Florida Resilient Coastlines Program

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is committed to marshaling resources to prepare Florida’s coastal communities and habitats for the effects of climate change, especially rising sea levels. Through the Florida Resilient Coastlines Program (FRCP), DEP continues its efforts to help ensure collaboration among Florida’s coastal communities, and to offer technical assistance and funding to coastal communities dealing with increasingly complex flooding, erosion and habitat shifts. 

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FRCP strengthens community resilience planning and natural resource protection. Local communities can assess vulnerabilities to projected increases in coastal flooding and erosion and can develop strategies to make affected areas more resilient. Protecting and strengthening natural infrastructure can also help. Coral reefs, mangroves, oyster reefs and marshes are our first lines of defense. The Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection (RCP) is committed to helping prepare Florida’s communities and habitats for changes resulting from sea level rise by:

• Providing funding and technical assistance to prepare Florida’s coastal communities
• Continuing to promote and ensure a coordinated approach to sea level rise planning among state, regional and local agencies.

Program Administrator

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Whitney Gray is the Program Administrator of the Florida Resilient Coastlines Program (FRCP), a program of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection (RCP). She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Florida, where she studied zoology and systems ecology. She first worked on climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning with the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council. Prior to her appointment as FRCP administrator in 2017, Whitney served from 2012 to 2015 as Sea Level Rise Coordinator for both Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Florida Sea Grant, specializing in the effects of sea level rise on coastal ecosystems. She coordinated an internal climate change seminar series, “Florida Adapts,” and served as a subject matter expert on Species Action Plans during the Imperiled Species Management Planning process. Originally from Florida’s Gulf coast, Whitney has seen first-hand how sea level rise has changed the state, from critical erosion to “ghost forests.” Her task now is to bring sea level rise resilience planning to the forefront of DEP activity for the long-term benefit of Florida's people and ecosystems 

Funding

FRCP is funded by the Florida Coastal Management Program (FCMP) in partnership with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA), and by the Florida Legislature.

Community Resources

The “Florida Adaptation Planning Guidebook” (FAPG) is a new resource for communities interested in vulnerability assessments and adaptation planning. The culmination of more than five years of research in partnership with many other state agencies, the FAPG outlines process steps and best practices for local governments and is available as a downloadable pdf. The FCMP and NOAA funded the development of the FAPG .

For more information about projects, funding opportunities, technical assistance and speaker availability, contact:

Office of Resilience and Coastal Protection
FloridaCoasts@FloridaDEP.gov
850-245-2094
3900 Commonwealth Blvd., MS 235
Tallahassee, FL 32399