Mass ECAN June News
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There is a lot happening in the climate adaptation world this month, including an EPA-hosted webinar featuring members of our very own Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions Expert Work Group.
See below for news specifically curated for our community of practice:
Please forward this newsletter and invite colleagues to join us!
Best,
Shannon Callaham
Climate Projects Assistant, UMass Amherst
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Save the Date!
Mass ECAN Field Tour - July 22nd
10am-12pm: Pelham Lake Park tour
12pm-1pm: networking and bring your own picnic lunch
RSVP here
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Every month, we highlight someone in our community of practice so you can learn about a variety of adaptation work and "meet" a new colleague!
Margot Mansfield
Coastal Hazards & Climate Specialist
MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs | MA Office of Coastal Zone Management
Bio: Margot has been a member of the Climate Team at EEA since 2017 and the StormSmart Coast Team at CZM since 2013. She brings a background of coastal processes, geology and climate change to her work providing technical assistance, project management, and public education. She is a technical lead on incorporating latest climate change projections for MA into various statewide projects. Margot holds a MS in Earth Science from The University of Maine and a BS in Earth and Space Science from The University of Washington.
Climate adaptation project: Margot has been leading integration of the latest climate change projections and hazards data into two ongoing Resilient MA Action Team projects: MA Climate Change Assessment and the Climate Resilience Design Standards Tool. The Climate Change Assessment is a statewide analysis detailing how Massachusetts people, environments, and infrastructure may be affected by climate change and related hazards through the end of the century and will directly inform the first five-year update to the State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan (to be released in 2023). A new version of the Climate Res ilience Design Standards Tool (v. 1.1) was recently launched to provide users with numeric outputs and guidance for several coastal and precipitation design criteria to support early planning and design of projects with physical assets. Contact Margot or rmat@mass.gov to learn more.
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Expert Work Group Spotlight
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Our work groups are specifically for experts on various climate adaptation topics that require cross-organizational collaboration for success. We share work group products here in the newsletter for the rest of our community to run with. See a summary of all our work groups here.
Salt Marsh Working Group
The Salt Marsh Working Group (SMWG) was formed in 2018 and is co-led by the UMass Amherst Gloucester Marine Station and the MA Office of Coastal Zone Management. What began as a grassroots effort with a few key members has grown to comprise a network of 80 researchers and coastal managers from state, federal, nonprofit, and university entities across Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The SMWG meets quarterly to advance the following collective goals:
- Facilitate a coordinated forum between scientists and managers and to broaden communication across organizations and regions,
- Share best practices to assess and monitor salt marshes and restoration efforts
- Identify research gaps and priorities
- Design collaborative approaches to support critical research that increases the resilience of salt marsh systems
The SMWG recently released Gaining Ground: Defining Priority Research for Resilient Salt Marshes. The document summarizes a year of work by the SMWG to identify priority research. Throughout 2021, subgroups worked to establish salt marsh data gaps and research needs in five priority research areas identified through a series of polling exercises and discussions: sea level rise, hy drology, marsh migration, sediment supply, and nutrients. The goal of the document is to communicate SMWG research priorities and inspire coordinated, transdisciplinary discussion and action around the complex and intersecting challenges of salt marsh management and resilience.
The document sets the stage for next steps. The SMWG is holding a series of special meetings to frame strategies that advance their research priorities including collaborative fundraising, an information exchange with regulatory leaders and on-the-ground practitioners, and development of a strategic research agenda to evaluate effectiveness across salt marsh projects/project areas. Stay tuned for a fall workshop announcement.
Stay up to date with the SMWG on their website or contact Adrienne Pappal or Katie Kahl to get connected to the group.
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Funding Opportunity - Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) FY23 Planning Grant. The MVP Program offers planning grants to municipalities to assess their vulnerability, prepare for climate impacts, build community resilience, and receive designation as an MVP Community. Submit applications here by 6/7.
Funding Opportunity - Open Space Institute's Land and Climate Catalyst Planning Grants. Open Space Institute and Land Trust Alliance are partnering to offer grants that will help land trusts, other not-for-profit organizations, and state and federally recognized Tribes integrate climate science into strategic land protection plans or forest stewardship plans. Submit applications here by 6/8.
