Projects - Resilient Woods Hole

ResilientWoodsHole is coordinating institutional, village, and town climate resiliency plans within its initiative

Key Outcome

A comprehensive, phased strategy for increasing climate resiliency in Woods Hole, including development of village-wide design concepts and planning. This strategy addresses alternatives for institutional, private, and municipal infrastructure, as well as for natural habitat features and waterways.

Project Milestones

Click on each tab (+) to see how our project has evolved since our inception in 2020.

Recent Activities (July 2024-present)

Science Stroll - August 2025

RWH participated in the Woods Hole Science Stroll. RWH researchers spoke with many community members regarding their flood risk, our work, and emergency prepardness. RWH brought out our beach erosion model to teach kids about ways to prevent beach erosion!

Community Workshop - August 2025

RWH organized a Community Workshop on August 6th, 2025. This workshop was open-house style with six different stations for participants to visit over the three hour period. These stations included: the Town of Falmouth Coastal Resilience Specialist, a representative from Floodproofing.com, representative from the WHOI SeaGrant, information on the dynamic adaptation pathways, and information regarding emergency preparedness. The event was a success with over 80 participants in attendance! Learn more about the event here.

RWH Presents at the 2025 Nantucket Coastal Conference - June 2025

RWH presented at the Coastal Conference in Nantucket on June 10th. RWH's Program Manager, Mike Barrett, presented on RWH's recent efforts and future endeavors. This conference was a great opportunity to learn more about climate resilience journeys from other coastal communities, as well as identify some potential areas of collaboration.

RWH Hires Summer Interns - May 2025

RWH has hired two summer interns to help with outreach and engagement, as well as other tasks. The two interns, Kalea Holdren and Lindsey Lubofsky, will be responsible for content on social media, organizing a community workshop this summer, participating in other events, writing a draft for a peer-reviewed paper and many more! Welcome our interns!

Town of Falmouth Climate Resilience Workshop - February 2025

RWH organized and lead a climate resilience workshop with Town of Falmouth leadership and staff, including Department leads, Select Board members, and Town Manager. RWH presented on its climate resilience work within Woods Hole Village, and identified several priority areas to focus on with the Town, including the Mill Pond and Eel Pond areas and Water St. This workshop produced several outcomes, including priority actions to start work towards with floodproofing sewer infrastructure, enhancing emergency preparedness, and developing a feasibility study for the Mill Pond/Eel Pond area. To learn more about the workshop, read the Workshop Report.

WaterWorks - January 2025

RWH participated in the 2025 WaterWorks event, where RWH researchers spoke to high school students and interested college students regarding climate change and what young people can do to get involved!

1 Year of the RWH Climate Walking Trail - October 2024

RWH celebrates 1 year of the RWH Climate Walking Trail with 13 stops throughout the Village. Since its inception, the walking trail has been taken by over 2800 participants, featured by numerous news outlets, and lead by RWH researchers to different interested organizations. To learn more, visit our tour webpage.

Presentation at the Islands Conference - October 2024

RWH presented on our work at the Islands Coastal Conference held in Martha's Vineyard, which is a conference for coastal managers, environmental organizations, town officials and staff, conservation commissions, planning boards, consultants, researchers, experts and partners from across the region. The goal of the conference is to discuss a range of critical issues such as sea level rise, ocean acidification, storm flooding and erosion. View RWH's presentation here.

RWH Leads the RWH Climate Walking Trail - September 2024

RWH led visitors from the Barnstable Land Trust along some stop on the RWH Climate Walking Trail. Learn more about the tour.

Woods Hole Science Stroll - August 2024

RWH participated at the Woods Hole Science Stroll. We brought sea level rise and coastal storm flooding maps, pictures of our most recent projects, and a beach erosion model to our table at the Science Stroll. View photos from the event on our social media.

