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COURSE INFO PROVIDER: SWSPCP Webinar
COURSE TITLE: Integrating wetlands into holistic nature-based planning projects

INSTRUCTORS Gillian Davies
Jim Newman
Keith Drezdahl-Zaltzberg

COURSE DESCRIPTION SWS Webinar
August 19, 2021

TITLE: Integrating wetlands into holistic nature-based planning projects

Presented by Gillian Davies, Jim Newman and Keith Drezdahl-Zaltzberg

This webinar shares the Apple Country Natural Climate Solutions Project, where wetland scientists, ecologists, soil scientists, community outreach specialists, planners, engineers, and three Massachusetts communities plan and deliver Nature-based Solutions (NbS). These NbS prioritize the conservation, protection, and restoration of wetlands, floodplains, and forests in response to the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and regional development pressures. The project was funded through the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerabilities Preparedness Program that supports climate resilience through NbS while addressing environmental justice.

The webinar will identify how wetlands, floodplains, forests, and other ecosystems fit into broader resilience planning efforts, thereby expanding a communitiesâ�� capacity to protect, restore and enhance carbon sequestration and become more climate resilient. The webinar:

A. Provides a model for community-driven assessment of NbS, including outreach to under-represented groups.

B. Shares cutting edge assessment of soil carbon and soil health at community and regional levels.

C. Shares mapping tools assessing ecological climate resilience at community and regional levels.

D.Identifies site-specific NbS opportunities to:
1) Conserve, protect and restore wetlands, forests, floodplains, and biodiversity.
2) Increase carbon stored in ecosystems.

E. Identifies opportunities to improve wetland and other ecosystem soil health and land management.

F. Provides regulatory recommendations, such as incorporating climate resilience, carbon storage, and biodiversity into local wetlands bylaws.

G. Shares extensive educational materials/opportunities, including a wetlands and climate StoryMap, model self-guided COVID19-safe field tour, and project website with interactive data viewer, videos, and articles.

This project demonstrates how wetlands can be integrated into broader climate resilience and carbon mitigation planning projects, and how wetland scientists can reach a broader audience through interdisciplinary collaboration and community outreach.

BIOS:

Bio - Gillian T. Davies, PWS, Registered Soil Scientist
Senior Ecologist/Natural Climate Solutions Specialist, BSC Group, Inc.
gdavies@bscgroup.com

Gillian is a Senior Ecological Scientist/Natural Climate Solutions Specialist at BSC Group, Inc., and a Visiting Scholar at the Tufts University Global Development and Environment Institute. Her work focuses on working with communities to develop wetlands-oriented Nature-based Solutions to climate change, as well as providing a broad suite of wetlands consulting services to a variety of clients. She is President of the Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program and served as SWS 2016-2017 President. She is founding co-leader of the SWS Climate Change and Wetlands Initiative, served on the Massachusetts Healthy Soils Action Plan Work Group, serves on the INTECOL Wetlands Working Group, and has co-authored several articles and given many presentations on wetlands, soils and climate change. Gillian has a masters degree from the Yale School of the Environment, and a bachelorâ��s degree from Williams College. She is a Professional Wetland Scientist and a Registered Soil Scientist.

Bio â�� Jim Newman
Jim Newman is founder and Principal at Linnean Solutions, which provides environmental analytics and benchmarking for corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. Linneanâ��s work includes resilience analysis and planning, ecosystem services assessment, and life cycle assessment and embodied carbon studies. This work is embodied in Living Building Challenge consulting, EcoDistrict planning and management, and stakeholder engagement processes to strengthen communities. Mr. Newman is a recognized expert in metrics for sustainability including embodied carbon tracking, energy and water tracking, and developing metrics for resilience.

Mr. Newman helped found the Massachusetts Chapter of the USGBC, Mr. Newman is a Past Chair of the Chapter. He is also a founding Board member of the Resilient Design Institute, created by Alex Wilson of BuildingGreen, to pursue research and education on resilience in the built environment and a Board member of CLEAR, the owner of the LENSES regenerative development framework, and a member of the RELi Steering Committee. RELi is a resilience rating system from USGBC.

Mr. Newman holds a Bachelors of Architecture from MIT and a Master of Science in Business from Lehigh University.

Bio - Keith Zaltzberg-Drezdahl
Environmental Designer â�¢ Farm Planner â�¢ Project Management
Keith Zaltzberg is an environmental designer, agricultural consultant, and educator who supports projects that address climate and social justice through the creation of productive landscapes. Keith is a founding principal of the Regenerative Design Group where he has led the design teams on over 50-projects ranging from the implementation of urban green stormwater projects in New England to farm planning in the Sahel of West Africa. He is also an experienced educator who has delivered dozens of lectures on the integration of regenerative agriculture, habitat restoration, and green engineering into the built landscape and has held faculty positions at the Conway School of Landscape Design and Smith College. In addition to 15+ years of professional design experience, a degree in Environmental Design from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at UMass-Amherst, and a certificate in Permaculture Design, Keith has a ground-level perspective gleaned from a decade working as an organic farmer, homesteader, and green builder.

Credit Points: 0.06

SYLLABUS/TOPICAL OUTLINE Synopsis: 1) What are Nature-based Solutions (NbS), and who develops and assesses NbS (10 min). 2) Example of NbS that address resiliency (15 min.). 3) Tools used for developing NbS (20 min.). 4) Questions and answers (15 min.).

COURSE CONTACT

Louis Mantini
9225 CR 49, Live Oak, FL 32060
lfm@srwmd.org
P: 386.647.3144
F:

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