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Aquidneck Island Land Trust outlines $2 million NOAA resilience grant and islandwide coordination plans
Summary
Paige Myatt of the Aquidneck Island Land Trust briefed Middletown Council on a four-year, $2 million NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge grant to fund islandwide resilience planning, technical assistance, community engagement and long-term coordination across Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth and the Navy.
Paige Myatt, director of climate resilience at the Aquidneck Island Land Trust, updated the Town of Middletown Council on a new regional resilience effort funded by NOAA’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge.
"I'm excited to give an update on our regional resilience efforts across Aquidneck Island," Myatt told the council, describing a four-year, $2 million capacity-building award that will be hosted by the land trust and delivered in close collaboration with Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth and the Naval Station. Myatt said the project was one of 19 selected nationally from more than 800 applicants and that the Aquidneck project is the only award in Rhode Island.
The grant funds four main activities: providing technical assistance and capacity building for municipalities (grant-writing, project management and community engagement); developing an islandwide climate resilience action plan to prioritize short- and long-term projects; piloting new and more inclusive community engagement approaches; and designing a durable framework for long-term regional coordination beyond the grant’s four-year term. Topic areas include coastal resilience and flood reduction, stormwater management, ecological restoration, transportation and land-use, water-quality and drinking-water resilience, and emergency preparedness.
Myatt said the grant notice of award is contracted and the team has started work, but she acknowledged federal-funding uncertainty: their grant officer has assured them the award stands, but the team will continue work "until someone tells us to stop." She also introduced two new staff assigned to the project: Glenny LeBaron, community engagement manager, and Jamie Haines Matthews, resilience and sustainability specialist.
Council members asked about transportation and traffic-related pollution impacts on water quality. Myatt said the project team is not composed of traffic engineers but is collaborating with Bike Newport, Safe Streets for All initiatives and other partners to integrate transportation concerns into resilience and water-quality work. She identified several near-term technical priorities that the effort will support on an islandwide basis, including watershed and drinking-water supply projects, beach resiliency work, bike/pedestrian pathway improvements and municipal hazard mitigation planning.
Ending Myatt encouraged councilors and residents to reach out to the land trust staff with ideas or questions and said the work will include additional public outreach opportunities across the island. The grant's technical assistance and collaborative planning are intended to help municipalities prioritize projects and pursue external construction funding.
