Maryland Analyzes Coastal Wetlands Susceptibility to Climate Change

Acknowledged the threat and devised a strategy to analyze vulnerability

• Maryland's Climate Action Plan, the first component of a two phased strategy for adapting to sea level rise and coastal storms, specifies the extreme vulnerability of coastal wetlands and identifies the need to adapt to future conditions and "direct existing land conservation programs… to consider the use of conservation easements and other land conservation initiatives as a means to protect key coastal areas vulnerable to sea-level rise and to provide sufficient lands for wetland migration."
• The 2011 Maryland Commission on Climate Change "Building Societal, Economic and Ecological Resilience" report served as the second phase of this strategy by providing a suite of actions to address climate change. Among the actions recommended were to use downscaled projections of climate conditions as well as potential "at-risk" species and habitats to better inform land management and protection goals for critical areas including "saltwater marshes in danger from erosion", and "tracts of upland habitat where wetlands migration is likely to occur as sea level rises."

• The Climate Scenarios Projection Map provides easy-to-access scenario-based climate change projections drawn from CREAT.

Maryland developed an analysis to identify areas for current and future acquisition to spur climate adaptation of coastal wetlands

• Maryland used the Sea Level Affecting Marsh Model (SLAMM) to assess wetland migration and distribution under the projected sea level for the year 2050 and 2100. The analysis used a projection of 1.04 meters of sea level rise by 2100 that was between the range of 2.7 ft and 3.4 ft of sea-level rise that The State's Climate Action Plan projected based on two different emissions scenarios.

• Sea Level Affecting Marsh Model (SLAMM) simulates the dominant processes involved in wetland conversions and shoreline modifications during long-term sea level rise.
• US Climate Resiliency Toolkit can help you document climate hazards, assess vulnerabilities and quantify risks, and develop solutions to reduce your climate-related risks.

Identified “Targeted Ecological Areas” that would provide potential migration zones and integrated adaptation criteria into existing programs

• Maryland published the SLAMM analysis on a public coastal GIS dashboard, The Maryland Coastal Atlas, under the title “The Estuaries Wetland Change Tool” in order to help encourage integration of the analysis into public and private coastal conservation efforts.
• Maryland used this analysis to update a GIS Mapping System “GreenPrint” that models state designated “Targeted Ecological Areas,” which are lands and watersheds of high ecological value that have been identified as targeted conservation priorities by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

• Synthesis of Adaptation Options for Coastal Areas Guidebook provides a brief introduction to key physical impacts of climate change on estuaries and a review of adaptation options. 
• Rolling Easements Primer provides more than a dozen land use and legal tools for ensuring that intertidal habitats can persist even as sea level rises.