2022 Water Resources Element Guidance Update
The Water Resources Element (WRE), a statutory requirement for local comprehensive plans, is designed to ensure that local plans for growth and development can be supported given limitations and constraints of water resources and water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure. This WRE Guidance Update provides best practices for considering and addressing water-related climate change impacts, and for addressing the challenges that growth and development pose to our collective efforts to protect and restore Maryland waterbodies. The WRE Guidance Update outlines best practices and is an advisory document. Comprehensive planning, including WRE development, is a local government decision.
Coast Smart Climate Ready Action Boundary (CS-CRAB) Map
The Coast Smart Climate Ready Action Boundary (CS-CRAB) map was developed in a multi-agency effort by the Maryland Coast Smart Council to identify and mitigate future flood risk to the state's existing infrastructure. The data product was created leveraging existing FEMA regulatory boundaries and infusing an additional three feet of water elevation to determine the new water surface elevations and potential flooding extents (up and out).
Ecosystem Services
The benefits people gain from the environment can be collectively referred to as Ecosystem Services, which are commonly divided into four major categories: provisioning services (e.g. timber, firewood, food), regulating services (e.g. water purification, wildlife habitat), supporting services (e.g. nutrient cycling, soil formation) and cultural services (e.g. recreation, spiritual benefits.
Maryland Coastal Atlas
The Coastal Atlas is a mapping tool that allows state and local decision-makers to visually analyze and explore coastal and ocean data layers for project and planning purposes. Using the built-in tools, the user can query, map, and analyze spatial data to better understand Maryland's marine resources.
Maryland's Green Infrastructure Assessment
The Green Infrastructure Assessment (GIA), based on principles of landscape ecology and conservation biology, identified an ecological network using satellite imagery to characterize land cover, Geographic Information System (GIS) data on road, stream, wetland and other resource features, and biological databases.
MERLIN-Maryland’s Environmental Resource & Land Information Network
Maryland's Environmental Resources and Land Information Network (MERLIN) Online allows users to produce a custom map of any location in Maryland, to include their choice of base maps and data layers.
Reducing Maryland’s Vulnerability to Climate Change Phase I: Sea-level rise and coastal storms
Maryland’s Climate Action Plan includes two climate change adaptation strategies that are currently being used to guide state-level adaptation planning efforts. The first strategy (Phase I) addresses the impacts associated with sea level rise and coastal storms.
Reducing Maryland’s Vulnerability to Climate Change Phase II: Building societal, economic, and ecological resilience
Maryland’s Climate Action Plan includes two climate change adaptation strategies that are currently being used to guide state-level adaptation planning efforts. The second strategy (Phase II) addresses changes in precipitation patterns and increased temperature, and the likely impacts to human health, agriculture, forest and terrestrial ecosystems, bay and aquatic environments, water resources, and population growth and infrastructure.
Weather It Together
The Maryland Historical Trust offers a Weather It Together program, providing technical assistance to aid local governments in three key areas: hazard mitigation planning, disaster response and recovery, and climate change adaptation.