The Challenge
The Boston Harbor region encompasses 12 coastal communities within Boston Harbor impacted directly from coastal storms and sea level rise, and 7 inland communities adjacent to rivers that discharge into the Harbor. As coastal storm flood risk increases with sea level change, the region’s built and natural assets are at risk.
Project Scope
In 2021, EOEEA and CZM entered into a 3-year agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to conduct a planning study to address coastal and climate resilience at the watershed scale for the Boston Harbor region. The study is authorized under Section 729 of the Water Resources Development Act that allows the USACE to study the water resources needs of coastal regions in the United States in consultation with federal, state, local, and Tribal governmental entities.
In accordance with the USACE Planning Process, the overall scope of the three-year project includes three segments:
- Segment 1 – Shared Vision Milestone: Develops an inventory of problems, opportunities, objectives and constraints related to the study goals, defines the overall shared vision among stakeholders, and presents a coordinated study framework that will be used as a reference point as the study continues. This segment also developed a comprehensive project inventory that identifies completed and current municipal and partner-led coastal resilience initiatives.
- Segment 2 – Recommendations Milestone: Completes and regional vulnerability assessment, identifies and evaluates coastal risk reduction strategies and develops recommendations collectively with stakeholders.
- Segment 3 – Final Milestone: Prepares a draft and final report detailing flood risk reduction strategy recommendations for public and agency review and final approval
Goal and Intended Resilience Benefits
The goal of the 3-year study is to build off locally developed vulnerability assessments and adaptation plans to identify regional risks and adaptation strategies through updated mapping (utilizing sea level rise projections on resilient.mass.gov) and broad regional stakeholder engagement. The study will result in a framework for prioritizing regional adaptation projects in a manner that considers factors including climate vulnerability, positive benefit to environmental justice communities, concept-level cost-benefit analyses, and regional impact. This project is a regional planning effort which will help set the stage for future implementation of regional adaptation measures to reduce flooding, erosion and sea level rise impacts in the metro Boston region.
Metrics
Once the 3-year study is completed, near-term effectiveness of the planning project can be determined by the documentation of stakeholder support of the regional framework for reducing coastal flood risk. Over time, success of the project is realized as recommended regional strategies are advanced through further planning, design and permitting and funding sources for implementation are identified.
Results and Outcomes
With FY23 ResilientMass Implementation funding, the project team partnered with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to facilitate stakeholder engagement activities for the first segment of the study, the Shared Vision Milestone. The Shared Vision Milestone segment was completed and received approval from the USACE North Atlantic Division in June 2023. The focus of this segment was to identify and engage relevant stakeholders on project area problems, objectives, opportunities, and constraints, and then develop an agreed-upon vision for what the project will aim to achieve. Through three workgroup meetings, multiple focus groups and interviews with project partners, the agreed-upon vision statement is as follows:
Boston Harbor communities have strong historic, cultural, economic, environmental, and recreational connections to the area. As coastal storm flood risk increases with sea level change, the region’s built and natural assets are at risk including residences, businesses, critical facilities and infrastructure, historic and archaeological resources, open space and recreation, and natural resources (e.g., beaches, dunes, and salt marshes).
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and other stakeholders in the coastal Boston Metropolitan area envision a future where the region can collaboratively build on existing efforts to manage flood risks and foster resilience of natural resources and habitats in and around Boston Harbor.
Best Practices
The project team’s success in obtaining meaningful feedback from stakeholders was the result of multiple best practices in project management, including having regularly scheduled team meetings to plan workgroup meeting agendas, materials, etc; timing the workgroup meetings at specific project milestones where obtaining feedback was most critical; utilizing creative outreach and engagement tools to manage the large number of workgroup members (breakout rooms, Miro boards, report-out sessions); and timely communication through email to keep the workgroup members.
Contributions to the 2023 ResilientMass Plan
This project supports Goal 4, Cross-government action 12 of the 2023 ResilientMass Plan to develop a coastal resilience strategy. This project considers regional vulnerability of populations, development, natural and cultural resources and aims to develop a framework for reducing current and future coastal flood risk. The project will explore an array of strategies, including managed retreat, and other best practices for coastal adaptation.
Further Action
Currently, Segment 2 – Recommendations Milestone is underway and expected to be completed by February 2025. A fourth Workgroup meeting was held in March 2024 to introduce the initial array of potential coastal flood risk reduction strategies for consideration. The project team will continue stakeholder engagement on strategy development and evaluation.
There are no set plans for replicating the entire USACE planning process in other regions in Massachusetts. While the recommendations being developed through this process will be specific to Boston Harbor communities, they may have the potential to be replicated or scaled to other communities or coastal regions. A brief introduction and overview of the project is available on the project website.