The 2021 Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Symposium took place on October 26th and 27th online via Zoom. The symposium featured 55 speakers and drew widespread participation from the climate adaptation science community, attracting more than 520 participants from 60 state or federal agencies, 50 NGOs, 40 academic institutions, 10 Tribal nation agencies, 5 Inter-Tribal organizations and 25 states. All sessions were recorded and are available for viewing below. Profiles for symposium speakers are linked to their photos, which are posted at the bottom of this page.
Jon Woodruff, NE CASC University Co-Director, Professor of Geosciences, UMass Amherst
Part 2: Keynote Address
Dr. Kelsey Leonard, Citizen of the Shinnecock Nation, Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo
A water scientist, legal scholar and policy expert, Kelsey Leonard is an enrolled citizen of the Shinnecock Nation and an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on Indigenous water justice and its climatic, territorial, and governance underpinnings. In this work, Dr. Leonard seeks to establish Indigenous traditions of water conservation as the foundation for international water policymaking. In a related effort, she is also working to integrate Indigenous perspectives into climate adaptation planning. Toward this end, she has proposed the WAMPUM framework--which is informed by northeastern and mid-Atlantic coastal Tribal Nation science and knowledge systems--as the basis for adaptation planning in response to sea level rise.
Description: Across the Northeast, resource managers are seeking to better understand how climate change impacts the vulnerability of fish, wildlife, and their habitats. This session will feature NE CASC research that is helping to advance this goal by synthesizing, analyzing, and prioritizing climate change threats and associated adaptation strategies for Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need (RSGCN) as identified in the fourteen State Wildlife Action Plans for our region. It will also focus on the National Park Service’s efforts to translate information for the next generation of vulnerability assessments and Kenah Consulting's appraisal of climate resilience and adaptation capacity needs among Virginia-based Tribal Nations.
Moderators:
Jon Woodruff, NE CASC University Co-Director, UMass Amherst
Vulnerability of Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need from State Wildlife Action Plans:Karen Terwilliger and Tracy Monegan Rice (co-author), Terwilliger Consulting, Inc.
Description: One of the greatest challenges faced by resource managers across the Northeast is developing management strategies that address the interactive, compounding effects of multiple stressors such as climate change, sea level rise, invasive species, disease, coastal erosion, land use change, urbanization, nutrient loading, and pollution. In this session, we will begin by highlighting NE CASC research that investigates how two major global threats, climate change and invasive species, are powerfully converging to impact the Northeast. We will then discuss additional NE CASC research that examines how the region’s declining brook trout population is responding to the dual threats of rising stream temperatures and changing water flow. Finally, we will conclude with a management-led presentation focusing on the need for stocking of Northeast ponds and lakes with climate-adapted fish species. View a list of NE CASC projects relevant to this theme.
Moderators:
Toni Lyn Morelli, NE CASC Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey
Breaking Down Barriers to Proactive Regulation of Invasive Plants: Bethany Bradley, NE CASC University Co-Director & UMass Amherst; Nancy Olmstead, Maine Department of Conservation, Agriculture & Forestry
Climate-adaptive stocking as a fishery management approach: Peter McIntyre, NE CASC PI, Cornell University; James Daley, New York DEC; Tommy Detmer, Cornell University (co-author)
Understanding mechanisms for Brook Trout persistence in warming streams: how does prior thermal history influence subsequent thermal performance? Matthew O'Donnell, U.S. Geological Survey-Leetown Science Center; Rebecca Quiñones, Mass Wildlife
Description: Across the NE CASC region, from Maine to Virginia, resource managers face a common challenge--developing a resilient habitat network that supports conservation planning for climate change adaptation. To help advance this goal, NE CASC seeks to improve understanding of habitat quality, climate refugia, and species migration and habitat connectivity. This session will showcase NE CASC research on climate change refugia, discussing how these areas provide vulnerable species with a buffer from the impacts of climate change, while also considering the importance of current habitat connectivity when identifying potential future refugia locations for vulnerable species. The session will conclude with a discussion regarding the need for a better understanding of aquatic refugia and the complex accessibility issues created by climate change-related stressors such as rising water temperatures and fluctuating water flows. View a list of NE CASC projects relevant to this theme.
Moderators:
Katherine Smith, NE CASC Federal Director, U.S. Geological Survey
Carl St. John, NE CASC Graduate Fellow, Cornell University
Speakers:
Climate Change Refugia Conservation for the Northeastern U.S.: Toni Lyn Morelli, NE CASC Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey
The Importance of Landscape Connectivity for Climate Refugia Networks: William DeLuca, National Audubon Society
Landscape-Scale Conservation in Aquatic Ecosystems: Successes in Massachusetts & Challenges with Expanding to Larger Scales: Rebecca Quiñones, Mass Wildlife; Grace DiRenzo, Massachusetts Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit
Description: Following the Landscape-Scale Conservation session, symposium attendees are invited to participate in a Landscape-Scale Conservation Design Workshop. This workshop will include presentations addressing the following topics: scientific principles for achieving landscape-scale conservation design, management decisions that build on landscape conservation design tools, and examples of sub-regional landscape conservation design. After the presentations, the workshop will feature a discussion with audience members regarding science, data, and delivery needs to better inform landscape-scale conservation design in a changing climate. Specific questions will include: What landscape-level decisions are you facing? What data/tools are you using or would you like to use? What would help you better use available information or fill gaps in available information? Finally, do we need a NE Conservation blueprint? If so, how do we create one?
