March 2017 Newsletter

March 20, 2017 superuser

News and upcoming events related to the Southeast Climate Science Center. Subscribe to the monthly newsletter here.

——–SE CSC NEWS————————-
SE CSC Partner Survey and Listening Tour. NC State University hosts the DOI/USGS Southeast Climate Science Center and is beginning its phase 2 science planning to cover 2018-2023 and beyond. We are looking for input on science and management needs related to strategic issues and problems that fish and wildlife agencies face in the southeastern US. Your guidance will help NC State University better meet its agreement for hosting and supporting the science mission of the SE CSC. Responses are anonymous and will be used for internal review and planning only. Link to the survey here .
View a video introduction by University Assistant Director Aranzazu Lascurain
SE CSC is undertaking a round of listening sessions this spring in states across the region, engaging fish and wildlife managers in a seminar and open discussion on climate and wildlife, to gather this input directly. The first of these was in North Carolina on March 1. Others currently scheduled are: southeastern tribes on March 16; Florida on April 13; Tennessee on April 25.

NEW: Eco-Drought Factsheet: A summary of a Southeast CSC workshop aimed at collating existing knowledge about ecological drought, defined as a prolonged and widespread deficit in naturally available water supplies that create multiple stresses across ecosystems. Southeastern ecosystems are dependent on abundant and predictable water supplies, and as climate change influences temperature, precipitation, and circulation patterns within the region, drought conditions may become more prevalent. Read the factsheet.

New Citizen Science Project Gathers Information on the Future of Forests. Do you have a red maple tree and a few minutes a year? Join a new citizen science project that will contribute to our understanding of how climate change and urbanization will affect forest health and carbon sequestration by trees. Read more.

March Newsletter for Conservation Corridors: http://conservationcorridor.org/digests/

SE CSC Faculty Affiliate, Dave Eggleston, co-authors new research, Invasive and Native Marsh Grasses May Provide Similar Benefits to Protected Wetlands. Read now.

SE CSC Faculty Affiliate, Peter Askim, will lead a concert, A River Runs Through It, on April 23. In honor of Earth Day. See details.

New SE CSC Publications:
Kuffner, I. B., Roberts, K. E., Flannery, J. A., Morrison, J. M., and Richey, J. N., 2017, Fidelity of the Sr/Ca proxy in recording ocean temperature in the western Atlantic coral Siderastrea siderea: Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, v. 18, p. 178–188. doi:10.1002/2016GC006640. Get details on the project page.

Fatorić, S. and Seekamp, E. Are cultural heritage and resources threatened by climate change? A systematic literature review. Climatic Change (2017). doi:10.1007/s10584-017-1929-9. Read more about the research.

Dale AG, Frank SD (2017) Warming and drought combine to increase pest insect fitness on urban trees. PLoS ONE 12(3): e0173844. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173844. Read the press release.

