Land Trust Alliance Rally, Part 2

Presenters and participants here at the Land Trust Rally continue to focus on the need for collaboration and dialogue in order to address and adapt to the multiple effects that climate change will have on both developed and natural places. Nowhere is this truer than in our coastal areas, where sea level rise and storm surges are literally going to reshape the land. In a presentation entitled "Coastal Community Resilience: Adapting to Climate Change," speakers from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, US EPA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Northcoast Regional Land Trust talked about partnering and collaboration, and a few of the many tools that they have available. Each of these Federal agencies shared the new tools that they are developing and how they are sharing information and resources with land trusts and local governments to facilitate progress. They also touched on the work being done currently by Obama’s Task Force, indicating that in a few months time they are hoping to identify lead federal agencies and a unified national strategy.

US Fish and Wildlife Services, which has been historically very active on the west coast, providing expertise advice in addition to project funding, announced the expansion of the popular Coastal Program, potentially adding three new locations to the existing 22 program locations, one of which is on the California Central Coast. The Coastal Program actively facilitates wetland, upland and stream protection and restoration. The Fish and Wildlife representative also discussed a new program that they are launching to deal with adaptation strategies, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, which will provide assistance with resource assessment and vulnerability analysis.

Not to be outdone, both the US EPA and NOAA are also developing new conservation tactics for outreach, education, strategic planning, and adaptation. Dr. Bernice Smith, the Chief of the US EPA’s Coastal Management Branch focused her discussion on the departments Climate Ready Estuary Program, which in the two years of its existence has helped 11 National Estuary Program partners in developing strategies for coastal climate change adaptation. Through this program the EPA is able to offer technical assistance in developing vulnerability assessments, climate change adaptation and monitoring plans, sea level modeling, public outreach, and financial assistance for real projects. Similarly, Ginger Hinchcliff, of NOAA’s Coastal Services Center, discussed their Coastal Services Center’s Inundation Toolkit that is available to help local communities visualize and communicate inundation issues.

All of these federal agencies stressed the new importance that the Obama administration has given to climate change research and product development, and the focus that has brought to Washington. They were clear that they are playing catch-up, but that they are all open to suggestions and partnerships, and are seeking input and opportunities for collaboration with land trusts and local governments.