Martha’s Vineyard

The diverse landscapes of Martha’s Vineyard present unique challenges, from the sturdy soil and rock ridge of glacial moraine at Gay Head Cliffs, Cedar Tree Neck, and Menemsha Hills to the shifting gravels, sands, and silts that make up the center and southern parts of the Island — places like Katama, Wasque, and Long Point Wildlife Refuge. Altogether, this one island has five Eco-Regions: the central sandplain, coastal sandplain, western and eastern moraines, and Aquinnah.

The ways in which people inhabit the island are no less varied, with a year-round population of 17,000 booming to more than 100,000 in-season. Head northeast from Alley’s General Store in West Tisbury and you encounter the bustle and density of Down-Island, with its harbors, commercial districts, and critical public services. Head southwest, and you’ll travel through the more rural Up-Island communities with their winding roads, undulating fields, and stone walls. 

Virtually every resident and visitor may be affected by sea level rise as soon as 2050, whether it’s decreased property values, flooded or eroding cultural and historic sites, ferry cancellations (more than 1,700 between 2018–2020 due to weather [CIT. 14]), fishery declines, slumping beaches and bluffs, and blocked access routes. 

Every Martha’s Vineyard community, including the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), has begun the process of assessing vulnerabilities and planning, often through two state-sponsored programs — the Coastal Resilience Grant Program and the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program. The Island also has town climate change committees and island-wide organizations such as the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, Land Bank Commission, Climate Action Task Force, Island Climate Action Network, and Vineyard Futureworks, among others. And collaborative projects exist between towns, such as a CZM-funded project that will see Oak Bluffs partner with other island Towns to map and develop spatial datasets of low-lying areas that serve as pathways for coastal waters to flow inland, coordinating with the National Weather Service’s Coastal Flood Threat and Inundation Mapping website. But how do fragmented coalitions — six governments, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), community members and organizations — reach consensus on hard decisions that must take the whole island into account? 

The MV Commission has called for support in establishing a regional climate adaptation program and a process to pursue MVP initiatives. If Island stakeholders agree and all come to the table, then technical assistance and knowledge can be shared. Decisions can also be made about where to direct island resources in the short- and mid-term to have the best chances for resiliency in the long-term. 

In many cases, we may need to let nature restore itself or actively unbuild developed areas. In other cases, it will mean shoring up defenses and adapting or retrofitting structural designs in innovative, sustainable ways. That requires increasing public awareness, establishing common values, setting priorities, and making sacrifices. We need to both reduce our exposure and increase our capacity to deal with climate-driven effects. If we fail to do that now, then we may lose some of what might otherwise have been saved.