The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is partnering with the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) and the City of East Providence to test the effectiveness of “living shoreline” erosion controls at Rose Larisa Park.
The construction contract was awarded to SumCo Eco-Contracting of Salem, Mass. through a competitive bidding process. The project is funded in part through a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coastal Resiliency Fund.
The project at Rose Larisa Park is part of a larger regional initiative—also funded by NOAA and managed by TNC—to learn how living shorelines perform in New England.
Unlike concrete or stone seawalls, living shorelines are designed to prevent erosion while also providing habitat for marine life.
While these new techniques have been implemented extensively elsewhere in the United States, few have been permitted, built and evaluated in New England.
These small-scale, experimental projects will give coastal engineers and coastal permitting agencies a better sense of their cost and effectiveness.
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