Nantucket Coastal Conference
June 10, 2025
9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location
Great Harbor Yacht Club
96 Washington Street
Nantucket, Mass. 02554
Cost
This is a free conference.
Agenda
9:30 am - 9:45 am - Welcome and Kickoff
9:45 am - 10:15 am | Keynote Speaker
Alison Brizius, director, Mass. Office of Coastal Zone Management
10:15 am - 11:45 am | Topic 1: Local Planning
- Implementing the Vineyard Climate Action Plan, Liz Durkee, Martha's Vineyard Commission
- Connecting Coastal Communities: A spatial approach, Steve Mague and Sam McFarland, Center for Coastal Studies
- Nantucket Island's First Eelgrass Management Plan 2025, Tara Riley, Town of Nantucket
- Climate Action and Adaptation Planning, Michael Cahill, Town of Plymouth
- Engaging in Adaptation, Melyssa Nickerson, Town of Provincetown
12:00 pm - 1:15 pm | Topic 2: Coastal Resiliency
- Coastal Resilience in Nantucket's Downtown, Leah Hill and Vince Murphy, Town of Nantucket
- Benefits to Coastal Resilience from Restoring a Freshwater Wetland Complex at Windswept Bog, Nantucket, Karen Beattie, Nantucket Conservation Foundation
- Regulatory Tools for Coastal Floodplain Resiliency, Shannon Hulst, Cape Cod Cooperative Extension and WHOI Sea Grant
- Building Beach and Saltmarsh Resilience on the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, Jen Karberg and Alejandra Narvaez, Nantucket Conservation Foundation
1:15 pm - 2:00 pm | Lunch
Lunch will be provided. Posters available for viewing.
2:00 pm - 3:15 pm | Topic 3: Neighborhood- and Property-Scale Adaptation
- Envisioning Resilient Futures through Student and Community Partnerships, Claire Martin, Envision Resilience
- Resilient Woods Hole, Michael Barrett, WHOI/Resilient WoodsHole
- Sea Level Rise and Resiliency: Creating a climate risk assessment for Nantucket's built heritage, Niles Parker, Nantucket Historical Association
- Aesthetic Community Character and Flood Risk, Shannon Hulst, Cape Cod Cooperative Extension and WHOI Sea Grant
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm | Topic 4: Presentations and Panel on Retreat
- Planned Relocation and the Flood Adaptation Toolbox, Emma Gildesgame, The Nature Conservancy
- Sandy Neck Beach Park Coastal Resiliency Project, Nina Coleman, Town of Barnstable
Frequently Asked Questions
Contact
Shelly McComb, WHOI Sea Grant and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension
From Instagram
Did you know that coastal hazards pose risks to 3 million people in the state of Mass. alone, and that the recovery could cost the state $1 billion by the 2050's-2070's?
MA Office of Coastal Zone Management Director Alison Brazius shared these facts during her keynote speech at our 2025 Nantucket Coastal Conference. Brazius emphasized the importance of resilient coast planning in Massachusetts, pointing to the state’s draft ResilientCoasts plan that describes actions the state and local communities can take to invest in resilience, avoiding the worst impacts and saving money doing it. And that’s why we love hosting an annual Islands Coastal Conference series: to create a space for community members, decision makers, scientists, and regulators in our region to gather and chat about building a sustainable future together!
Location Map
Sponsoring Organizations
