Low-lying public lands along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast are vulnerable to sea-level rise. Coastal planners and resource managers in the region have requested customized information that can be used to concisely communicate local sea-level rise scenarios and identify potential impacts to the missions of management agencies.
In this project, researchers will work with the Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative to develop fact sheets outlining potential sea-level rise scenarios for the region through 2100, and the potential impacts of these varying amounts of sea-level rise on the missions of national wildlife refuge and national park lands along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Researchers will draw from existing information on regional and global sea-level rise scenarios and associated projections of high-tide flooding to develop customized fact sheets for the region’s 43 national wildlife refuges and 10 National Park Service lands.
This project was developed in response to a request for customized sea-level rise scenario products from partners at the Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Gulf Restoration Program. The results of this project will support the conservation stewardship missions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service by providing science to inform management of its lands along the Gulf of Mexico.
