News from Our Partners
Hurry! Coastal Cliffs and Bluffs Symposium Abstracts Due March 31
Understanding the significance and management requirements of coastal cliffs and lake bluffs in the face of human and climate change impacts is a major challenge. Luckily, there’s an international symposium to discuss these issues. Hosted by Liverpool Hope University, the Coastal Cliffs and Lake Bluffs Symposium will be held in Llandudno, North Wales, September 17-18, 2013. The paper submission deadline is March 31.
ASFPM Explores the Costs of Mapping the Nation’s Floodplains
When will we be done mapping the entire nation’s flood risk areas? What would it cost and how long would it take to provide accurate flood mapping for every community in the nation? Once completed, what is the annual cost of maintaining and updating those maps in the future? These questions and more are answered in the Association of State Floodplain Managers’ recently released flood mapping report.
After Sandy: Looking to Predict Sea Level Rise in the Northeast
Hurricane Sandy left questions of vulnerability for residents in the Northeast. Now, New Jersey scientists are trying to answer those questions by predicting sea level rise and the ways in which rising seas could make future storms worse. Scientists at Rutgers University adapted the NOAA Coastal Services Center’s Sea Level Rise Viewer to create a satellite-based tool allowing users to zoom into street-level detail.
More Abstracts Please
The National Weather Association is seeking abstracts for both oral and poster presentations for its Annual Meeting. The meeting will be held October 12-17, 2013, in Charleston, South Carolina, and will focus on “High Impact Weather Communications: Finding Calm in the Eye of the Storm.”
Future Female Coastal Managers and Scientists Need You!
One thousand girls applied, but only 300 STEM women volunteered. Huffington Post is looking for women volunteers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to mentor the 700 girl deficit. This STEM mentorship program aims to help girls pursuing a career in one of the above fields. All geographies welcome.
Tampa Plans for Sea Level Rise
Tampa Bay, Florida, is setting an example for coastal planners by working through various issues associated with sea level rise. Researchers at the University of Florida are working to answer questions about vulnerabilities and priorities in different sea level rise scenarios with the help of Digital Coast’s Sea Level Rise Viewer. The project also aims to help the Sea Level Rise Viewer team improve the tool to meet the needs of communities in their adaptation planning efforts.
“Worth Exploring if You Live in a Coastal Community”
If you’re not aware of all that the Digital Coast can do for you, check out what the Stormwater Editor’s Blog had to say. The blog highlighted the Sea Level Rise Viewer, as well as Coastal County Snapshots, and stated that Digital Coast as a whole was worth investigating if you live in a coastal community. Stormwater is a journal for surface water quality professionals.
Planning for Climate Change Just Got Easier
Incorporating climate change considerations into your conservation efforts can seem daunting. Wouldn’t it be great if you could find many trusted resources for climate change in one place? That’s exactly what the Climate Change Toolkit offers. The Land Trust Alliance’s Coastal Conservation Networking partnership compiled its collective resources, making it easier for land trusts to learn, plan, adapt, and inspire other land trusts to prepare for climate change. The Coastal Conservation Networking partnership includes representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, The Nature Conservancy, and the Land Trust Alliance.
Hundreds of Thousands of Dead Atlantic Menhaden? North Carolina NERR Solves the Mystery.
When hundreds of thousands of dead Atlantic menhaden washed up at Masonboro Island in Wilmington, the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) was quick to determine the cause. North Carolina NERR maintains one of NOAA’s System-Wide Monitoring Program monitoring stations in that area and was able to determine that the fish kill was caused by a significant drop in dissolved oxygen levels. Without the monitoring system, North Carolina NERR would not have been so fast to disseminate the information to the public and the media.
Minnesota Sea Grant Gains Three
Minnesota Sea Grant is taking action to prepare for coastal storms, climate change, and excess stormwater. The agency recently hired three new staff members focused on those specific issues. Brent Schleck is the new coastal storms outreach coordinator, Hilarie Sorensen is the new climate change extension educator, and Cristina Villella is the new Minnesota GreenCorps member. These new positions could save communities time, money, and environmental headaches.
The Place to Be: NACo Legislative Conference, March 2-6, 2013
Join 2,000 elected and appointed county officials from across the country as they focus on legislative issues facing county government. As an attendee, you will hear from key federal administration officials and members of Congress, as well as experience additional education opportunities. The National Association of Counties’ annual Legislative Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., March 2-6.
