Presentations
Please note that not all presentations are available for download
Monday, May 19th 1:30 – 3:00 PM
TRACK: Planning and Process
Facing Tomorrow’s Challenges: What’s the Plan? (T1A)
The focus of this opening session is to provide you with the overview of planning for resiliency and adaptation at different scales. The session will consider the various stakeholders, implementation mechanisms, financial constraints, and the legalities which all surround planning for climate change adaptation. After this session, you should feel comfortable knowing what the next steps you need to take to integrate resiliency recommendations and projects into your community’s planning and policy.
Session Leader:
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- Julie LaBranche – Senior Planner, Rockingham Planning Commission
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Peter Britz – Environmental Planner/Sustainability Coordinator, City of Portsmouth, NH
- Bill Patenaude – Principal Engineer, Office of Water Resources, RI Department of Environment Management
- Kristin Baja – Climate and Resilience Planner, Office of Sustainability, City of Baltimore, Maryland
Session Presentation Materials
Resiliency 101: 3 Simple Steps to Community Integrity
City of Baltimore Disaster Preparedness Project and Plan
City of Portsmouth, NH Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan
TRACK: Natural Environment
Adapting to Nature in the New Normal (T2A)
Preservation and restoration have been touchstones of natural resource conservation for decades. However, climate change is forcing habitat shifts for dozens of species. This framing session will set the stage and open dialogue for the future of natural resource conservation and management. We will look at tools for managers and decision-makers that facilitate identifying key future conservation habitat, structured decision making for optimizing time, money, and resources, and how small conservation groups network together to share information and methods that work.
Session Leader:
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- Erin Rodgers – Project Manager, Trout Unlimited, & Student Researcher at Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center (USGS)
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Dr. Evan Grant – Wildlife Biologist, Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, Patuxtent Wildlife Research Center/USGS
- Dr. Hector Galbraith – Senior Scientist, National Wildlife Federation
- Jill Weiss – Adjunct, School of Science and Social Science, Keene State College & PhD Candidate, Antioch University New England
Session Presentation Materials
Role of Ecological Vulnerability Analysis in Safeguarding Communities from Climate Change
Adapting to Nature in the New Normal Improving Natural Resource Decision Making Under Uncertainty
Doing More with Less Reaching Resilience Goals in the Northeast with Collaboration through Networks
TRACK: The Built Environment
Transitioning to the New Built Environment (T3A)
This initial session on the built environment provides an overview for the issues that must be addressed to prepare our built environment in light of changing landscape in the context of a changing climate. Focus will be on how to best transition to more resilient buildings, conveyance and distribution systems, as well as how to preserve and implement what has already been identified as important to mitigating future impacts to our communities. Discussion with participants will include the multiple scales of governance to be considered when affecting change at the local level. Such decisions about transitioning will be addressed in the context of the lifetime infrastructure. In addition, attendees will learn how incremental marginal cost and damage avoided cost impacts are associated with taking a precautionary approach. Participants will leave this session with an expanded understanding of a common framework for envisioning the future. This objective necessarily incorporates preparedness into community plans and future economic development, not only to minimize future vulnerabilities, but to create a new built environment that is vibrant.
Session Leader:
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- Michael Simpson – Core Faculty and Chair, Department of Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Rhett Lamb – Planning Director, City of Keene, NH
- Cliff Sinnott – Executive Director, Rockingham Planning Commission
- Alex Wilson – Founder, BuildingGreen Inc. & Resilient Design Institute
Session Presentation Materials
Transitioning to the New Built Environment
Transitioning to the New Build Environment
Resilient Design Transforming to the New Built Environment
City of Keene NH – Towards a Climate Resilient Community
TRACK: Community Engagement & Communication
Cultivating Leadership: Building Social Capital In Your Community (T4A)
Adaptation to climate change in a participatory democracy requires far more than informing the public of proposed approaches but should seek to engage their knowledge, talents, and values as well as their support for planning and implementing actions. This initial session will frame and share examples of how to raise awareness, which is followed by successful approaches to convening and engaging stakeholders and community members. After this overview session, you will have been introduced to the specific steps for adaptive leadership and planning in a changing environment that depends on effective community capacity building to take policy and translate it to actions.
