Case Studies | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit

Communities, businesses, and individuals are taking action to document their vulnerabilities and build resilience to climate-related impacts. Click dots on the map to preview case studies, or browse stories below the map. Use the drop-down menus above to find stories of interest. To expand your results, click the Clear Filters link.

A Coral Bleaching Story With an Unknown Ending

Changing ocean conditions pose an increasing threat to the health and resilience of coral reefs. Across the two Samoas—American Samoa and the Independent State of Samoa—people are planning to protect these important ecosystems.

The dock at China Champ, San Rafael, California

A Road-Flooding Fix for a California State Park

Flooding from rain and extreme high tides often leaves the road to San Francisco's China Camp State Park inaccessible. So a diverse group of stakeholders, with support from NOAA’s Science Collaborative team, proposed raising the road.

Panorama of the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska

A Town with a Plan: Community, Climate, and Conversations

Homer, Alaska, has been taking action to reduce climate change for almost a decade. As the ten-year anniversary of their first plan looms on the horizon, the community is engaging in conversations about adaptation.

Destruction to the Norwalk Calf Pasture Pier caused by Hurricane Sandy

Climate Preparedness Workshops Provide a Head Start Toward Resilience

After a series of extreme weather events, the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, looked for ways to prepare for future storms. Their planning process had just started when they got hit again...

Shoreline at Ebey State Park, Whidbey Island, WA

Coastal Readiness Project Increases Hazard Readiness

A four-year multi-partner project empower's Washington State's coastal communities to strengthen their resilience to sea level rise, storm surges, wave impacts, and shoreline erosion.

Greening Boston: The Climate Change Preparedness and Resiliency Checklist

To build the city's resilience, Boston requires that new buildings and renovation projects follow best practices for climate change adaptation.

Home Elevation Program Helps Demystify The Process

Click the link below to read the Peer-to-Peer Case Study by NOAA's Digital Coast: Home Elevation Program Helps Demystify The Process

In the Dark of Monday Morning: Waves Inundate a Pacific Island Community

People who live on low-lying islands are reminded daily of the threat they face from coastal flooding. An unexpected disaster prompted a community in the Republic of the Marshall Islands to consider how to notify people of potential events and help them know how to respond.

Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Plans for Change on the Olympic Peninsula

With valuable cultural and dietary assets at risk from sea level rise, this Pacific Northwest Tribe developed a plan to identify community adaptation priorities and concerns, and charted a course of action to address them.

Mandeville, Louisiana: A City that Stays Afloat by Promoting Elevations

The City of Mandeville, located in St. Tammany Parish, decided to commit to helping residents escape troublesome flood waters. Finally tiring of the constant issue of a repeated damage-repair cycle, city officials decided to act by adopting high regulatory standards for the elevation of homes and businesses.

Waves crashing into basaltic rocks from lava flows on Hawai'i Island

Reality Check: Collaborative Research Contributes to Real-Life Policy Decisions

Innovative research efforts combined historic aerial photos, drone imagery, and topographic surveys to characterize coastal change around Hawai'i Island. The results are informing policy makers who are crafting a new setback policy for coastal development.

Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council

To help communities identify shoreline adaptation projects, the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council proactively formed partnerships with stakeholders from 21 coastal municipalities. This relationship-building yielded understanding of local priorities and buy-in for potential projects.

Students Promote Flood Resilience and Reduce Insurance Costs

Middle school students are working to help residents recognize and reduce flood risk in their coastal Georgia city. Their efforts are also earning the community credits to lower their costs for flood insurance.

Aerial photo of northern Beaufort County’s low-lying sea islands.

The Lowcountry Lowdown on Sea Level Rise

Recognizing increasing risks from sea level rise, leaders in Beaufort County, South Carolina, used a participatory process to help anticipate outcomes and make plans to build their resilience.

Pago Pago Harbor, American Samoa with fuel tanks in foreground.

The Pacific Islands Climate Storybook

To empower community climate adaptation in the Pacific Islands, a multi-island coalition expanded upon a 2015 comprehensive template for writing climate stories and the collection of case studies. The new Storybook is a roadmap to predict, prepare, and adapt, to a changing climate.

Roadway with bridge rising up over ocean water

The Road to Resilience

Frequent and severe inland flooding is an increasing problem for North Carolina's transportation system. A multi-agency team is working to understand the impacts of these floods—and to consider possible solutions.

Lone Tree Point on the Swinomish Reservation, La Conner, Washington

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Prepares for Climate Change Impacts

From changes in traditional foods to concerns of displacement from rising seas, this coastal community in the Pacific Northwest is assessing potential impacts to make decisions for their future.

The Water Institute of the Gulf — Port Fourchon: Supporting Resiliency on an Evolving Coast

To ensure community support for nature-based reuse of dredged material in Port Fourchon, the Water Institute of the Gulf developed a robust outreach and engagement plan and worked with public and private partners to gather stakeholder input and potential project designs and sites.

Cloudy sky over ocean and flat beach environment

Tribal Community Partners with Researchers to Monitor Food and Climate

Residents of a rural Alaska village are studying their environment to understand and protect their food. Their research partnership hires and trains students and local residents to contribute to high-quality research...and builds the capacity of the local workforce.