An overhead look at Coastal Action's living shoreline in Mahone Bay, NS. Photo: Coastal Action.
A flooding mitigation project was given its first real test as a result of post-tropical storm Fiona landing in Nova Scotia last week, and it fared very relatively well according to the project’s organizers Coastal Action.
Their living shoreline project has seen natural infrastructure installed around one of Mahone Bay’s seawalls that aims to mitigate flooding and protect against storm surges. It utilizes components like rock sills, tidal wetland, and vegetation that has been planted along the bank.
“The plants are doing well, none were pulled out of the ground which was really great,” said Coastal Action Project Lead Jordan Veinot. “We also didn’t see much sentiment movement which is what we want.”
An illustration of the components of Coastal Action’s living shore wall in Mahone Bay, NS. Photo: Coastal Action.
Veinot says they also left their sediment barrier in for the storm which is designed to catch runoff from the living shoreline and sits in Mahone Bay’s harbour directly in front of the living wall. After the storm, very little sediment had been caught in it, which Veinot also believes is promising.
As far as first tests go Veinot expressed that Fiona was ideal, as Mahone Bay was spared the brunt of the storm it served as a good opportunity to ease into the project’s data collection phase. “If there had been too much damage it would have compromised our ability to collect data for the remainder of the season but since it fared so well after this initial storm we are in a good position to learn more about how well it’s working,”.
The data collection taking place at the living wall is being spearheaded by the Saint Mary’s University TransCoastal Adaptations Centre for Nature-Based Solutions. Representatives with TransCoastal said they are now finalizing data collection following Fiona after which they will begin analyzing it to learn more.
The project’s installation was completed over the summer meaning that Fiona is the first major storm it has endured. The project is intended to be a proof of concept and currently is operating with funding that is enabling a two-year pilot.
With hurricane season far from over Veinot says they aren’t hoping for any more powerful storms to hit Nova Scotia, but says if they do they will be ready to collect data and learn more about how effective the living wall is.
Veinot indicated Coastal Action would be interested in pursuing other living wall projects in the future, should the project in Mahone Bay continue yielding positive results and if they were able to secure more funding partners.
