As hurricane season ramps up, it is a good reminder of our vulnerable coast. It is also a test of our ability to have learned from the past and take action to implement mitigation measures that will help us be more resilient to these recurring threats in the future.
With Hurricane Ida recovery just starting and the 2020 Hurricanes Sally and Zeta still fresh in our memories, we are forced to reflect on what we’ve learned from the past. It has been 16 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated our communities and 11 years since we implemented the first version of the Coastal Community Resilience Index (CRI). In that time, over 60 communities in the Gulf have utilized the self-assessment (many of them more than once) and made great strides toward improving their resilience. As a result of completing the CRI, local municipalities have:
- Included sea level rise scenarios in their planning efforts.
- Updated stormwater infrastructure and improved water flow.
- Helped local businesses create continuity of operations plans so they can get back online quickly after a disaster.
- Developed flood response plans.
- Protected culturally sensitive sites from erosion.
- Preserved aquatic habitats as a buffer for storm surge.
- Many more activities aimed at improving their resilience scores.
As more communities completed the self-assessment, they provided feedback on sections, questions and information they felt should be included to enhance the tool. We are proud to announce that these recommendations and additions have been made, vetted by an expert committee and pilot tested. The revised CRI is now available online at: http://masgc.org/ri.
The revised CRI consists of updates in three main areas: (1) Health and Human Services, (2) Environmental/Ecosystem Services and (3) Eligible CRS activities that align with CRI indicators. This was a collaborative update led by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant and the Gulf Alliance (GOMA) in coordination with partners guiding the various components of the updates (funded by a NOAA Regional Coastal Resilience Grant).
The Harte Research Institute led efforts to devise indicators that would capture the benefits we receive from natural features, such as living shorelines and open space (funded by GOMA’s GulfStar Program). Louisiana Sea Grant led efforts to test participatory mapping in the CRI meetings as well as develop a tribal version that incorporates traditional ecological knowledge (funded by NOAA’s Gulf Regional Collaboration Team). RAND Gulf States held a series of roundtables to generate indicators that incorporate health and human services (funded by RAND). This has truly been a joint effort, and one we hope will continue to benefit communities across the Gulf.
Thank you
We would like to thank the many people who have spent countless hours reviewing, discussing and making changes to the original CRI to get us to this point. Specifically, the CRI Advisory Committee who wrote new indicators and evaluated their relevance.
- Kristina Alexander, MS-AL Sea Grant
- deEtte Smythe, St. Tammany Parish
- Amanda Torres, City of Corpus Christi
- Allison Anderson, Unabridged Architecture
- Rhonda Price, MS Dept. of Marine Resources
- Heidi Stiller, NOAA Office for Coastal Management
- Melissa Daigle, Louisiana Sea Grant
- Libby Carnahan, Florida Sea Grant
- Steven Mikulencak, Texas AgriLife & Extension
- David Yoskowitz, Harte Research Institute
- Joie Acosta, RAND Corporation
- LaDon Swann, MS-AL Sea Grant
- Stephen Deal, MS-AL Sea Grant
- Hank Hodde, Pinellas County
- Eric Sparks, MS-AL Sea Grant
- Becky Allee, NOAA Office for Coastal Management
- Kristen Laursen, NOAA Regional Collaboration Team
- Kara Coffey, Harte Research Institute
- Carolyn Martin, City of Ocean Springs
- Katya Wowk, Harte Research Institute
- Lauren Hutch Williams, The Nature Conservancy
- Matt Bethel, Louisiana Sea Grant
- Valeria Keese, Texas AgriLife & Extension
- Timothy Little, Texas AgriLife & Extension
- Lannie Smith, Community Health Systems
- Kit Alexander, City of Orange Beach
- Marian Hanisko, NOAA Office for Coastal Management
- Niki Pace, Louisiana Sea Grant
Coming soon
Be on the lookout for “A Classroom Course in Community Resilience” that will soon be available to educators that utilizes the Coastal Community Resilience Index as the focus of equipping student leaders who will assume decision maker positions in the near future. The goal of the curriculum is to empower students, teach them to use problem solving skills to tackle real world problems their communities will face, and develop innovative solutions. Dr. Jessie Kastler at the University of Southern Mississippi Marine Education Center is leading this effort (funded by NOAA’s BWET Program).
For more information on the revised CRI, please contact Tracie Sempier, coastal resilience engagement specialist, at [email protected] or Jody Thompson, regional outreach coordinator, at [email protected].
Meet the author
Tracie Sempier, Ph.D.
Resilience Engagement Lead
Tracie Sempier serves as the resilience engagement lead at Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant. She engages with communities to help them become more resilient and works to decrease negative impacts of... Read more
Phone: 228-818-8829
Email: [email protected]