Dr. Karl Havens to speak at upcoming SJRA board meeting

Florida cities need to get ready for rising seas, researcher says
Climate change puts a new spin on an annual beach-science meeting.

By Steve Patterson
on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010
for Jacksonville.com

INDIALANTIC - Florida cities can protect themselves now from hurricane damage by getting ready for sea levels to rise someday, a coastal expert told beach engineers meeting Friday.

Planning for higher water levels will make coastal towns less vulnerable to storm surges, even if long-term forecasts about climate changes and rising seas prove to be wrong, said Karl Havens, director of the Florida Sea Grant program, a partnership between the federal government and Florida's university system.

"So much of what we're doing with communities overlaps," said Havens, whose program finances coastal research and advises local governments on coastal issues.

He spoke at the National Conference on Beach Preservation Technology, a yearly meeting for engineers and others involved in controlling beach erosion.

Sea levels have historically increased slowly. But many scientists' predictions of climate change caused by man-made pollution include significant increases in ocean levels.

Many communities have been uncertain how, if at all, to respond. That has been complicated by uncertainty within the predictions themselves and by the vocal criticism of skeptics.

The St. Johns River Alliance, an organization that includes Jacksonville and other governments along the St. Johns River, has scheduled Havens to speak to its leaders about possible choices.

In an interview after the conference, Havens said he believed there were some politically easy steps that could help parts of Northeast Florida.

He singled out as an example the use of "living shorelines" to control erosion on riverbanks, which would be expected to increase as water levels rose. Rather than building bulkheads, in many areas Florida Sea Grant recommends adding oyster shells and cultivating riverbank grasses that help stabilize undeveloped shorelines.

Living shorelines are meant to absorb waves, while Havens said bulkheads simply shift the force of the water over to the nearest unprotected property.

A study published last year by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sea-level researcher seemed to suggest many Florida communities would try to protect developed areas if sea levels rose significantly. In doing so, however, they would shift onto taxpayers rising costs of maintaining roads and sewers that weren't built for the higher water level.

Preserving existing wetlands and undeveloped coastal areas is often cited as another simple way communities can minimize the effects of higher water.

Havens said there's a wide gap in how Florida's communities have addressed sea-level issues, with Miami-Dade County and a few others actively planning while others seem overwhelmed.

In some cases, nature has forced the issue. One presentation at Friday's conference was made by an engineer who designed a beach parking lot on pilings in Walton County in the Panhandle - after storms wiped out traditional parking lots at that site three times.

Sea Grant programs along the Gulf Coast have pooled money with Florida's program to jointly train their employees how to address the subject with local officials, he said.

steve.patterson@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4263
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2010-02-06/story/florida_cities_need_to_get_ready_for_rising_seas_researcher_says