2024 Past Hot Topics Webinars

Status & Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous U.S. from 2009-2019

Held Thursday, April 18, 2024 - 3:00-4:30 p.m. ET

Megan Lang, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Jeff Ingebritsen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

ABSTRACT

On March 22, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released its sixth edition of the “Wetlands Status and Trends” report to Congress. The report, Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous United States 2009-2019, reveals that wetlands – 95 percent of which are freshwater — covered less than 6 percent of the lower 48 states as of 2019 – which is half the area they covered in the 1780s. The report also identifies that loss rates have increased by 50 percent since 2009 and that without additional conservation actions taken to protect these ecosystems, wetland loss will likely continue, reducing ecosystem benefits for people and habitat for fish, wildlife and plants. Report authors shared highlights from the report, including the methods used to collect and interpret wetland data, drivers of change, and the report’s conclusions and Storymap.

BIOS

Megan Lang is Chief Scientist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory Program and Project Lead for the Wetlands Status and Trends study. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland Department of Geographical Sciences and serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Wetlands. Dr. Lang has been working to improve the assessment of aquatic ecosystems through field and remote sensing studies for over two decades. Before working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she led the U.S. Department of Agricultural Mid-Atlantic Regional Wetland Conservation Effects Assessment Project.

Jeff Ingebritsen is a GIS Specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wetlands Inventory since 2013. He serves as the data manager for the Wetlands Status and Trends study. In addition to Status and Trends, Jeff works on various cartography, spatial analysis, and scripting projects for NWI. Jeff lives with his family in southern Wisconsin, where he enjoys gardening, cooking, and making music.

Recording will be posted soon.

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Integrated Watershed Management Planning: Southeast Workshop Introduction and Green Infrastructure for Coastal Resiliency

Held Tuesday, January 23, 2024 - 3:00-4:00 p.m. ET

NAWM, in partnership with the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) through a cooperative agreement with the US EPA, is engaged in a training program to advance the integration of Clean Water act Programs with natural hazard mitigation planning and implementation. The focus of the training is on integrating programs to improve interagency planning and implementation of co-beneficial projects that reduce flood risk and improve water quality, among other benefits. Through this webinar, we recapped the first workshop held in Cincinnati in 2023, introduced information for our next workshop to focus on the Southeast in 2024, and highlighted a coastal green infrastructure project from Florida Sea Grant. See information on the 2024 Integrated Watershed Management Planning Workshop.

INTRODUCTION

Ian Grosfelt, National Association of Wetland Managers [PRESENTATION PDF]

PRESENTER

Haley Cox, Florida Sea Grant [PRESENTATION PDF]

ABSTRACT

Nature-based Solutions to Coastal Hazards in Florida’s Gulf of Mexico

Coastal areas in Florida’s Gulf of Mexico region experience disproportionate exposure to climate risks such as sea level rise (SLR) and intensifying storms. The City of Cedar Key, Florida is a small municipality (population < 750) in this region with particularly high exposure to climate hazards. In 2020, the NOAA tide gauge in Cedar Key recorded the 4th highest rate of SLR acceleration in the nation, and local sea level has risen nearly six inches since 1992 (Malmquist, 2021; VIMS 2022). The low-lying topography, deteriorating stormwater infrastructure, high exposure of Gulf hazards, and the accelerating rate of SLR combine to create extensive vulnerabilities to flooding and shoreline erosion.

Since 2014, the City of Cedar Key and its residents have collaborated with multidisciplinary project teams to develop nature-based solutions to erosion and coastal flooding. From 2016-2021, several living shorelines were constructed around Cedar Key’s Daughtry Bayou to address erosion impacts through restoration of shoreline habitat. Current projects such as Cedar Key ShOREs (Shoreline Options for Resilience and Equity), funded by the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program, focus on achieving equitable shoreline and stormwater management solutions through community-supported green infrastructure installations. This presentation highlighted the role of these projects in natural hazard mitigation, water quality protection, and habitat enhancement.

BIO

Haley Cox is a Coastal Resilience Program Coordinator for Florida Sea Grant responsible for expanding extension and education programs related to climate and resilience along Florida’s Nature Coast and other vulnerable areas of the state. Haley previously worked as an Environmental Specialist in the Water Resources Division of the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department, where her responsibilities included implementing educational programs focused on reducing nonpoint source pollution in urban watersheds, coordinating community outreach events, and conducting water quality monitoring. Prior to this, Haley worked in the Wetlands and Water Quality Laboratory at University of Florida, where she was involved in a variety of environmental studies across Florida, including the construction and monitoring of living shorelines in Cedar Key and other coastal communities. She has a B.A. in Sustainability Studies with minors in Soil and Water Science and Environmental Science from the University of Florida.