Funding Opportunity - Coastal Resilience Grant Program. The MA Office of Coastal Zone Management is seeking proposals for innovative and transferable local and regional projects to address coastal flooding, erosion and sea level rise. See the RFR here and apply by 6/13.
Event - 2022 Massachusetts Climate Change Assessment: Priorities for Addressing Statewide Climate Impacts. The MA Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is holding four public engagement sessions on how the impacts of climate change affect you and your community. Register to attend here. 6/13 at 11am, 6/15 at 10:30am, 6/15 at 6:30pm, or 6/18 at 1:00pm.
Event - The Future of Resilience: Watershed-Based Climate Collaborations. Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions will host a speaker to talk about the Blackstone Collaborative and how it will ensure a healthier and more resilient Blackstone River Watershed. Register to attend here. 6/22, 12:00pm - 1:00pm.
Event - Soak Up the Rain New England Webinar Series: Building Equity into Nature-Based Solutions for Massachusetts Communities. This EPA-hosted webinar will showcase MA programs supporting nature-based solutions at the local level and share lessons learned for equitable community engagement in environmental projects. It features members of our very own Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions Expert Work Group! Register to attend here. 6/23, 1:00pm - 2:00pm.
Request for Conference Proposals - Regional Conservation Partnership (RCP) Network Gathering. As part of the RCP conference events, submit proposals for panels, webinars, and field trips that share how you are advancing Climate Justice and Resilience — for making land more accessible, more useful for nature and people, and more resilient to the impacts of climate change for the benefit of others.
Job - Director of Rivers and Lands, The Nature Conservancy, Boston. Define the strategic direction for MA Rivers and Lands Program, to ensure the success of TNC's engagement at the intersection of healthy freshwater, lands, and people. Due 6/10.
Job - Executive Director of the MIT Climate Grand Challenges, Cambridge. Manage MIT’s Climate Grand Challenges, an institute-wide initiative to mobilize the MIT research community around some of the most difficult unsolved climate problems.
Job - Vice President for Healthy and Resilient Communities, Conservation Law Foundation, Boston. Set policy direction and guide a team toward climate resilience and community health solutions across New England. Ensure a focus on the most strategic use of law, policy, science, and markets to maximize impact.
Job - Policy Analyst, Conservation Law Foundation, Boston. Join the Healthy and Resilient Communities program in advancing CLF’s work on urban forestry, urban agriculture, and public waterfront access and climate resilience.
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Meet the Mass ECAN Summer Staff
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While Melissa is on leave, Shannon will be working behind the scenes on this newsletter and more!
Shannon Callaham has spent the last ten years working to improve environmental outcomes and human well-being. Her interest in the individual’s influential power, grassroots models of change, environmental justice, and community resilience stems from a background in building a healthcare system’s sustainability program from the ground up. Since then, she has provided climate consulting for the healthcare sector and managed a nonprofit that responds to climate disasters with resilient energy solutions. This fall she will begin a doctoral program in Environmental Conservation at UMass Amherst, focused on human behavior and environmental policy. This summer she is working with Mass ECAN! You can reach Shannon here.
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In case you've been wondering what to read next...
- MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) Seed Awards: MCSC announced the winners of their inaugural seed awards, which support ongoing and emerging climate and sustainability efforts across campus, with a focus on cross-disciplinary solutions.
- Coastal Resilience Success Stories: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation released eight case studies on coastal resilience projects with the goal of transferring knowledge and strategies to other practitioners. Strategies include adaptive management, partnerships, and outreach and engagement.
- Celebrate Pride Month:
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Have Something to Add?
Sharing in the Newsletters
Do you have something related to climate adaptation that you would like to see in a future newsletter? If you have project, job posting, event, outreach product, or something else that you’d like to submit for consideration, you can fill out this google form. Please note that this does not guarantee inclusion. We’ll select the climate adaptation items most relevant to our community of practice to continue to provide a curated newsletter. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Why am I getting this email?
Welcome to Mass ECAN!
You are receiving this email because you joined Mass ECAN.
Welcome to a supportive community of climate adaptation practitioners and researchers who are interested in ecosystem resilience and natural resources conservation in Massachusetts.
Mass ECAN is creating a space for us to learn from and with each other. Together, we can build capacity for climate adaptation that promotes ecosystem resilience and weaves natural resources conservation into actions across sectors. Mass ECAN is coordinated by UMass Extension. |
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