Jacobs and The Nature Conservancy to Develop Nature-based Coastal Resilience Implementation Plans for South Carolina

Jacobs is working with The Nature Conservancy and South Carolina Office of Resilience to develop a set of Nature-based Coastal Resilience Implementation Plans for South Carolina in the U.S.

The project is being funded by a $6.8 million National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience grant that was awarded to The Nature Conservancy and made available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

Jacobs worked with The Nature Conservancy to secure the grant and is now contracted to develop three Nature-based coastal Resilience Implementation Plans. Each of the plans will cover a separate region of the South Carolina coast to account for differences in flood risk, coastline morphology, tidal regime and key stakeholders.

Over 1 million people live along South Carolina's coastline and face a variety of weather- and climate-related hazards, including hurricanes, storm surge, marsh erosion and coastal flooding. The state has nearly 200 miles of coastline and half a million acres of salt marsh - more than any other Atlantic coast state.

Jacobs and The Nature Conservancy will lead a stakeholder-driven process to evaluate up to 60 large-scale and transformational nature-based solutions to help reduce coastal flood risks and erosion while enhancing the natural environment. These include solutions such as salt marsh enhancement, habitat restoration and protection, living shorelines, oyster reefs and beneficial use of sediment.

The plans will also include identification of funding, partnership and permitting strategies, as well as project timelines and conceptual designs for three selected projects. The development of the plans will be conducted through a robust geodesign process and will be supported by a public-facing web-based story map.

In 2023 the South Carolina Office of Resilience published a Strategic Statewide Resilience and Risk Reduction Plan that identifies major flood risks in South Carolina and resilience strategies for local governments to implement. The new Nature-based Coastal Resilience Implementation Plans will build on that statewide framework and explore how nature-based solutions can complement other strategies to support comprehensive coastal resilience solutions for South Carolina.

The project also builds on the experience that Jacobs and The Nature Conservancy have developed working on large-scale coastal resilience plans and solutions, including for Tyndall Air Force Base and Pensacola East Bay oyster restoration in Florida.

Launched in May 2024, the planning process will begin by defining the plans' objectives as well as developing equitable stakeholder engagement and communication strategies. Equity is an important project component and stakeholder engagement will ensure that the solutions identified in the plans deliver equitable and impactful outcomes.

"Large-scale nature-based solutions, in the order of tens or hundreds of acres or miles of coastline, along with other traditional protection measures, will be key to moving the needle on flood risk reduction and achieving multiple environmental and community benefits," say Jacobs Project Manager David Bell. "These comprehensive solutions require regional approaches and close stakeholder collaboration, and so we're excited to be facilitating that in South Carolina with the Office of Resilience and through our continued work with The Nature Conservancy."

"Coastal resilience is a top priority for many of our clients along the Atlantic Seaboard in the U.S." says Jacobs Senior Vice President Chrissy Thom. "Our work with The Nature Conservancy is helping to demonstrate the important role for nature-based solutions within comprehensive coastal resilience strategies that protect and enhance our communities and ecosystems."

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