The Trustees and Nantucket Conservation Foundation are collaborating to understand and enhance the resilience of the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, a critical barrier beach ecosystem on Nantucket Island, MA. These two organizations are committed to ensuring this jointly owned treasure remains a place for humans and wildlife to thrive for many generations.
Experience this new documentary that showcases the wonders of the refuge, the vulnerabilities associated with climate change, and how The Trustees and Nantucket Conservation Foundation are working together to build resilience. Explore the changing landscape of the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge and its ecological, recreational, and cultural importance for the island of Nantucket. This documentary was made possible by generous support from ReMain Nantucket and the Richard King Mellon Foundation.
With the effects of climate change already threatening Coskata-Coatue, what can be done to protect this refuge on the edge?
Sea levels are rising, and New England faces a more accelerated rate of sea level rise than anywhere else in the world. The Island of Nantucket, 30 miles south of Cape Cod, is particularly vulnerable to rising sea level. Dramatic flood impacts to our historic downtown, our infrastructure, and our unique natural areas are expected by the year 2050.
The extensive Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, owned and managed in parallel by the Trustees and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, serves as a critical barrier beach ecosystem. The refuge creates Nantucket Harbor, provides amazing recreational exposure to wild and natural areas and currently protects the historic downtown and harbor of Nantucket from larger storms and flooding.
In this documentary, The Trustees and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation explore the changing landscape of the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge and its ecological, recreational, and cultural importance for the island of Nantucket. With the effects of climate change already threatening Coskata-Coatue, what can be done to protect this refuge on the edge?
The mission of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation is to assist in the preservation of Nantucket’s character by permanently conserving, maintaining, and managing natural areas and habitats and to encourage an appreciation of and interest in the Island’s natural resources.
For more than a century, The Trustees has been on the ground in communities across Massachusetts, protecting special places, providing loving care of our reservations, building creative programs, and sharing our expertise with neighbors & partners.