Phase 4 (October 2022 - June 2024)

Phase 4 Report is Released- June 2024

ResilientWoodsHole released the Phase 4 Report, which outlines the floodproofing demonstration projects at WHOI and MBL, the Stoney Beach Feasibility study, and our outreach and engagement projects. You can read the report here.

Demonstration Projects at WHOI and MBL Complete - June 2024

ResilientWoodsHole completed floodproofing demonstration projects at WHOI's Bigelow building and MBL's Lillie building. At WHOI's Bigelow building, RWH identified key windows and doors that required floodproofing and deployable flood barriers were installed in June 2024. At MBL's Lillie Lab, RWH initially identified key doors and windows that required floodproofing, but opted for an alternative deployable flood barrier that attached to either ends of the external masonry of the building. You can read more about the project in our Phase 4 report and follow us on social media to keep up to date on RWH's projects.

RWH Collaborates with the Nobska Lighthouse and Maritime Museum - May 2024

ResilientWoodsHole collaborated with the Nobska Lighthouse and Maritime Museum on a climate resilience exhibit. This exhibit space includes information on climate change in Woods Hole, climate projections in form of a 3D model, and information on the RWH initiative. Visit the museum website for visiting hours and directions.

RWH Presents at Falmouth Select Board Meeting - February 2024

ResilientWoodsHole presented an overview of the RWH to the Falmouth Town Select Board during their Select Board Meeting on February 12, 2024.To view the meeting and the presentation (around the 40 minute mark), please click here.

RWH Climate Walking Trail Launch - October 2023

ResilientWoodsHole formally launched the RWH Climate Walking Trail on October 24th, 2023. Our new self-guided tour can be taken online or via the RWH app. This trail highlights:

Impacts from historic storms
Discusses sea level rise and coastal storm flooding projections
Evaluates current impacts of storms on organization, town, and residential properties
Identifies some solutions to alleviate climate impacts.

This trail takes the user around 12 stops in Woods Hole Village, with each physical location marked by a post, and takes about 2 hours to complete. You can read more about the RWH Climate Walking Trail launch here.

Neighborhood Working Group Meeting - August 2023

ResilientWoodsHole held its third NWG meeting with residents, business owners, employees, and other stakeholders in Woods Hole on August 29th. This meeting was an open-house format and combined all the neighborhoods in Woods Hole Village. This workshop had 5 main stations and objectives:

Woods Hole Village Vulnerabilities: Learn about Woods Hole’s flood risk and envision a resilient Village.
Flood Pathways: Visualize Woods Hole’s flood risk in 3D and comment on designs that mitigate a flood pathway at Stoney Beach.
Property Owners: Get technical assistance on protecting your property from sea level rise and storm surge.
Adaptations: Share your input on ways to reduce your neighborhood’s vulnerability to sea level rise and storm surge.
Community: Talk to your neighbors and leave your parting thoughts

To read a summary of the meetings, visit here.

Neighborhood Working Group Meetings - June 2023

ResilientWoodsHole held its second set of NWG meetings with residents, business owners, employees, and other stakeholders in Woods Hole. Several areas of concern and action steps were identified in the meetings:

Mill Pond and the wetlands - increase ecological health of Mill Pond, increase filtration behind seawall
Culverts between Eel and Mill Pond - repair culverts and increase flow between the two ponds
Bar Neck Rd - elevate the road and restore dunes on either side of the road

To read a summary of the meetings, visit here. Visit this page for updated resources.

Neighborhood Working Group Meetings - March 2023 - April 2023

ResilientWoodsHole has held its first set of meetings where it engaged residents, business owners, employees, and other stakeholders in Woods Hole from 9 areas in Woods Hole. Several main themes were identified during the neighborhood working groups:

Need for collaboration between town, institutions, and community on the long-term vision of Woods Hole
Need for changes in regulation to help with climate resilience action
Need to establish community associations or improvement districts in Woods Hole neighborhoods to help fund resilience projects

To read a summary of the meetings, visit the ResilientWoodsHole Neighborhood Working Group Meeting Summary.

