Community Voices and Scientific Insight Build a More Resilient Cedar Key

At each step of the project, community input influenced aspects of the designs, such as placement, type, and aesthetic of different nature-based solutions. For example, Barry noted, community input guided species choice for native plantings, resulted in incorporating recreational access to a sea groin including the number and type of paths, and redirecting the shoreline design away from a version that included living breakwaters and pivoting to create template designs as resources to support private property owners manage flooding in the wake of Hurricanes Idalia and Helene.

Community feedback also provided valuable insight into questions and challenges that would need to be addressed to ensure the project's long-term success, such as accounting for parking availability, maintenance, and costs. These discussions ensured the designs reflected how residents actually use and value their waterfront.

"Even though community co-design of nature-based solutions might take more time, it nearly always results in a better final product that has a better chance of being built and cared for by the community," said Barry.

The Future of Cedar Key

The project is already producing benefits for Cedar Key. Based on discussions during the projects very first workshop, city staff investigated the option of installing check valves, an approach for regulating the in-flow and out-flow of water, for their most vulnerable stormwater outfalls. When a significant precipitation event occurred just one month later, causing flash flooding in several areas around Cedar Key and inland Levy County, the two sites with new valves drained the water away. Additionally, street areas that used to flood with saltwater at very high tides have not been inundated by saltwater since the installation despite several high-tide events. For the city of Cedar Key, this early success demonstrated the value of working with the University of Florida team to implement science-backed solutions.

Looking ahead, nature-based solutions can ease the impacts of climate hazards but rising seas and the increasing frequency and severity of storms will continue to affect life in Cedar Key.

"The reality for Cedar Key and many other small coastal communities is that they will need to adapt many things to be able to live with the effects of climate change," said Barry. "I see nature-based solutions as part of the solution among broader efforts that City leadership are undertaking, including raising homes and roads and relocating critical infrastructure to higher ground. Nature-based solutions cannot save Cedar Key alone, but they can go a long way to prolonging access to some of the City's most loved rituals, like sunsets at G Street."

As Cedar Key works to implement solutions that can preserve their community in the face of climate change, Barry and her team hope that their project can serve as a case study for other researchers to co-design solutions with communities. While the designs coming out of the project have met with support from the community, Cedar Key still requires funding to make those designs a reality and Sue Colson isn't the only one thinking about implementation.

"The design phase of the ShOREs project is coming to a successful end," Barry noted, "but the true measure of success will be the actions that come next."