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 A Unit of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

N e w s l e t t er

July 2024

EFC FUNDED TO PROVIDE CLIMATE POLLUTION REDUCTION ASSISTANCE

EFC will provide direct support to select counties and municipalities to help them access federal and state funding to address climate change. This assistance will be delivered at no cost to recipients through an award from the Maryland Department of Environment. Available services include assistance identifying climate pollution reduction projects; developing plans; building technical, financial, and managerial capacity; and completing funding application materials. Assistance is available on a need basis to the following counties and municipalities: 


  • Western Maryland (Garrett, Allegany, Washington counties) 
  • Southern Maryland (Calvert, St. Mary’s counties)
  • Eastern Shore (Kent, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester counties)


To request climate action technical assistance, please complete this form or e-mail efc_climateaction@umd.edu.

ASLA GRANT TO FUND GUIDES ON ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

The American Society of Landscape Architects Fund awarded EFC a new grant to create two resource guides on the economic benefits of landscape architecture and nature-based solutions. The lead developer of the guides is EFC's Dr. Jennifer Egan, PhD.


Landscape architects maximize the benefits of nature-based solutions through design. Their work on nature-based solutions creates economic benefits in five key areas:

  • Improved Human Health and Livability
  • Expanded Investment and Sustainable Jobs 
  • Increased Biodiversity
  • Going Beyond Net-Zero
  • Strengthened Resilience


Dr. Egan will develop guides that outline the economic benefits of landscape architecture and nature-based solutions across these areas. The first guide will make the economic case for nature-based solutions and the added value of landscape architects' planning and design work to a broad public audience. The second guide will introduce the tools landscape architects can use to make the economic case for their climate and biodiversity projects to clients. 


ASLA’s Climate Action Plan identified the need for these guides, which will be published on ASLA.org in advance of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. ASLA is an official observer of the COP process, and its representatives will attend COP29.


“Landscape architects bring nature-based solutions to where people live – to their streets, parks, plazas, and recreational areas. With Dr. Egan’s research, we will be able to show the economic benefits of this important work to policymakers and the public,” said Torey Carter-Conneen, ASLA CEO.


“We know that landscape architects design nature-based solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises. But how they do that is key: they design them to be even more effective and inclusive and to provide even greater benefits.” 


The guides will be released at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

FINAL REPORT ON FLOOD ADAPTATION STRATEGIES FOR THE CITY OF CRISFIELD

EFC recently completed a project in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and George Mason University (GMU) to provide the rural community of Crisfield, Maryland with the tools and data necessary to make economically and socially responsible decisions for adapting to climate-induced flooding from sea level rise, storms, and precipitation. The project provided adaptation planning and community resilience support through a community-guided scientific assessment of Crisfield’s coastal flooding vulnerabilities. It also examined various adaptation strategies now and in the future, including taking “no action.” This project was carried out in collaboration with the City of Crisfield and a Crisfield Community Advisory Committee, who ensured the assessment supported shared community objectives for advancing flood resilience.

 

TNC led the project with a community-based participatory research approach that first identified six locally defined community resilience goals and then collaboratively evaluated a suite of adaptation options. GMU modeled flooding at 1.5-foot and 2.5-foot water levels to show flood locations and depths for two baseline flood scenarios and four adaptation scenarios (with combinations of flood reduction measures). EFC then assessed the potential financial and community impacts by estimating property damage costs and summarizing qualitative impacts to key community assets under each scenario. TNC and EFC also evaluated non-structural adaptation options such as policy and planning tools that could support long-term community resilience. Crisfield could then compare these results using an Adaptation Decision Matrix developed for the project to help them weigh their options.

 

This assessment evaluated how well various adaptation strategies could potentially reduce the impacts of nuisance flooding resulting from extreme tides and low-intensity storm events, which are frequent occurrences in Crisfield. The study found that the City’s tide gates (which block incoming tides and storm surges) cease to function when water levels exceed 2.5 feet. A different project team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Direct Technical Assistance (BRIC DTA) program evaluated potential adaptation strategies for larger flood events (such as storm surge from major hurricanes) using the results of this project to support their analysis. The DTA team submitted a grant proposal to FEMA for these larger adaptation strategies, and the City was recently awarded funding to begin the first phase of work to build major flood protection infrastructure that will eventually protect Crisfield from up to 5-foot flood levels.

 

This project was supported by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Program Office Adaptation Sciences (AdSci) Program grant: Advancing Climate Adaptation and Coastal Community Resilience NA21OAR4310287 (FY2021).


For more information see:

 

EFC website: Staying Afloat - Assessing the long-term financial impacts of sea level rise adaptation solutions in a historic coastal community

 

Interactive map: Collaborative Adaptation Planning for a Resilient Crisfield

 

City of Crisfield flood mitigation web page: https://www.crisfieldfloodmitigation.com/

CONGRATS TO EFC GRAD STUDENT

MIMI SANFORD!

EFC would like to congratulate our Project Assistant, Mimi Sanford, on her recent graduation from UMD's Urban Studies and Planning Program! In addition to earning her Master of Community Planning degree, Mimi was also the recipient of one of two PALS Graduate Student of the Year awards for her work on the project "Visioning Lakeland: Restorative Justice Through Scenario Planning". Mimi is continuing her work with EFC through the summer while she looks for a planning or planning-adjacent job in the DMV. She has also found that she really enjoys research and is considering pursuing her PhD. 


Congratulations, Mimi, and best of luck with all your future endeavors!

FOLLOW EFC ON SOCIAL MEDIA

You can follow EFC and some of our programs on social media: EFC is on Twitter @EFCUMD, Sustainable Maryland is on Facebook, and the Municipal Online Stormwater Center (MOST) is on Twitter @TheMOSTCenter

The Environmental Finance Center, part of the


Jennifer Cotting, Director

jcotting@umd.edu


Mike Hunninghake, Editor

mikeh75@umd.edu

Connect.
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Consider.


 "We should consider this the new normal. We need to be preparing for more heat, more often. That’s the reality."


-Katherine Idziorek, assistant professor in geography and community planning at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. June was the Earth’s 13th consecutive month to break a global heat record.

 

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