SuAsCo Project

Towns of Hudson, Framingham, and Natick, Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program, 2022-2024

Launched in the fall of 2022, the SuAsCo Natural Climate Solutions project is a joint effort by stakeholders in the towns of Hudson, Framingham, and Natick with consultant partners from Regenerative Design Group, Linnean Solutions, and BSC Group to identify high-impact sites for nature-based interventions that will support the towns’ climate resilience.

With the understanding that soil health is foundational to the function of all terrestrial ecosystems, Regenerative Design Group lead an initial phase of the project aimed at establishing a baseline estimation of current soil health in the towns and analyzing the effects existing land cover and management practices have on these resources. These were summarized in a series of maps entitled Soil Functions for Resilience.

From this baseline, the team completed an analysis that combines RDG’s refined soil carbon predictions with other ecological data to map ecological planning priorities. The result is a map of planning districts (bottom right) with different priorities (e.g. restore and transform or plan an manage for resilience). Appropriate recommended actions for each district and an analysis of ideal candidate sites are major products of this project. Proposed sites for nature based solutions will receive a multi-stage assessment of vegetative health by drone monitoring.

This project also has a strong focus on environmental justice and improving conditions for climate vulnerable populations. Demographic data was overlaid with other data on known ecological hazards to create a human health and vulnerability map that contributes to developing project priorities.