Visit this page for resources.

ResilientWoodsHole is Active on Social Media - March 2023

ResilientWoodsHole has create social media pages to connect with part-time and full-time residents, business owners, employees, and other stakeholders in Woods Hole. Follow and like us on our Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter pages!

ResilientWoodsHole in the News - October 2022

Hannah Loss from Inside Climate News visited Woods Hole to learn more about ResilientWoodsHole and learn how the community and institutions have taken steps to reduce the impacts of climate change. You can read the full article here.

Phase 4: October 2022 - June 2024

ResilientWoodsHole was awarded its second Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) grant to continue its work in implementing community climate resiliency solutions. Phase 4 has three main scopes focusing on the short-term, medium-term, and long-term.

For the short-term, RWH is conducting climate resilient demonstration projects in MBL, WHOI, and NOAA Fisheries.
For the medium-term, RWH is conducting a feasibility study for nature-based solutions on Stoney Beach.
For the long-term, RWH is continuing outreach and engagement efforts by conducting neighborhood working groups, establishing social media pages, creating a climate resilience podcast, and developing a self-guided walking tour.

Phase 3 (October 2021-June 2022)

Phase 3 Report is Released: June 2022

The Phase 3 report that outlines ResilientWoodsHole's extensive outreach efforts and proposed adaptation solutions was completed in June 2022 and can be found here.

Regulatory Report is Released - June 2022

ResilientWoodsHole commissioned Nutter McClennen & Fish, LLP to conduct a regulatory review of federal, state, and town bylaws to evaluate how regulations help or impede climate resilience action. You can read the report here.

Community Visioning Workshop #2 - May 2022

The second participatory workshop builds upon the first community workshop. The second community workshop included a review of coastal vulnerability and potential adaptation strategies in nine areas of Woods Hole. Each participant provided input on the adaptation pathways in each of the nine management areas. You can access the workshop presentation here or read more about the workshop here.

Community Visioning Workshop #1 - February 2022

A participatory workshop beginning with a review and update on Woods Hole’s vulnerability to sea-level rise and storm surge. Followed by breakout room discussions on:

Important aspects of Woods Hole to adapt for resilience
Your observations of flooding in Woods Hole
Your preferred strategies for building resilience
Private-property flood protection opportunities
Sewer adaptation ideas

You can watch the workshop here.

Phase 3: October 2021 – June 2022

ResilientWoodsHole is engaging the local community in a dialogue about coastal flooding risks; identifying village flood pathways and vulnerabilities; and discussing long-term protective strategies. This phase is funded through the Office of Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (CZM) grant and institutional matching funds.

Phase 2 (October 2020 – October 2021)

Phase 2 Report is Released - January 2022

ResilientWoodsHole released the Phase 2 report that outlines the results of a vulnerability assessment on Woods Hole village and lifelines, such as roads. You can read the whole report here.

Symposium, November 2021

A public symposium was held to raise awareness about climate-change research in Woods Hole, the ResilientWoodsHole initiative, and state, regional, and local climate resiliency planning.

You can view the symposium here.

Phase 2: October 2020 – October 2021

An adaptation pathways project that builds on and integrates the results of the Town of Falmouth CCVA and the Woods Hole Village CCVA.

Phase 1 (January 2020 – September 2020)

Symposium - September 2020

Phase 1 culminated in a public symposium and the Woods Hole Village CCVA was released to the public.

Phase 1 January – September 2020

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Biological Laboratory, and NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center commissioned Woods Hole Group to prepare the Woods Hole Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (CCVA) and Adaptation Plan.

Periodic impacts include
Nuisance flooding of developed areas and infrastructure due to the shifting tidal range, coastal wetlands migration/loss in undeveloped areas due to the shifting tidal range, and potential erosion of natural shorelines due to repetitive storm damage.

Episodic impacts include
Risk of flooding to developed areas and infrastructure during more frequent and more intense coastal storms with greater potential for impact due to sea level rise.