A $483,000 National Park Service grant will allow Western Carolina University to map shoreline storm vulnerability in 12 costal parks from Alaska to Florida. 

The internationally recognized WCU Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines advocates for science-based coastal management policies that balance economic and environmental interests. The grant is the latest in an ongoing partnership with the National Park Service, with a similar grant of $436,000 awarded in 2014.

The money will fund a phase of research “that will assist park managers in the decision-making process for resource management and preservation of infrastructure at coastal parks, all of which ultimately effects the economic, environmental and recreational outcomes that impact all of us,” said WCU shorelines program director Robert Young.