One of our best opportunities for combating climate change impacts is to preserve and enhance the resilience that is already built into the landscape.

Plympton's 2020 MVP Action Grant project takes this general notion and applies it toward identifying the resilience capacity of target lands.

The project will assess natural systems and open space in the Winnetuxet River corridor that provide local and regional climate resilience benefits to Plympton as well as its Winnetuxet River watershed neighbors in Carver and Middleboro. Project partners will utilize existing tools, including TNC's tool for siting nature-based solutions, Manomet's methodology for identifying critical Green Infrastructure, and Mass Audubon's experience in writing Low Impact Development options into local policies to empower local stakeholders in determining the lands that counter specific climate change impacts.

The ultimate goal of this project is to recognize the value, and encourage the protection and use of our natural green infrastructure to help address the potential impacts of climate change. This first phase of the project (9/30/2020 – 6/30/2021) is an assessment of the resilience capacity of target lands. Once the team has completed the initial assessment, the town can use the results during the second phase of the project (2021 and beyond) to prioritize specific lands for permanent conservation and, as is appropriate, ecological restoration and nature based solutions that enhance the resilience capacity of the land.

This will be a new standard for prioritizing open space for acquisition in Plympton, and a first step in building a resilience portfolio for the Town.