The Metro Bay Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) offers a unique opportunity to customize Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) policies for the urbanized areas of the state and reassess the process for creating and maintaining coastal vegetative buffers within the urban Metro Bay SAMP Region (Cranston, Providence, Pawtucket, and East Providence). Coastal vegetative buffers–those land areas that provide a vegetated transition zone between a waterway and developed land–serve many functions, including the protection of coastal lands during flooding, erosion control, and the protection of coastal water quality. For more information, please see the Urban Coastal Greenways Policy and details of the Coastal Vegetative Buffer Policy Workshop 2005.