Climate Change & Resiliency

Goodwin & Associates has the skills needed to deal with the effects of climate change on cultural resources and places of historic importance. We understand that preserving the past while building a better future is partially dependent on putting into effect both sweeping and targeted programs to make our country more resilient to climate change. Our staff has many years of experience handling the effects of climate change while ensuring that effects to historical and archaeological resources are avoided or minimized. We have completed dozens of projects related to beach nourishment, wetlands recovery and stabilization, coastal erosion/living shorelines, and the impacts of sea level change. Our work Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Agency (CPRA), for example, has been ongoing for many years and support CPRA’s mission to “ preserve coastal Louisiana’s rich culture, ecosystems, and natural resources threatened by ongoing land loss and flood risk.” These projects have been of vital importance in meeting CPRA’s mission and accommodating historic preservation goals simultaneously. The work of Goodwin & Associates related to Super Storm Sandy also helped to assess the level and amount of damage that may be incurred in the future by similar weather events and to plan for continued seal level change. Our staff identified hundreds of cultural resources (standing structures and archaeological sites) along the coast of Connecticut and on the island and along the shoreline of Boston Harbor that require the implementation of resiliency planning to harden them for storms and protect them from sea level rise.