Session Leader:
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- James Gruber – Core Faculty, Department of Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Paul Markowitz – Community Energy Program Manager, Efficiency Vermont
Session Presentation Materials
Community Engagement Communication Cultivating Leadership Building Social Capital in Your Community
Monday, May 19th 3:15 – 4:45 PM
TRACK: Planning and Process
Risky Business: How to Assess Our Risk (T1B)
This session will provide you with practical competencies needed to understand, carry out, produce, and analyze risk though such assessments. Different tools and strategies will be presented, demonstrated, and discussed. After this session, you should feel confident about next steps for your community to find the external resources to support such assessments and how to develop viable action-steps to meet your overall stated goals.
Session Leader:
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- Ed Saltzberg, PhD – Managing Director, The Security and Sustainability Forum
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Sherry Godlewski – Environmental Program Manager, NH Department of Environmental Services
- Chris Keeley – Communities & Climate Program Coordinator, NH Sea Grant & UNH Cooperative Extension
- Dr. Samuel Merrill – President and Founder, Catalysis Adaptation Partners LLC
Session Presentation Materials
A Tale of Two Communities: Simple Steps to Starting with Adaptation
Risky Business: How to Assess Our Risk
Testing the Shift from Perceived to Anticipated Risk Using the COAST Approach
TRACK: Natural Environment
Crossing the Bridge: How Culverts Pass and Fail (T2B)
Inland streams and rivers have been subjected to increasingly dangerous flow and flooding due to more frequent and intense climate induced storm cycles. Because development has historically been concentrated along rivers and lakeshores, many municipalities in our region must plan for increased storm flow, which carries impacts of increased bank erosion, siltation, degrading water quality and loss of native fisheries. Participants will learn the ways properly sized culverts and bridges improve fish passage and stream hydrology, as well as what makes culverts (and the roads over them) fail.
Session Leader:
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- Colin Lawson – New England Culvert Project Coordinator, Trout Unlimited
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- John Field – Fluvial Geomorphologist, Field Geology Services
- John Magee – Fish Habitat Biologist, NH Fish and Game Department
- Gabe Bolin, PE – Eastern Stream Restoration Specialist, Trout Unlimited
Session Presentation Materials
Piscataquog River Watershed Stream Crossing Vulnerability Assessment Project
How to Conserve Excellent Fish Habitat
TRACK: The Built Environment
Buildings in Harm’s Way (T3B)
This session provides best practices for decision-making about structures at risk, from identifying those risks to considering responses that may fall outside a community’s experience and comfort zonebut within the growing reality of climate change. Traditional ‘smart growth’ topics and best construction practices to expand buildings’ resilience, will be interwoven with cutting edge practitioners’ recommendations about design for preparedness that should be incorporated into community and regional planning, overlay districts and building codes. Participants will leave this session with greater clarity about what resources and tools can be utilized to support vulnerability assessments as well as structural designs that foster resilience through assimilating or accommodating projected impacts. This will be complemented with knowledge of the ramifications of constructing barriers to assure preparedness, as opposed to ultimately evaluating the efficacy of retreat from those ever increasing vulnerable areas.
Session Leader:
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- John Bolduc – Environmental Planner, City of Cambridge (MA)
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Julia Knisel – Coastal Shoreline & Floodplain Manager, MA Office of Coastal Zone Management
- Dr. Sarah Slaughter – President and Founder, Built Environment Coalition
- Dr. Rawlings Miller – Technical Specialist, ICF International
Session Presentation Materials
Tools & Resources for Considering Climate Change Impacts on the Built Environment
Local Adaptations Efforts Among the Massachusetts Coast
TRACK: Community Engagement & Communication
Collaborating for Resilience: Reaching the Most Vulnerable Populations (T4B)
The challenging impacts of climate change disproportionately affect those with the least resources to prepare, sustain and recover. How do municipal decision makers and civic leaders promote effective engagement with all community members, especially those that are likely to be most impacted? Participants in this workshop will learn about:
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- concrete community engagement and climate change preparedness success stories;
- what approaches to engagement are effective in reaching vulnerable and/or marginalized populations; and
- how municipal decision makers and staff can work effectively with community-based organizations.