Moderators:
Katherine Smith, NE CASC Federal Director, U.S. Geological Survey
Description: From forests to coasts, researchers and resource managers are collaborating to develop management strategies that promote adaptation to stressors such as invasive forest insects and sea level rise. This session will highlight examples of NE CASC research that supports management efforts to build adaptive capacity in ash forests threatened by emerald ash borer and salt marshes and coastal wetlands threatened by sea level rise. View a list of NE CASC projects relevant to this theme.
Moderators:
Bethany Bradley, NE CASC University Co-Director, UMass Amherst
Building Community and Capacity for Adaptation: Addressing the Threat and Impact of Emerald Ash Borer on Northern Forests: Anthony D’Amato, NE CASC PI, University of Vermont
Responding and Adapting to the Ecological Impacts of the EAB in the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory: Normand Génier, Tribal Forester, Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe
Salt Marshes and Coastal Wetlands: Jon Woodruff, NE CASC University Co-Director, UMass Amherst; Linda Deegan, NE CASC PI, Woodwell Climate Research Center
Description: Robust and resilient ecosystems, including fish, wildlife, and flora, rely on naturally varying, hydrologic cycles. As climate change alters global hydroclimatic regimes, competition for water supply increases, and hydrologic extremes become more frequent and severe, future water availability may be very different than in the past. In this session we explore the hydroclimatic changes confronting the Northeast and the experience of water and land managers in setting aquatic flow targets. In addition, we explore the challenges of managing streamflow to maintain availability for flourishing ecosystems, ecosystem services, and wildlife and human communities.
Moderator:
Will Farmer, NE CASC Acting Deputy Federal Director, U.S. Geological Survey
Speakers:
Nicole Cain, Instream Flow Biologist, NY State Department of Environmental Conservation
Todd Richards, Assistant Director of Fisheries, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Katie Kennedy, Applied River Scientist, The Nature Conservancy
Sheela Johnson, Natural Resource Specialist, U.S. Forest Service
Richard Palmer, NE CASC Founding University Director & Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UMass Amherst
Description: The Climate Change Response Framework (CCRF) developed by the USDA Forest Service Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science is one of the most widely used adaptation frameworks, particularly in the context of developing locally-tailored forest adaptation strategies. This workshop will revisit the CCRF and its application to forest adaptation planning across the northeastern US, including in guiding the development of demonstration sites and co-produced adaptation studies throughout the NECASC footprint. In addition, ongoing efforts to translate this framework into specific contexts and objectives, including Tribal and Wildlife Adaptation Menus will be presented.
Description: In its Statement on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice, NE CASC recently wrote: "Successfully adapting to climate change will require climate justice. Climate change disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and people of color as poverty and inequity compound its impacts. We are committed to deeply and authentically engaging with and elevating leaders from communities disproportionately impacted by climate change and co-producing adaptation science that addresses their natural and cultural resource needs. We are committed to educating ourselves and our network about climate justice.” This panel discussion features four scientists and their work on climate adaptation justice issues related to hazards management and environmental justice, Tribal and Indigenous sovereignty and resilience, urban infrastructure, sustainable aquaculture, and youth mentorship.
Climate Justice from an Indigenous Perspective: Casey Thornbrugh, Northeast and Southeast CASC Tribal Climate Science Liaison, United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc.
Sustainable Aquaculture and Youth Mentorship: Steven Hughes, Professor, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania
Advancing Climate Justice in Urban Contexts: Radley Horton, Lamont Research Professor, Columbia University
Description: All environmental research is embedded in a cultural context, but too often the social and cultural concerns are invisible to researchers and managers. The purpose of this workshop is to demonstrate, through stories and discussion, what is gained by integrating science into the relevant cultural context. Participants will learn why researchers and managers should integrate culture and science within their study & management systems, and starting points for how to begin.
Moderators:
Casey Thornbrugh, Northeast and Southeast CASC Tribal Climate Science Liaison & United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc.
Description: Participants in this workshop will explore the use of translational science to overcome barriers impeding the implementation of climate adaptation. Panelists will include managers, researchers, and early-career adaptation specialists who will share examples of successes and failures in linking science and management. There will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions and participate in the discussion. Join us for an engaging look at one of the most important topics facing the climate adaptation science community today!
Moderator:
Toni Lyn Morelli, NE CASC Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey
Description: This workshop will discuss a new set of climate data products for the Northeast that are designed to assist State Wildlife Action Plan Coordinators and other wildlife managers with regional adaptation initiatives. The NE Climate Data Project team will present preliminary analyses and a climate data plan, followed by a discussion about how to refine the scope and actionability of the climate information produced.
