ommunities along New York’s Lake Ontario shoreline face increasing flood and erosion risks associated with high water levels, shoreline change, and climate variability. While natural and nature-based features (NNBF) are increasingly promoted as alternatives to shoreline hardening, implementation remains limited by uncertainty about where specific strategies are appropriate and how they can be coordinated across fragmented shorelines. Existing planning tools typically focus on individual sites or shoreline segments, providing limited support for landscape-scale adaptation planning. This project explores the feasibility of developing a Lake Ontario Adaptation Atlas, a regional decision-support tool that would identify suitable adaptation strategies across interconnected shoreline systems. Drawing on interviews with adaptation tool developers, a review of shoreline classification systems, and an assessment of existing adaptation planning resources from the Great Lakes and beyond, the study evaluates approaches for delineating Operational Landscape Units (OLUs), organizing adaptation strategies, and identifying suitability indicators. Findings suggest that OLUs should be defined as process-based planning units that integrate upland, shoreline, and nearshore dynamics while remaining practical for planning and implementation.
