusetts coastal zone.

CZM Coastal Hazard Initiatives

• StormSmart Coasts - Designed to help people working in coastal communities address the challenges arising from storms, floods, sea level rise, and climate change, the StormSmart Coasts program provides a menu of options for successful coastal floodplain management. The StormSmart Coasts website includes regulatory tools, case studies, planning strategies, and other technical assistance materials. CZM’s StormSmart Coasts Program implements the Coastal Hazards Commission recommendation of establishing a storm-resilient communities program to provide case studies for effective coastal smart growth planning and implementation. This national model helps translate often overwhelming technical materials into user-friendly information for local planning efforts.
  
  
• The Massachusetts Coastal Hazards Commission - charged with reviewing existing coastal hazards practices and policies, identifying data and information gaps, and drafting recommendations for administrative, regulatory, and statutory changes to improve coastal hazards management coastwide.
  
  
• Historic Shoreline Change Project - a key tool in examining potential coastal hazards. This project is aimed at measuring and estimating the changes in the Commonwealth's coastline as a result of natural erosion and accretion (deposition), as well as relative sea level rise.
  
  
• South Shore Coastal Hazards Characterization Atlas - intended to assist local reviewers with the identification of technical information necessary to evaluate individual projects and implement sound coastal hazard mitigation strategies for the ocean-facing shores from Hull down to the Cape Cod Canal (and will expand to additional regions in the future).
  
  
• Barrier Beach Management - to balance competing interests on the hundreds of barrier beaches that are part of the Massachusetts coastline. CZM provides inventory maps, guidelines for management, as well as technical assistance to communities in the preparation and implementation of site-specific barrier beach management plans.