Living shorelines in the Pacific

[Pam Rubinoff]

Hey folks - Looking for some input, Wondering if any of you know of Pacific/West Coast examples and/or design expertise related to "living shorelines" ? Or perhaps you have contacts in the region of folks that do? Inspired by some of our colleagues on the East Coast, Murray Ford (Hi SG) and I have been interested in seeing if there are some potential options for soft/hybrid solutions in the Marshall Islands. This is part of a USAID project that the University of Rhode Island is partnering with HI SG and College of Marshall Islands. There is a US Forest Service Project for planting/vegetating shorelines, and we were thinking to see if we could supplement that with a living shoreline demo that addresses shoreline erosion/habitat protection. THANKS in advance.

[Christopher L Conger]

Aloha everyone. I posted a document:
Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources - The Protective Role of Natural and Engineered Defense Systems in Coastal Hazards
on the Adaptation page under the Climate Change tab

It is a literature review that compares the effectiveness of living vs. structural shorelines for coastal hazard mitigation.

[Spencer Rogers]

To add significant wave protection it takes a relatively agressive "living" resource, usually a wetland species. Smooth cordgrass, black needle rush and mangroves are the most likely species. The first two are considered invasive species in the West Coast. The native marsh in the NW does not appear to be a good candidate. Most marsh exposures require some sort of permanent structure for wave reduction. I have not used mangroves.

Oyster rock/reef enhancement has potential but it offers such limited wave reduction that defining appropriate exposure and determining reliability needs more work in my view.

Offshore reef construction that might grow coral might have some applications in coral climates. Engineering is much more complicated than smaller marsh sills.

Spencer