——–FEATURED RESOURCE————————-
These maps show how early spring is arriving in your state this year. Anyone living in the eastern United States has probably noticed how unusually warm it’s been this February. And it’s not just your imagination! In fact, there’s a good way to visualize this.
The US Geological Survey has a neat set of maps, updated daily, showing how early spring has arrived in each state this year.
——–RESOURCES————————-
New website: LA SAFE (Louisiana’s Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments), providing resources for Louisiana communities to mitigate risk and increase coastal resilience.
Video: Arctic sea ice on track to be among smallest winter maximums on record
Extreme Event Game, from the National Academies of Science, is an In-Person Game Played in Groups. Players learn how important it is to build coalitions across all sectors of a community and invest in short-term and long-term resources to make their city more resilient.
Finding Climate Data. This Climate.gov web resource provide tools such as Data Gallery with descriptive names, thumbnail images with data examples, information on where the data came from and how to access them; and Search, which describes a range of strategies that can help you navigate data access interfaces to get the data you want.
Yale Climate Opinion Maps for 2016. This version of the Yale Climate Opinion Maps is based on data through the year 2016. Public opinion about global warming is an important influence on decision making about policies to reduce global warming or prepare for the impacts.
Yale Climate Connection bookshelf: From winter blues to climate angst, books and reports on the psychology of climate change.
Surface Elevation Table (SET) Gap Analysis Report
Recently, the Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative (NGOM SSC) published a report identifying the gaps in Surface Elevation Table (SET) data for the Gulf of Mexico. The report can be accessed on the NGOM SSC website, under Gulf SLR Assets. Data layers will be available in the NGOM SSC’s data gallery on the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks LCC’s Conservation Planning Atlas.
——–NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS————————-
Putting Flow–Ecology Relationships into Practice: A Decision-Support System to Assess Fish Community Response to Water-Management Scenarios. Jennifer Cartwright, Casey Caldwell, Steven Nebiker, and Rodney Knight. This paper presents a conceptual framework to operationalize flow–ecology relationships into decision-support systems of practical use to water-resource managers, who are commonly tasked with balancing multiple competing socioeconomic and environmental priorities. The framework presented here can be used to translate flow–ecology relationships into evidence-based management by developing decision-support systems for conservation of riverine biodiversity while optimizing water availability for human use. See the paper.
Vacant lots provide more ecosystem services than backyard trees. Link to article.
Changing Climates, Changing Cities. A series of articles about how climate change is affecting urban areas. The first in the series describes the drastic water limitations in Mexico City, progressive subsidence, increased withdrawals of groundwater, and crumbling of the soil foundation on which the city is built. Director of the Water System of Mexico City: “Climate change is expected to have two effects. We expect heavier, more intense rains, which means more floods, but also more and longer droughts.” Read the article.
New research on communicating sea level rise impacts to human communities. View the paper.
Smart Growth Fixes for Climate Adaptation and Resilience.
This new publication by the Environmental Protection Agency can help local government officials, staff, and boards find strategies to prepare for climate change impacts through land use and building policies. Strategies described can be combined with current policies to minimize costs and adjusted based on current climate observations and projections. See the pub.
Influence of the Ocean and Greenhouse Gases on Severe Drought Likelihood in the Central United States in 2012. Recent article examines the influence of ocean temperature and greenhouse gases on likelihood of drought in central US. In this modeling study using large-ensemble simulations from a global atmospheric climate model, an anthropogenic impact on precipitation was detectable in the simulations, doubling the likelihood of what would have been a rainfall deficit with a 2% exceedance probability under preindustrial-level forcings. Despite this reduction in rainfall, summer soil moisture during extreme drought was essentially unaffected by anthropogenic forcing. Access the paper.
How temperature guides where species live, where they’ll go // Earth & Climate News. A new study could prove significant in answering among the most enduring questions for ecologists: Why do species live where they do, and what are the factors that keep them there? The ranges of animals in the world’s temperate mountain areas — often presumed to be determined by competition — may actually be determined more by temperature and habitat. The findings indicate that species living in temperate mountain habitats could face even greater repercussions from climate change than previously thought.
Clarifying the role of coastal and marine systems in climate mitigation. Howard et al, Front Ecol Environ 2017; 15(1): 42–50, doi:10.1002/fee.1451. This paper evaluates scientific evidence regarding whether coastal and marine ecosystems and ecosystem components such as coral reefs, phytoplankton, kelp forests, and marine fauna, are viable long-term carbon sinks and whether they can be managed for climate mitigation.
——–SEMINARS AT NC STATE————————-
Next up in the Global Change Seminar Series: Harmful Algal Blooms and Climate Change, Dr. Astrid Schnetzer, Dept of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Sciences. March 30, 3:30 pm, 101 David Clark Labs.
Global Change Seminar Series schedule here.

Spring 2017 Geospatial Forum Seminars.
How Numbers Can Mislead (and how to avoid being misled). On Monday, March 27 at 7pm, Coffee & Viz After Hours is presenting Mona Chalabi, a data editor at The Guardian US and one of the most influential people in the field of data journalism. Chalabi’s presentation will discuss the importance of honest and inclusive data visualization.

CENREP Spring Seminar Schedule.

——–WEBINARS————————-
Find more webinar information in our calendar.
MAR 21 3:00 PM-4:00 PM Monitoring the exchange of moisture between the land and atmosphere to improve our understanding of drought

MAR 22 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Engaging Stakeholders in Developing Adaptation Strategies

MAR 23 12:00 PM-1:15 PM Communicating About Clean Energy and Climate Change Solutions

MAR 29 10:00 AM-11:00 AM How a long-term collaborative effort with multiple partners helped restore and protect the integrity of a bottomland hardwood system on a dam regulated river

MAR 29 3:30 PM-4:30 PM Using decision tools to assess vulnerability and inform management of wildlife in the Northeast

APR 5 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Connecting Insights to Policy-Making and the Institutional Context

