The University of Georgia’s (UGA) Defense Community Resilience Program (DCRP) is a multi-disciplinary collaborative network working directly with military installations and their surrounding civilian communities to respond to encroachment threats and climate driven vulnerabilities with innovative solutions developed in collaboration with installation personnel, local civilian community leaders, and with University of Georgia research and outreach experts.
The UGA Defense Community Resilience Program (DCRP) provides a proactive mechanism for military installations and supporting defense communities to access resources to help them strengthen their shared resilience and support the long-term sustainability of the military mission in these communities.
Housed within UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the DCRP employs Resilience Professionals stationed
in partner defense communities who serve as liaisons between the installations, the civilian community, and UGA’s network of researchers and technical experts from academic, government, and private sector partners.
Through this network, DCRP Resilience Professionals facilitate access to diverse expertise in fields that include: planning, engineering, ecology, climatology, landscape architecture, environmental
science, natural resources management, economics, sociology, and many others.
Through this broad interdisciplinary process, the UGA DCRP seeks to help develop solutions to environmental, climatological, and development related challenges that save money and conserve resources by providing multiple layers of benefits and maximizing the technical, social, and environmental values embodied in every project.
Program Contact: J. Scott Pippin, JD jspippin@uga.edu
DCRP IN ACTION
PLANT BIODIVERSITY FITNESS
DCRP HAS COLLABORATED ON RESILIENCE PROJECTS WITH SEVERAL INSTALLATIONS AND DEFENSE COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST.
One of these is a shoreline restoration project that DCRP is supporting at Naval Station Mayport, perfectly demonstrating mutual benefit to the installation and Defense Community.
State Highway A1A is a key access route to the Naval Station and to the adjacent community of Mayport Village. The Highway is threatened by accelerating coastal erosion and storm surge. In 2022, Hurricane Ian substantially damaged the road across from the installation’s commercial truck entrance.
CONNECTION TO NATURE
POLLINATORS
FISHING
WORKING WITH THE MAYPORT VILLAGE, THE NAVY AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS, the UGA DCRP is facilitating the development of a nature-based shoreline restoration. The project incorporates recreational opportunities and environmental benefits while also protecting the road that is critical to the resilience of both installation and community.
FISH BIODIVERSITY
ACCESS TO WATER
INTERTIDAL HABITAT COMPLEXITY
CREATE MARSH HABITAT
BREAKWATER REEF
SHORELINE PROTECTION OYSTER REEFS
