Boston's Fan Pier and Harbor Towers condominium complex (right) are seen in September 2023. Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman Staff
With several “king tides” in the near-term forecast, a foundation is donating $10 million over the next five years to help a local lab expand its work on nature-based methods of adapting places like Boston Harbor to flooding from climate change.
The James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation agreed to donate the funds to the Stone Living Lab that’s led by the UMass Boston School for the Environment and Boston Harbor Now. The research could help mitigate threats posed by rising sea levels, particularly in urban harbors around the world, officials said.
Plans call for the expansion of research into Boston Harbor’s “living seawalls,” establishing boulder fields off the Massachusetts coast, exploring approaches to coastal and inland flooding, enhancing a climate change observatory and launching a competition to identify new nature-based innovations.
“Thanks to the Stone Foundation’s generous support for the Stone Living Lab, we now have an exciting opportunity to continue expanding, exploring, implementing, and sharing climate solutions with communities here and around the world,” UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco said in a statement.
The foundation is already part of the collaborative management of the lab and says that it “provides philanthropic and organizational support” for the lab. Other lab partners include the National Park Service, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the city of Boston, in collaboration with members of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag.
“The future of our Harborwalk and waterfront depends on the types of creative and innovative approaches that the Stone Living Lab is focused on,” said Boston Harbor Now President and CEO Kathy Abbott.
Boston is expected to have several higher-than-usual tides in the coming months, according to the New England Aquarium, beginning Thursday when a “King Tide” will measure 2 to 4 feet higher than average.
“NOAA is predicting that there will be about 12 to 19 days of high tide flooding events this year,” the aquarium reported Thursday. “In October, King Tides are expected on Oct. 8, 9, 10, and 11. In November, those same larger-than-usual tides are expected on Nov. 5, 6, 7, and 8.”
Flooding impacts are common along Boston’s Central Wharf, the area of downtown Boston where the aquarium has been based for more than 50 years.
“Since we are located so prominently on the Boston waterfront, flooding is always top of mind for us during these higher-than-usual King Tides,” Luz Arregoces, the aquarium’s director of community engagement, said in a statement. “Amid the growing threat of sea level rise, we have to be attentive to and mindful of flood impacts and potential damage while working with the city, state, and community leaders on resiliency efforts.”
