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The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Estuary Caucus, Representatives Bill Posey, Suzanne Bonamici, Frank LoBiondo, and Rick Larsen, along with the Coastal Communities Caucus, invite you to a briefing to learn about living shorelines: how this natural infrastructure can protect coastal communities during extreme weather, and how communities benefit from the variety of other services these shorelines provide.

More than 110 million Americans live, work, and recreate in and near estuaries; and risks to these coastal communities, including extreme weather events, have increased significantly. However, natural infrastructure options like salt marshes, mangroves, and coral reefs, offer protection to coastal communities by absorbing wave energy, soaking up excess flood waters, and stabilizing the shorelines thereby reducing coastal erosion. Despite the growing interest in these nature-based options, though, we still spend 30 times more on gray infrastructure like seawalls.

Come join us on Thursday, October 19th to learn more about living shorelines and the regulatory and permitting process for constructing living shorelines. We’ll have experts on living shorelines on hand to speak including:

* Carter Smith, Doctoral candidate at UNC-Chapel Hill researching living shorelines
* David Olson, Regulatory Program Manager at the Headquarters Office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
* Mindy Simmons, Senior Program Manager in the Navigation Business Line of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
* Dr. Danielle Kreeger, Senior Science Director for the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary

The briefing will be from 12:00 to 1:00 pm on Thursday, October 19th in Rayburn 2325 (Science, Space and Technology Committee Room). Come join us for Lunch and a Briefing on Living Shorelines. Please RSVP to Valentina Valenta in Congressman Posey’s office at valentina.valenta@mail.house.gov <mailto:valentina.valenta@mail.house.gov> .