Phase II of the Ipswich River Coastal Resiliency and Bank Stabilization Project will begin this fall. This project began in 2016 with funding awarded by a Coastal Resiliency Grant from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. These initial grant funds supported a one-year pilot project to identify vulnerable areas along the Ipswich River between the Ipswich Mills dam and the Ipswich Town Wharf. A team of coastal geologists and engineers were hired by the town to inspect erosion and other areas that have deteriorated due to both tidal and inland flooding.
The project’s assessments and recommended improvements consider the implications of ongoing coastal change, like sea level rise and increased extreme weather events, with a focus on green infrastructure. These nature-based solutions will work to combat the erosion and provide long-term stabilization of the bank.
Town of Ipswich and Ipswich River staff assessed an eroded recreation trail alongside a tidal portion of the river as part of Phase I.
In Phase II of the project, the Town of Ipswich will work with the Ipswich River Watershed Association and other contractors to develop permit-ready plans for stabilizing an eroding section of coastal bank along the Ipswich River. The restoration project will help protect a vulnerable sewer pipe outfall as well as a heavily used section of the recreational Riverwalk trail behind the Ipswich Town Hall. Using “living shoreline” techniques, the green infrastructure project demonstrates a concrete way that our watershed communities are addressing and responding to climate impacts. Learn more at pie-rivers.org