Program

2nd Connecticut Conference on Natural Resources
Monday, March 10th 2008, University of Connecticut, Storrs/Mansfield, Connecticut

Plenary Speaker: 9:10-9:45am

Dr. Gary Yohe

Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics

Wesleyan University

and Senior Member, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

"Climate Change in Connecticut: Global Perspectives and Local Vulnerabilities"

In its Fourth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC) concluded that “responding to climate change involves a series of risk management decisions about adaptation and mitigation that account for climate damages, ancillary benefits and costs, sustainability, and equity.” The best way to understand what that means over the short, medium, and long run for Connecticut and New England is to place local impacts and potential adaptation strategies into a global context. The impacts of climate change along alternative climate futures offered by the IPCC on coastal zones, water resources, agriculture, recreation, and other sectors important to Connecticut will be catalogued. Possible adaptations, or at least ways to approach adaptation, will be identified. Broader connections with comparable global impacts (to check for consistency) and other key vulnerabilities (to calibrate what might be considered “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system") will be offered to illuminate the role that mitigation will have to play in reducing risk. While today's Conference features science-based presentation, there are messages for action to be drawn. The bottom line in terms of climate change: while Connecticut continues to be a national leader in responding to climate change, Connecticut and other states must convince the federal government to assume a comparable leadership role on the global stage in supporting both adaptation and mitigation. Neither, alone, will be sufficient. Thoughts about next steps on the federal level will be offered.

Gary Yohe is the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics at Wesleyan University. Most of his recent work has focused on visualizing mitigation and adaptation policies as tools with which to try to manage the risk of climate change in an uncertain world. Dr. Yohe served as Convening Lead Author for one chapter in the Response Options Technical Volume of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment; it focused on uncertainty and the evaluation of response options. He participated in a consultative role in the New England Climate Impacts Assessment sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientist; their reports were released in 2007. He is also a senior member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that was awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Involved with the IPCC since the mid 1990’s, he served as a Lead Author for four different chapters in the Third Assessment Report that was published in 2001. He served as Convening Lead Author for the Contribution of Working Group II to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report and worked with the Core Writing Team to prepare the overall Synthesis Report for the entire assessment; both documents were approved in 2007. In this assessment, his chapter concentrated on bringing perspectives of sustainable development to the discussion of adaptation and mitigation in the face of climate-induced risk. Dr. Yohe recently served as one of five editors of Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change, and he has testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the “Hidden (climate change) Cost of Oil” on March 30, 2006, the Senate Energy Committee on the Stern Review on February 14, 2007, and the Senate Banking Committee on “Material Risk from Climate Change and Climate Policy” on October 31, 2007.

Keynote Address: 1:15-1:50pm

photo: Matthew Worden

Trevor Corson

author of The Secret Life of Lobsters

"Sexy Lobster, succulent fish: Is there a future for seafood?"

Trevor Corson is a book author, magazine writer, public speaker, and commentator on radio and television. He has studied philosophy in China, resided in Buddhist temples in Tokyo, and worked on commercial fishing boats off the Maine coast. He has been an award-winning magazine editor and has written on a wide variety of topics for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and the Atlantic Monthly, where his first book, The Secret Life of Lobsters, began as an essay that was included in The Best American Science Writing.

Witty, inquisitive, and painstakingly researched, The Secret Life of Lobsters introduces a fresh talent to the ranks of today’s nature writers. “Like the first man who decided a lobster was edible, the reader of this book is in for a surprise: It’s fantastic!” says noted naturalist Richard Ellis, author of The Empty Ocean. “This is the way natural history is supposed to be written — engaging, fascinating, brilliant.” The Secret Life of Lobsters was named a best nature book of the year by USA Today and Discover, a best book of the year by Time Out New York, and went on to become a worldwide bestseller in the popular-science category.

His second book, The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, was selected as an Editors’ Pick by the New York Times Book Review; it also won “Best American Food Literature Book” of 2007 in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards and was selected as a best food book of the year by the Zagat Survey. Trevor and his work have been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, ABC World News with Charles Gibson, NPR’s All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation, as well as numerous local television and radio programs; he has also served as a judge on the Food Network’s hit TV show Iron Chef America. He lives in New York City.

