Annapolis Maritime Resilience Initiative (AMRI)

Survey

Please share your experiences with flooding in the area by taking our survey.

Queremos escuchar y aprender de su experiencia. Comparta cómo las inundaciones han afectado su comunidad respondiendo nuestra encuesta (en Español).

Background

Living and working in Annapolis offers the beauty and benefits of being close to the water. However, sea level rise, flooding, and shoreline and stream bank erosion are becoming significant challenges to this area, threatening our infrastructure, neighborhoods, and environment.

What is AMRI?

The Annapolis Maritime Resilience Initiative (AMRI) is designed to address these challenges in the Spa Creek and Back Creek watersheds located in and around Eastport. As a partnership between the Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis, AMRI aims to improve local infrastructure and environmental, economic, and social resilience. AMRI will do this by working with communities to:

Identify and prioritize critical sites impacted by flooding, erosion, and sea level rise in the Spa Creek and Back Creek watersheds located in and around Eastport

Select nature-based solutions that use native plants, trees, sand, and rocks to address these urgent challenges

Create initial design of top critical sites

AMRI seeks to demonstrate that resilience strategies done at the community scale can provide more collective protection than when they are done randomly or one at a time.

Community Approach

AMRI prioritizes community collaboration and engagement. Our approach includes partnering with local residents to identify vulnerable sites, prioritize those that need the most immediate attention, and help select nature-based solutions tailored to each site.

We are committed to ensuring that this process is inclusive and representative. Community input will come from: community leaders and organizations, local businesses, underrepresented groups, watershed experts, scientists, and engineers, among others. Engagement opportunities include: one-on-one interviews, public meetings, presentations at community meetings, outreach at community events, and surveys. This collaborative approach aims to build lasting relationships that will inform future resilience efforts.

Project Boundaries

AMRI focuses on the Spa Creek and Back Creek watersheds in and around Eastport.

AMRI Objectives

By the end of 2025, AMRI will complete the community engagement process described above and partial design of select critical sites. These efforts will lay the foundation for future design and implementation phases. Our long-term goals include:

• Enhanced ecosystem and community resilience;
• Improved habitat and water quality;
• Increased public waterfront and open space access, particularly for underserved communities;
• Community education on flooding, erosion, and sea level rise and solutions to address them;
• Improved community health and well-being;
• Support for related state and local programmatic objectives, including the City of Annapolis and its public infrastructure improvements to mitigate seal level rise and prevent nuisance flooding.

How to Engage

There are several ways you can engage with this initiative, all of which can be accessed on the AMRI project website.

• Report flooding, sea level rise, and / or erosion with MyCoast.
• Sign up to learn about the project and / or to attend community engagement sessions.
• Take the AMRI survey in English or Spanish to share your experiences with and concerns about nuisance flooding, sea level rise, and erosion.

Together, we can create a resilient, thriving, and sustainable future for Annapolis.