Upcoming webinars

Follow-up to the Planners’ Briefing for Puget Sound Parcel-Scale Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment

Friday, February 20, 2026 | 10-11:30 am 

This webinar will be held on Zoom

Register Here

Please join us to share your local knowledge and expertise of Puget Sound coastal hazards! 

Background: On April 18, 2025, Ian Miller provided an overview to the Shoreline & Coastal Planners Group of a project that will calculate a sea level rise (SLR) vulnerability index for every parcel within an SLR hazard zone in Puget Sound, based on the exposure of the parcel to hazards and on the configuration of infrastructure and coastal habitats. Vulnerability assessment couples hazard exposure information with the spatial distribution and relative value of community assets and their sensitivity to those hazards. A careful and comprehensive assessment of SLR-driven vulnerability, therefore, can lead to more-nuanced planning and decision-making and support more equitable distribution of resources and investment intended to reduce vulnerability. This spatial analysis is funded by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead and is intended to inform land use, ecological restoration, and hazard planning. 

In this follow-up workshop, we’re seeking interested participants to provide local knowledge and expertise that will be used to validate the results of the spatial analysis. In a virtual setting, we will provide participants with a short briefing about the project and the concept of vulnerability as it relates to sea level rise. We will then introduce participants to a map-based survey instrument on which they can provide insights into particular locations that they view as vulnerable as sea level rises. We will subsequently use the data collected to ground-truth the results from the spatial analysis.  

You can view the April 18, 2025, briefing here: www.coastalplanners.org/parcel-scale-va

You can find more about the project here: Puget Sound Parcel-Scale Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment project.

Speakers:

Dr. Ian Miller is Washington Sea Grant’s coastal hazards specialist, working out of Peninsula College in Port Angeles as well as the Olympic Natural Resources Center in Forks. Dr. Miller works with coastal communities on the Olympic Peninsula to increase their ability to plan for and manage coastal hazards, including tsunamis, chronic erosion, coastal flooding, and hazards associated with climate change. Before joining WSG, Dr. Miller served as the education director of the Olympic Park Institute and as Washington field coordinator for the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation. Ian received a bachelor’s degree in marine ecology at Western Washington University’s Huxley College of Environmental Studies and earned a doctoral degree in ocean sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His graduate research focused on the transport and fate of sediment in the coastal zone adjacent to the Elwha River delta. Find him online at the Coast Nerd Gazette.

Avery Maverick is a licensed coastal geologist (LG) at Natural Systems Design, where she specializes in sea level rise assessments, shoreline change analysis, coastal processes, and applied coastal geomorphology. Her work focuses on translating coastal science into practical guidance for shoreline management, restoration design, and climate adaptation across the Puget Sound and Salish Sea region. Avery has extensive experience with field data collection, GIS mapping and analysis, remote sensing, and photogrammetry, and brings expertise in sourcing and managing Pacific Northwest geospatial datasets. She regularly supports coastal hazard vulnerability assessments, beach and bluff management planning, and the development of site-specific adaptation strategies for public and private shoreline properties. Avery holds an MS in Geology from Western Washington University and a BS in Geology from the University of Oregon. She is a licensed UAV operator and an approved biologist in Washington State, and is passionate about protecting and managing shorelines in the Salish Sea.

Logistics:

  • For those who are unable to attend, we will share a recording of the presentation on the SCPG website. 

  • If you cannot attend but would like to be involved in future feedback opportunities for this project, please contact Ian Miller at immiller@uw.edu. 

  • We hope to be able to offer AICP CM credits for this webinar. Please stay tuned for more details closer to the webinar date.

  • Contact Sydney Fishman at sfishma@uw.edu with any questions.

Have comments, questions, or an idea for a meeting?
Contact Sydney Fishman, sfishma@uw.edu.