Oral Presentations: concurrent sessions

Conservation at Community Level/Workshop

Natural Resource Inventories and Classification of Ecosystems

Natural Resources Inventories and Classifications of Ecosystems /Workshop

Urban Natural Resources Management: opportunities and challenges

10:00am-10:15am

Juliana Barrett

"Coastal Habitat Management and Restoration of Long Island Sound"

Thomas Meyer

"Mapping the Invisible: Cokriging to Determine Bedrock Elevations from LIDAR Elevation and Well Boring Logs"

Mary Becker

"Connecticut Methodology for Freshwater Nutrient Criteria Development"

Stephen Gephard

"Restoring Diadromous Fishes to Our Urbanized Watersheds"

10:20am-10:35am

Jessica B. Kukielka "Prioritizing Land Preservation in Communities: Decision Support Based on Public Preferences and Economic Value"

Carl Zimmerman

"Land Cover Data: How Changing the Scale Changes the Answer"

Christopher Bellucci

"Wild Brook Trout Density as an Indicator of Stream Flow Condition and Applicability Towards Streamflow Classification"

Chris Donnelly

"Urban Forestry: Numbers (and Challenges) from the Field"

10:40am-10:55am

Jenifer Nadeau

"HEAP: Educating Horse Owners about Best Management Practices"

Margie Faber

"USDA Soil Information for Land Use Decision Makers"

Wade Elmer

"Characterization of Plant Pathogens in Salt Marshes Affected by Sudden Vegetation Dieback"

Andrew LaBonte

"Moose in Connecticut;establishment, expansion, and future challenges"

11:10am-11:25am

Seth Lerman

"Local Land Use Leadership - Creating a Climate for Change"

Leslie Kane

"Guilford's Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment: A Tool for Planning, a Reference for Citizens"

Justin Davis

"Quantifying impacts of striped bass recovery on anadromous alosines"

Paul Capotosto

"Urban Wetland Restorations along the West River Corridor in New Haven with Emphasis on Control of Phragmites"

11:30am-11:45am

WORKSHOP:

Maureen Hart

"Managing for Sustainability"

Cary Chadwick

"Low cost (and simple!) solutions for adding GPS-linked photographs to your field inventory"

WORKSHOP:

"Invasive Plant Identification"

Paula Stahl

"Building a Green Infrastructure"

11:50am-12:05pm

Yoichiro Kanno

"Biogeography of Stream Fishes in Connecticut: Defining Faunal Regions and Assemblage Types"

George Babey

"Luring, Schooling and Serving Up City Fishing"

12:05pm-12:20pm

Lunch

Cons. at Comm. Level-con't.

Nat. Res. Inv.-con't.

Green and Sustainable Env. Eng.

Preparing for a changing climate

2:00pm-2:15pm

Chet Arnold "Assessing the Feasibility of a Statewide Buildout Analysis"

James Hurd

"A Preview of Recent Land Cover Mapping for Connecticut"

John Rozum

"Low Impact Development Education and Online Tools for Connecticut"

Mark Hoover

"The Effects of Sea Level Rise on Future Salt Marsh Habitats"

2:20pm-2:35pm

Shelley Green

"Ten Towns and Multiple Stakeholders: Collaboration to Conserve the Salmon River"

Karen Zyko

"Saving Endangered Species one polygon at a time"

Christopher Amey

"Role of Methane Digesters on Livestock Farms in the Northeast United States"

Robert Thorson

"Kettle Lakes and Ponds: Special Attribute, Sensitivities, and Management Considerations"

2:40pm-2:55pm

Michael Altshul

"Co-occurring Resource Inventories in the Last Green Valley"

Tom French

"Protecting State-Listed Rare Species and Natural Communities in Massachusetts using Maps "

David Grunwald

"Potential amendments to enhance infiltration capacities of compacted urban subsoils"

Joel Johnson

"Connecticut Coastal Hazards Data Portal and Visualization Tool"

3:15pm-3:30pm

Seth Lerman

"Including Place-based Recommendations in Watershed Plans"

Christopher Elphick

"A vision for statewide biotic inventory and monitoring"

Helen Poulos

"Application of Random Forest Algorithm for Predicting Windthrow of Trees for Power Line Decision Support"

Robert Marra

"Phytophthora ramorum and Sudden Oak Death: is Connecticut at risk?"