APA Hosts Fracking and Resource Extraction Webinar, February 13, 2013
America is more focused than ever on finding local energy sources and natural resource extraction. This focus creates major issues for communities, including economic, environmental, housing, and social challenges. In this webinar, learn how communities are planning for this new era of resource extraction and how they respond to new pressures on local resources. The American Planning Association (APA) webinar is February 13 from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
Don’t Miss NSGIC’s 2013 Midyear Meeting
If you work in the field of GIS, you need to stay on top of current GIS trends and topics. The National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) will host its midyear meeting February 24-27, 2013, in Maryland to help you do just that. Topics include open data policy, a presentation from the National Emergency Management Association, Hurricane Sandy, and much more.
Annual APA Meeting in Chicago, April 13-17
If you are a planner or have planning needs for your county or city, then don’t miss the annual meeting of the American Planning Association (APA), April 13-17, in Chicago, Illinois. There will be professional development sessions, networking opportunities, and the chance to explore Chicago. Topics include fiscal challenges and innovative solutions, meaningful green planning, resilient communities, and much more.
Connecticut Coastal Communities Ponder the Future
Concerned over how best to rebuild your community after Sandy? Wondering if, and how, you can ensure a resilient community? Take a look at how Connecticut is handling the situation through a blog post from Adam Whelchel, the director of science for The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut. Whelchel describes the steps Connecticut took before Sandy to determine areas of weakness and issues a call to action for the future.
Hawaii Tsunami Information Service App Now On iTunes
Get prepared. Users now have the option to download the free Hawaii Tsunami Information Service App from iTunes or the Google Play Store. Developed by the NOAA Pacific Services Center, the app teaches users about tsunami warning signs and provides easy-to-understand evacuation maps, instructions, and information to help prepare for disaster.
Designing with Preservation in Mind
Beautiful design, housing growth, and preservation can all win, according to a new publication from Preserve the Dunes, Inc. The 16-page booklet shows that it is possible to design HGTV-style houses that leverage the beauty of the dune landscape while preserving the dune ecosystem. The booklet lays out best practices for building in these areas based on results of a competition evaluated by both architectural judges and scientific experts.
APA Recovery News Provides Resources for Sandy Recovery
Lost in a sea of resources for Sandy? Not sure which ones to trust? The American Planning Association’s recovery blog documents and collects Sandy recovery resources. The blog features FEMA advisories, newspaper articles, and other research to help those affected by Sandy recover and rebuild intelligently.
NACo Achievement Award Application Now Available
If your county has an innovative program that modernizes county government and increases services to county residents, you need to apply for the National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Award for national recognition. There are 21 different award categories, including environmental protection. Deadline for the application is February 21, 2013, at midnight.
A Productive Partnership
Heard of the Digital Coast Partnership but not sure what it does? During a recent meeting, the partners discussed accomplishments all made possible through collaboration and the Digital Coast. The Association of State Floodplain Managers has been working on the Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Planning Guide. This guide uses data, tools, and case studies to help communities plan for coastal hazards and climate change. The Nature Conservancy has also been working in the Great Lakes creating case studies and a video to highlight climate change impacts. The National Association of Counties held workshops in Mississippi to share Digital Coast data and tools with coastal managers. All the partners have been working hard assisting Hurricane Sandy recovery. The American Planning Association compiled resources for those affected by Sandy on its website, while the National States Geographic Information Council is working to improve search and rescue maps for future disasters.
Where Can Marshes Most Reduce Risk Post-Sandy?
Deciding how to prioritize marshes that can reduce storm impacts can be difficult. What is the size of the marsh? What buildings or critical facilities are nearby? How many people live in the area? The Nature Conservancy provides some answers in its online interactive mapper for New York and Connecticut, which prioritizes where marshes can offer the greatest risk reduction benefits to people and property. And the tool provides decision makers with the opportunity to weigh which factors are most important to them. Check out the Marsh Explorer feature on the Coastal Resilience: New York and Connecticut mapper (LIS.CoastalResilience.org). The Marsh Explorer is a button located along the top menu bar of the application.
New Lidar Training Webinar December 13
Curious how to best utilize lidar data? Not sure if there are more effective methods out there? Join the New England Chapter of URISA (the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association) on December 13 from 2 to 3 p.m. (Eastern) for Municipal Uses of LiDAR. This webinar will focus on giving professionals skills to help make lidar less challenging.