——–TRIBAL NEWS————————-
Travel Scholarships for Tribal Participation in NCA Regional Engagement Workshops
The Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) is now under development and will include regional chapters that contain more detailed regional-scale information that may be more easily incorporated into local efforts like tribal adaptation plans and collaboration efforts. Your input can help improve your region’s chapter so it is useful to tribal communities. Throughout the months of February and March, the NCA4 Regional Author Teams will be holding Regional Engagement Workshops to gather input from all stakeholders in all US regions.
In order to facilitate tribal involvement and engagement in the NCA4 Regions chapters, the BIA Tribal Climate Resilience Program, in partnership with Salish Kootenai College and The College of the Menominee Nation are offering travel scholarships to attend these meetings.
To Apply: Simply send a request to Joshua Rosenau (joshua_rosenau@skc.edu) identifying which regional meeting (including satellite locations, if applicable) you/group wish to attend, and the amount of the sub-award being requested. For questions or more information, please contact Joshua Rosenau or Adrian Leighton, adrian_leighton@skc.edu or (406) 885-2787.
Communicating Climate Change for Tribes Workshop
Apr. 25, 2017 – Apr. 26, 2017
301 David L. Boren Blvd
4 Partners Place
Norman, OK 73019
This workshop will provide tribal members with tools and tactics they can use to discuss climate change with various audiences in their communities. Activities will include:
-Interactive, hands-on demonstrations
-Practicing outreach methods
-Presenting climate change information to tribal leaders, including a mock tribal council
-Presentations by native and non-native experts including Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, nationally renowned atmospheric scientist
To register, fill out the form attached to the agenda (above) and email a copy to Karen-dye@cherokee.org.
More information
USDA Support for Tribal Extension Programs. The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture has announced $2.9 million in available funding for projects that make extension programs and resources more accessible to Native American communities. Funding is made through their Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program.
The Federally Recognized Tribes Extension Program supports the development of community-based programs and activities that deliver science-based, traditional, and culturally appropriate knowledge. Proposed programs show the value of informed outreach to identified tribes and align with tribal needs. Extension projects may include tribal youth and 4-H, Indian farmer and rancher productivity and management, economic workforce development, food systems and community food markets, natural resource conservation, and human nutrition and reduction of childhood and adolescent obesity.
Eligible applicants include 1862 or 1890 land-grant institutions that have a Federally Recognized Tribe within their state jurisdiction.
The deadline for applications is April 26, 2017. See the request for applications for details.
——–LCC NEWS————————-
Appalachian:
* LCC Science Helping to Target Restoration Sites to Improve Water Quality in the Susquehanna and Potomac Watersheds. Learn more
* Biennial Spotlight on National Park Resources. Learn more
More News from Appalachian LCC
Caribbean:
* Caribbean LCC: New Climate Adaptation Video Series for Tropical Farmers. Read more
* Crucian Conservationists Look at Action Plan | VI Source. Learn more
More News from Caribbean LCC
Gulf Coast Prairie:
* Gulf Coast Prairie 2016 Annual Report released. Learn more
* LCC Network Releases One Year Progress Report on Accomplishing Recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences. Learn more
More News from Gulf Coast Prairie LCC
Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks:
* GCPO LCC solicits Statements of Interest for research projects. Learn more
* How to make local governments want more green infrastructure. Learn more
More News from Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks LCC
South Atlantic:
* Have you registered for a 2017 Blueprint workshop yet? Sign up now to reserve your slot!
* 2016 Annual Report released. Learn more
More News from South Atlantic LCC
——–UPCOMING EVENTS————————-
2017 Duke Water Symposium
Friday, March 24, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, Doris Duke Center at Sarah P. Duke Gardens
Organized by the Duke Water Network and Student Association of Wetland Scientists, the day will feature individual talks and panel discussions by water resources professionals from state and federal government, private sector, non-profits, and academia. Please make sure to RSVP (lunch included for attendees) to secure your spot at the symposium. M ore information
State of the Gulf of Mexico One Gulf Summit March 26 – 28, 2017
Gulf of Mexico Alliance All Hands Meeting March 29 – 31, 2017
Houston, TX
Register
North Carolina’s Coastal Conference April 4 and 5, 2017, in Raleigh, NC. Event page
The Southeast and Caribbean Climate Community of Practice 2017 meeting April 24-26, 2017 in Charleston, SC. Read more
Coastal Cultures Conference 2017: Sustaining Cultural Heritage as the Climate Changes. The Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank invites you to bring out the family for a day of interactive environmental engagement to protect cultural heritage. Advance registration is required; event is FREE.
Saturday, April 22, 2017 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EDT)
St. Helena Library, Beaufort County Library System
Saint Helena Island, SC. Register
National Adaptation Forum, May 9-11, 2017, St. Paul, MN. Event information
Keeping History Above Water Conference is an international gathering hosted by the City of Annapolis in partnership with the Newport Restoration Foundation. Conference discussions will examine the increasing and varied risks posed by sea level rise to historic coastal communities, their built environments and traditional lifeways. Leaders in the fields of historic preservation, business, culture, tourism, economics, urban planning, environment, sustainability, design, engineering and public policy will participate in symposia, workshops, roundtables and tours that focus on practical solutions and community engagement. P re-register for more information
——–OPPORTUNITIES————————-
Opportunities for input into 4th National Climate Assessment: A critical component of NCA4 success is a robust, inclusive, and transparent public review process. NCA4 is slated to be released for public comment in the fall of 2017; look for other opportunities to contribute along the way at globalchange.gov/notices.
NFWF Resilient Communities 2017 Call for Proposals: Wells Fargo and NFWF have partnered to create the Resilient Communities program. Through improvements to natural features and enhanced community capacity, the program will help communities prepare for future impacts associated with sea level rise, water quantity and quality and forest conservation. Pre-proposals are due March 30, 2017, full proposals on May 31, 2017. Read the RFP
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Southeast Climate Science Center
N.C. State University
127 David Clark Labs
Campus Box 7617
Raleigh, NC 27695-7617