3:35pm-3:50pm

Brendan Hanrahan

"The promise of Community-based environmental management in Connecticut"

PANEL DISCUSSION

Kynoch Reale-Munroe

"Modeling the Impacts of Reservoir Release Rules on Safe Yield"

John Clausen

"Sensitivity of Inland Wetlands to Watershed Changes: Proposed Responses"

3:55pm-4:10pm

Emily Wilson

"A Statewide Online Mapping Tool for Community Planning"

Poster Presentations:

CT Urban Forest Council’s Outreach Toolbox	Ludwig, Mary
Conserving Communities - Greenways of the Natchaug Basin	Drinkuth, Holly
A Novel Approach to Community-based Habitat Management	Holland, Janice
Initial Ecological Response to Dam Removal on the Eight Mile River, Connecticut	Whelchel, Adam
Aquifer Potential Map of Connecticut	Thomas, Margaret, Fitting, Corinne
Long-term Trends in Groundwater Levels in Connecticut	Chau, Jessica
Soil Data Applications for Watershed Analysis and Planning	Jaworowski, Carol
Ecological Site Descriptions of a Transitioning Subaqueous and Terrestrial Ecological Site in Southeastern Connecticut	Surabian, Debbie
Soil Survey Work Planning Conference: Status and Priorities	McVey, Shawn
Honey Bee Exposure to Pesticides	Eitzer, Brian
Event Effect on Mercury Transport within a Forest Landscap	Bushey, Joseph
Soil Bacterial Diversity Across a Range of Soil Textures	Bagtzoglou, Amvrossious C.
Public Tree Replacements Managed In Nursery Partnership	Ludwig, Mary
Study on the Rule of Mutually Function Between Urban Areas and Environment ——A Case Study of Xi’an, China	Xue, Dongqian
A preliminary assessment of deer use of a suburban landscape	LaBonte, Andrew
Elevated Manganese Concentration Occurrence in Connecticut Groundwater	Reale-Munroe, Kynoch
Using ArcGIS as a planning tool for an urban fishing initiative	McDowell, Christopher
Juvenile alewife emigration in a small coastal system.	Gahagan, Ben
A Habitat-Based Management Approach for Open Space Properties	Barrett, Juliana
Ozone Levels in the Eastern US Under a Changing Climate	DellaVale, Curt
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Training for Municipal Shellfish Commissions: Tools for Shellfisheries and Aquaculture Management	Getchis, Tessa

Workshops:

Workshop Maureen Hart

Presenter:

Title: Managing for Sustainability

Developing sustainable communities requires effectively executing sustainable policies, strategies, and practices. But what makes a policy, strategy, or practice “sustainable?” Based on an effort currently under way at International City/County Management Association (www.icma.org), this interactive workshop will introduce participants to a way to assess and report on community conservation and development based on sustainability concepts. A sustainable system framework will be presented that allows program managers to analyze policies, programs, and outcomes for alignment with sustainability principles. The framework uses sustainability indicators to evaluate whether local community capital – natural, social, human, and economic – is being enhanced or degraded over the long term, a key factor in community sustainable development. Attendees are encouraged to bring information about their programs to share with other workshop participants as examples for evaluation in the workshop.

Workshop Roslyn Selsky

Presenter:

Title: Invasive Plant Identification

Invasive aquatic plants are non-native species that have a negative impact on the environment and/or the economy. Invasive aquatic plants can modify the environment, have reproductive advantages and are usually unhindered by native pests and pathogens, which allow invasive aquatic plants to displace native aquatic plants. Invasive aquatic plants also reduce aesthetic and recreational value of water bodies, which affect tourism and real estate values. In fact, economic damages and management costs for invasive aquatic plants in the United States have been estimated at $3 billion per year.

Correct invasive aquatic plant identification can prevent accidental introductions to waterbodies and allow for early management. This invasive aquatic plant identification workshop will teach participants how to identify some of the invasive aquatic plant species found in Connecticut. A presentation will cover key identification characteristics as well as the biology of these plants. There will be live and pressed specimens for participants to identify with the aid of identification handouts.

Since 2002, researchers with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Invasive Aquatic Plant Program (CAES IAPP) have been surveying Connecticut lakes and ponds for invasive aquatic plants and investigating various management options. To date, CAES IAPP has found twelve invasive aquatic plant species in 62% of the surveyed lakes. Roslyn Selsky joined CAES IAPP in 2004 and has surveyed over 100 lakes and ponds in Connecticut.