Reducing Barriers to Living Shorelines Through Sea Grant Extension Programs

Abstract

Natural shorelines provide ecosystem services that are integral to maintaining healthy and resilient coastal ecosystems and communities. However, anthropogenic and environmental stressors are reducing the extent of natural shorelines, and thus, their capacity to provide critical ecosystem services. Unfortunately, the most common shoreline management strategies involve hardened structures (e.g., bulkheads and seawalls) that are known to impair coastal ecosystems. Living shorelines offer a more environmentally friendly alternative to this shoreline hardening. To increase the adoption of living shorelines, the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and Florida Sea Grant have produced guidance documents, offered technical assistance, constructed demonstration sites, and hosted trainings for property owners, contractors, and other practitioners. This article summarizes those efforts, details the results that have been achieved, and outlines existing barriers to further living shoreline implementation in the region.

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