Session Leader:
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- Abigail Abrash Walton – Chair, City of Keene, NH Planning Board
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- David M. Kutner, PP, AICP – Recovery Planning Manager, New Jersey Future
- Lee Matsueda – Political Director, Alternatives for Community & Environment
- Ginny McGinn – Executive Director, Center for Whole Communities
- Sarika Tandon – Senior Program Associate, Center for Whole Communities
- Veda Truesdale – Senior Research Specialist, Rutgers University
Session Presentation Materials
Vulnerability Assessment and Preparedness – Data and the Community
Reducing Community Vulnerability Through Ecological Design
Collaborating for Resilience-Reaching the Most Vulnerable Populations
Tuesday, May 20th 8:30 – 10:00 AM
TRACK: Planning and Process
Moving Towards Resiliency: Adapting Our Plans (T1C)
This session will discuss how communities can effectively plan for adaptation and response/recovery in the long term. Case studies of resilient communities will be utilized to demonstrate effective planning and financial strategies. After completing this session participants should feel more comfortable in pursuing a systems approach to make their communities both more adaptive and resilient, while considering how such plans might impact neighboring communities and the sustainability of the greater region.
Session Leader:
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- John Miller, PE, CFM, CSM – Water Resources Engineer, Princeton Hydro, LLC
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- David Berg, AICP, LEED AP – Associate, Cameron Engineering & Associates, LLP
- Adam Whelchel, PhD – Director of Science, The Nature Conservancy
Session Presentation Materials
City of Lambertville: a Riverfront Town
Climate Smart Lessons from the Netherlands
Moving towards Resilience – Helping Communities Adapt To Hazards and Change
TRACK: Natural Environment
Responding to the Surge: Coastal Buffers (T2C)
Climate change impacts will affect both land-based and coastal resources along our coastlines. Municipal decision makers must consider sea level rise, and storm surge from tropical storms and hurricanes. Inland storms also deliver fresh water flooding through coastal communities. Since our coastlines also are more developed, usually with a higher density of people per square mile, this session will look to the ramifications of a degradation, or disappearance of, the natural resources upon which a significant percentage of their population’s livelihoods depend. Participants will learn how to plan for and react to these combined risks targeting best practices to protect municipal infrastructure, mitigate coastal erosion, loss of fisheries, and other natural coastal services.
Session Leaders:
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- Sherry Godlewski – Environmental Program Manager, NH Department of Environmental Services
- Steve Miller – Coastal Training Program Coordinator, Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Lisa Auermuller – Watershed Coordinator, Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (Jacques Cousteau Reserve), Rutgers University
- Eric J. Roberts – Associate, Consensus Building Institute
- Jennifer West – Coastal Training Program Coordinator, Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Session Presentation Materials
Responding to the Surge Resilience
Responding to the Surge Lessons from the Hudson River
Sea Level Rise and the Conservation of Coastal Wetlands
TRACK: The Built Environment
Where Do We Put the Water? (T3C)
This session addresses assessment, planning, and adaptation to not only better prepare for the next emergency, but to sustainably manage flooding, stormwater, and water supply to maintain human health and a vibrant local economy. Participants will leave this session with knowledge about the latest innovative approaches to understand the effects of storm surge and inland flooding and apply low-impact development (LID), site design, and smart growth practices at different scales of implementation. There will be reference to pioneering hydrology-based, sub-watershed approaches that have shown mitigation potential not only for storm water and flooding, but to the loss and degradation in quality of water supplies. This will be supplemented with real-world project costs showing how these green strategies compare to traditional gray infrastructure.
Session Leader:
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- Dr. Robert Roseen – Associate, Geosyntec Consultants
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Dr. Paul Kirshen – Research Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Hampshire
- Kathleen Baskin – Director of Water Policy, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
- Dr. Samuel Merrill – President and Founder, Catalysis Adaptation Partners LLC
Session Presentation Materials
Green Infrastructure as a Climate Adaptation Measure
Confronting Climate Change Protecting Massachusetts and its Water Resources
The COAST Approach to Adaptation Action for Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge
TRACK: Community Engagement & Communication
Reaching Beyond the ‘Usual Suspects’: How to Bring People to the Table (T4C)
Getting stakeholders to meetings has been a constant struggle for community leaders. This session will address how we can we create venues and opportunities where community members feel empowered and part of the solution. A leading question for participants to understand is whether having a face-to-face meeting is the right thing to do based on your objectives. If not, what are other innovative methods of collecting public input? Participants will leave this session with an understanding of how to best frame objectives in the context of building community support; as well as, considering the effective use of digital technology in concert with other approaches to public engagement.