Commissions Created to Improve New York’s Emergency Planning and Response
Recent major storms hitting New York State, including Hurricanes Sandy and Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, revealed major weaknesses in the state’s transportation, energy, communications, and health infrastructures. In a recent press release, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of three commissions to review and make specific recommendations to overhaul and improve the state’s emergency preparedness and response capabilities.
Post-Sandy: Rebuilding Coastal Resilience
Don’t know where to start when beginning to plan for rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy? The Nature Conservancy’s Dr. Michael Beck discusses the risks and identifies solutions in rebuilding a more resilient future, which includes a critical role for marshes, dunes, and oyster reefs in risk reduction (blog post).
ASFPM Presents LIDAR Essentials Webinar Series
The Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) continues its LIDAR Essentials educational series on December 10, 2012, with a webinar titled, Using LIDAR Data. This is the fourth of four webinars ASFPM is presenting in partnership with GeoCue Corporation to help users understand and specify the most important factors influencing flood map accuracy.
EBM Climate Change Vulnerability Webinar, December 4
Rising sea levels and coastal population growth have your frustrations rising? Feeling overwhelmed by how to make national and international climate change data relevant for your local ecosystems? Learn about on-the-ground applications and tools to aid coastal managers with planning for climate change vulnerability in the Ecosystem-Based Management Tools Network’s webinar on December 4 with Suzanne Langridge of the Natural Capital Project. Reserve your seat now.
Planning Magazine Features Digital Coast Tools
Digital Coast products were highlighted in the October issue of Planning, the American Planning Association’s trade magazine. The article, “Coastal Data, Visualized,” focuses on tools that make using data easy to picture and use for coastal planning.
Ignite Talk Touches on Coastal Vulnerability – Pre-Sandy
New York’s storm vulnerability was discussed in a talk given by Margaret Davidson, the acting director of NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, at the Oceans ’12 marine technology and engineering conference in October. Davidson focused on the importance of the coast and vulnerabilities that certain cities, such as New York City, face from the threat of large storms and sea level change. Watch the video.
NACo Gets a new Executive Director
The National Association of Counties (NACo) announced at the 77th Annual Conference and Exposition that Matthew D. Chase had been named the association’s executive director. Mr. Chase assumed the role on September 17, 2012, and will serve as the spokesman for NACo and America’s counties, advocate before federal policy makers, and promote counties and county issues to the media. Learn more.
Call for Abstracts!
The Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy (CNREP) announces the second call for abstracts for CNREP 2013: Challenges of Natural Resource Economics and Policy, the 4th National Forum on Socioeconomic Research in Coastal Systems. The conference will be held March 24-26, 2013, in New Orleans and will focus on the opportunities and challenges of socioeconomic research in the development and evaluation of coastal resource restoration and management. The abstract deadline is November 12, 2012. Visit the website to learn more or to view the call for abstracts.
Call for Presenters!
The Association of State Floodplain Managers released a call for presenters for its 2013 conference, Remembering the Past – Insuring the Future, June 9-14, 2013, in Hartford, Connecticut. This call for presenters looks for a broad range of professionals to address the many issues and problems associated with managing flood risk, reducing flood damages, making communities more sustainable, and protecting floodplains and fragile natural resources. Learn more.
North Inlet NERR Hosts Award Winning Research
Dr. James Morris, director of the Baruch Institute at the University of South Carolina, received the 2012 Merit Award from the Society of Wetland Scientists. The award recognizes his long-term research at the North Inlet–Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) on coastal wetlands’ response to sea level rise. The paper demonstrates for the first time a positive feedback between sea level rise, plant growth in salt marshes, and sedimentation rate. Learn more.
National Working Waterfronts and Waterways Symposium
In March 2013, Washington Sea Grant, in coordination with Oregon Sea Grant, will sponsor the third national symposium on issues faced by working waterfronts throughout the United States. The symposium will focus on the issues related to increasing population in coastal areas across the country. Learn more about the symposium.
Save the Date: The National Adaptation Forum
The first National Adaptation Forum will be held April 2-4 at the Denver Marriott City Center, Denver, Colorado, with the theme, “Action today for a better tomorrow.” Make sure to save the date and join NOAA as it works with adaptation practitioners and experts from around the country to focus on moving from adaptation planning to adaptation action. Learn more.
San Francisco Bay’s Sea Level Rise Assessment
NOAA’s Coastal Services Center partnered with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission to study sea level rise impacts in the context of social equity, the economy, the environment, and governance. The study recently released the Vulnerability and Risk Assessment Report as part of the Adapting to Rising Tides project. Learn more about the report and the project.