Resources for Coastal Planners & Decision Makers
Sea Level Rise + Climate Viewers
Massachusetts Climate Clearinghouse: Gateway to data and information relevant to climate change adaptation and mitigation across the state.
Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation Assessment Tool: summaries of authoritative datasets for Counties, Census Tracts, and Tribal Lands that let users examine the intersection of climate data with other federal information products such as the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool and Building Code Adoption Tracking.
NOAA Digital Coast Data and Viewers: Range of digital viewers such as SLR, elevation, land cover, weather, marine habitat, water quality, etc.
NOAA Digital Coast Academy: Training modules to understand available data.
MA CZM Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flooding Viewer: MC-FRM and Sea Level Rise viewers developed by Woods Hole Group in collaboration with Commonwealth.
MA Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) Viewer: CZM’s model to explore the current and potential future extent and distribution of Massachusetts coastal wetlands in response to sea level rise.
FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) Viewer: Includes new zones including the LiMWA.
Ecosystem Viewers
EEA BioMap Hub: Tool to guide strategic protection and stewardship of lands and waters that are most important for conserving biological diversity in Massachusetts.
UMass Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System: ecosystem-based approach for assessing the ecological integrity of lands and waters and subsequently identifying and prioritizing land for habitat and biodiversity conservation.
MassBays Assessment Areas: Details the 68 "assessment areas” across the MassBays region, each covering a specific estuary, beach, or rocky shore.
Massachusetts Interactive Property Map: Land property boundaries from assessor parcel maps across Massachusetts.
MassDEP Eelgrass Maps: Updated eelgrass data for the North Shore is being reviewed now and anticipated to be live in the coming months.
Social and Environmental Justice
ResilientMass Guides for Equitable and Actionable Resilience: Data and guidance to assess climate change impacts, and actions/ case studies for building community resilience.
EOHHS MA Environmental Public Health Tracking: Community profiles that provide a snapshot of environmental health across the state.
EPA Environmental Justice Screen: National environmental justice screening and mapping tool.
MA EEA Environmental Justice Viewer: Massachusetts-specific EJ map
Policy
MEPA Environmental Monitor: Bi-weekly publication that provides notice of new projects submitted to MEPA , other projects currently under review, certificates, and public notices.
MassDEP Wetlands Program Guidelines on Salt Marsh Restoration Techniques, including. Ditch Remediation, Runnels, and Marsh Habitat Mounds.
MassDEP Wetland Protections Act and Proposed Regulatory Changes: Highlights new standards proposed in Land Subject to Coastal Storm Flowage (LSCSF); provisions requiring consideration of nature-based solutions, a provision allowing scientific research for Climate change and SLR, and a provision that allows for the creation of new saltmarsh; two new additions under limited projects allowing for maintenance and improvements of existing public roadways due to SLR, including road elevation and relocation.
Model Bylaw Toolkit: Created by MVPC and Greenscapes, this is an interactive web-based toolkit meant to assist municipalities in finding model language related to stormwater mitigation and climate resiliency for Zoning, Subdivision, Planning Board, and Stormwater codes.
MAPC Climate Resilient Land Use Strategies: This resource highlights regulatory language and policy examples from MAPC's 101 communities and beyond.
Infrastructure
North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative Data Center: Map of searchable stream crossings (culverts, bridges, and dams) in the region.
Water Quality + Restoration
PIE-LTER Water Quality Data: Local water quality data from the Plum Island Ecosystems LTER (PIE) group led by Anne Giblin and located in Byfield.
MassDEP INSPIRE: Ideas for Nonpoint Source Projects: Information, Resources, and Examples
CZM Coastal Landscaping Index: Landscaping options for controlling coastal erosion, preventing storm damage, and enhancing wildlife habitat.
Atlantic Coast Joint Venture Coastal Marsh Project database (ME and NH): An online database of coastal marsh habitat projects designed to catalog restoration and conservation efforts in the region.
Local and Regional Resources + Studies
Municipal Vulnerability Plans by Community: Link to all MVP plans in the Commonwealth.
Effects of a large-scale, natural sediment deposition event on plant cover in a Massachusetts salt marsh: Study in 2021 of natural event by Gregg Moore (UNH) and collaborators.
Traditional Uses of the Great Marsh: Report created in 2013 by a project eta of graduate students from the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Dept. at Tufts University.
Perennial Pepperweed Control Handbook: Developed by Mass Audubon, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, the Massachusetts Bays Estuary Program, and the Newburyport Gulf of Maine Institute team to share lessons learned for battling pepperweed, and/or other invasive species in the Great Marsh.
Danger in the Reeds Video: A 20-minute video produced by Richard Hydren that features a portion of each of the 11 complete segments about Phragmites australis - the invasive reed that is choking the native spartina grasses that make up the Great Marsh. The full segments are available at dangerinthereeds.com.
Voices of the Great Marsh Video: In March of 2001, the ETGM Committee in cooperation with organizations such as Mass Audubon and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as local citizens and students, produced a short videotape about the Great Marsh to capture, before it’s too late, the stories of the Great Marsh, its significance to our natural and cultural heritage, and the need for us to protect it for future generations.
Landowner Technical Assistance Program: A University of New Hampshire led program that provides consistent, technical assistance to interested coastal landowners to help understand potential coastal flood risks and restoration opportunities, clarify goals for managing their property, and identify conceptual options that may enhance the resilience of their properties, neighborhoods, and community’s natural resources.