Session Leader:
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- Christa Daniels, AICP ; Faculty and Doctoral Fellow, Antioch University New England
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Melanie Army – Supervising Planner, Rhode Island Division of Planning
- Angela Vincent – Sustainability Project Manager, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.
Session Presentation Materials
Reaching Beyond the Usual Suspects
Tuesday, May 20th 10:15 – 11:45 AM
TRACK: Planning and Process
You Have the Right To!: Understanding the Legalities of Climate Change (T1D)
This session will focus on common legal themes and questions related to aspects of climate change and liability. We will use recent examples of case law to provide participants with an understanding of some of the legal issues, which may be associated with building more resilient communities. By the close of this session participants should feel more comfortable with risk communication and have a greater understanding of the types of questions to ask legal professionals related to their resiliency planning and implementation.
Session Leader:
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- Julie LaBranche – Senior Planner, Rockingham Planning Commission
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Peg Elmer, AICP – Principal, Community-Resilience.org
- Daniel Slone – Partner, McGuire Woods LLP and Resilient Design Institute
Session Presentation Materials
Legal Aspects of Adaptation to Rising Waters and Storm Surge
“You Have the Right to” -Understanding the Legalities of-Climate Change
TRACK: Natural Environment
Adaptive Regeneration – Why Resilient Forests Matter (T2D)
Forestsour most dominant ecosystem typehave long been economic engines for this region. As storm and temperature patterns change, forests are more susceptible to shifting species compositions, infestation by invasive plants, insects, and diseases, and reduced habitat quality for woodland fauna. Participants will discuss how to prepare for economic and ecological challenges in the context of ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation, and how a community should consider their changing natural landscape due to the continuing shifts in forest types northwards.
Session Leader:
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- Peter Palmiotto – Director Monadnock Ecological & Education (MERE) Project & Director, Conservation Biology, Antioch University New England
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Caitlin Cusack – Urban and Community Forestry Extension Educator, University of Vermont Extension
- Andy Whitman – Director of Sustainable Economies Initiative, Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences
- Emily Hamilton, MLA – Consulting Urban Forester, Davey Tree Expert Company
Session Presentation Materials
Adaptive Regeneration – Why Resilient Forests Matter
Preparing Vermont’s 251 Communities for the Emerald Ash Borer
Using Urban Forests to Increase Community Resilience to Climate Change
TRACK: The Built Environment
Maintaining Vital Links: Transitioning our Aging Transportation Infrastructure (T3D)
Transportation’s function helps to assure food security, business continuity, and energy supplies for gasoline and heating fuel in many New England communities, so to maintain vibrant and growing communities. This session will go beyond the discussion about backlogs of aging infrastructure to emphasize how climate change-ready communities will need to strengthen relationships with other systems, including regional land use planning processes, water management, and energy grid operations. Participants will leave this session with an understanding of prioritizing approaches to shore up local roadway crossings, emergency routes and egress strategies not only in response to rising waters but also to the reality of an increasing frequency and duration of heat extremes and ice conditions as well. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of transportation vulnerabilities by applying local- and regional-scale examples of best practices implemented to date, which will include how to consider
Session Leader:
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- Rebecca Lupes – Sustainable Transport and Climate Change Team, U.S. Federal Highway Administration
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Peter Cusolito, CEM, CFM – Senior Security and Emergency Management Planner, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.
- Steven Miller – Supervisor of Environmental Management Systems and Sustainability, Massachusetts Department of Transportation
- Judy Gates – Director, Environmental Office, Maine Department of Transportation
Session Presentation Materials
Design for the Future Transportation Infrastructure
Climate Tag-A Game of Risk and Reward
Maintaining Vital Links-Transitioning our Aging Transportation Infrastructure
TRACK: Community Engagement & Communication
Getting the Message Out (T4D)
This session is open to all, however it is also designed as a follow-up for attendees of the Monday morning Workshop, How can psychology support behavior change toward climate mitigation and adaptation? It will cover how we can connect the dots for people in our communities about climate impacts. This session will build participants’ skills in targeting communication strategies and messaging to effectively engage and strengthen community support. Participants will learn language to include and avoid while talking about climate change, how to frame messages on climate mitigation and adaptation, along with identifying community values and interests in order to connect with mainstream Americans.
