Webinar Description
As coastal communities strive to safeguard themselves from increasing storm risks, they are looking for ways to maximize the protective powers of their natural features such as coastal wetlands. This project closely examined one marsh complex that lies adjacent to Piermont Village along the Hudson River Estuary in New York. Village residents wanted to better understand how Piermont Marsh would buffer their village from storm-induced flooding and waves, and whether a proposed plan to restore native cattails within a small area of the Phragmites-dominated marsh would lessen its buffering capacity.
In this webinar, two members of the project team explained how the team used state of the art modeling methods to simulate marsh vegetation and storm impacts produced by a series of past and future storm scenarios. By looking back at Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and projecting how much worse the damage could have been without the marsh, the research team was able to put a dollar value on Piermont Marsh ’s buffering services. They shared key takeaways from the research and explained how the findings are informing planning for the marsh and shoreline infrastructure.
Webinar Summary Products
- Slides and Q&A (PDF)
- Webinar Recording (YouTube)
- Speaker Bios (Webinar Page)
Additional Resources Noted by Presenters
- Courtney, S., E.B. Watson, and F. Montalto. 2020. Is sea level rise altering wetland hydrology in Hudson River Valley tidal marshes? Section I: 1-34pp. In S.H. Fernald, D.J. Yozzo and H. Andreyko (eds.), Final Reports of the Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship Program, 2020. Hudson River Foundation.
- Montalto, F.A., T.S. Steenhuis, and J.Y. Parlange. 2006. The hydrology of Piermont Marsh, a reference for tidal marsh restoration in the Hudson river estuary, New York. Journal of Hydrology 316: 108-128.