Session Leader:
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- Christa Daniels, AICP ; Faculty and Doctoral Fellow, Antioch University New England
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Cara Pike – Founder and Director, Climate Access and the Social Capital Project
Session Presentation Materials
Tuesday May 20th 12:00 – 2:00 PM
PLENARY: Lunch & Panel Discussion
Taking the Long View: How Regional-Scale Planning Will Inform and Assist Local Efforts
This panel will focus on long-term recovery and increased resilience by bringing together those, both in the public and private sector, actively responding to the post-Irene and –Sandy context. We will discuss lessons learned and current strategies being implemented at the state and regional level that will inform and complement both emergency preparedness and adaptation planning at the local level. The objective for this panel is how to create a shared vision in order to establish a long-term strategy for a resilient Northeast.
Session Leader:
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- Ken Moraff ; Director, Office of Ecosystem Protection, U.S. EPA, Region 1
- Irene Nielsen – Climate Change Coordinator, U.S. EPA, Region 2
Session Speakers:
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- Colonel Andy L. Hall – Chief, Operations Division, Army National Guard
- Rob Klee – Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
- Deborah Markowitz – Secretary, Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
- Edward White – Vice President of Customer Strategy and Environmental, National Grid
Tuesday, May 20th 2:15 – 3:45 PM
TRACK: Planning and Process
From Plan to Practice: What Does Resiliency implementation Really Look Like (T1E)
This session is an opportunity for participants to speak with practitioners whose communities’ have successfully implemented various aspects of their Climate Action Plans or Hazard Mitigation Plans. Case studies will be utilized to provide examples of a successful implementation strategy. Participants should leave this session with a better idea of the process of turning their communities’ plan(s) into successful and resilient policies.
Session Leader:
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- Julie LaBranche – Senior Planner, Rockingham Planning Commission
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Eric Fang AIA, LEED AP – Associate Principal, Perkins Eastman
- Deborah Matherly – Principal Planner, The Louis Berger Group, Inc.
- Kristin Baja – Climate and Resilience Planner, Office of Sustainability, City of Baltimore, Maryland
Session Presentation Materials
Place-making Strategies for Designing Coastal Communities for Resilience
City of Baltimore Climate Change Implementation
Integrating Local and Regional Resiliency Priorities for Project Implementation
TRACK: Natural Environment
Maintaining Northeastern Wildlife and Recreation Opportunities (T2E)
The character of our Northeastern ecosystems is defined by our relatively intact and abundant healthy wildlife populations and habitats, and the associated recreational economies that bring people to this region. As other habitats and ecosystems change, our wildlife and hunting and fishing services will change as well. Participants will discuss how to insure that the habitats, wildlife, and the robust recreational economies of our region persist in the face of climate change.
Session Leader:
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- Steve Fuller – Conservation Design Specialist, Wildlife Management Institute and North Atlantic LCC
Session Speakers/Panelists
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- John O’Leary – State Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator, Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife
- Emily Preston – Wildlife Biologist, NH Fish and Game Department
- Jennifer Melville – Vice President, Conservation Grants and Loans, Open Space Institute
Session Presentation Materials
Climate Adaptation -The Power of Conservation Across Boundaries
Getting Ahead of Climate Change Identifying Climate Resilient Places for Wildlife
Climate Smart Land Management at the Local Level
How Species and Habitats Can Help Your Town Adapt to Climate Change
TRACK: The Built Environment
Turning Up The Heat On Communities’ Energy Security (T3E)
This session addresses the nexus of climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Due to a changing climate and an increased frequency of extreme events, communities are seeing increased interruption in the systems supporting our lighting, heating and cooling needs, and such interruptions are expanding in frequency and duration. And, those most vulnerable, the infirmed, the aged and the very young, are facing greater risks. These are no longer isolated incidences; it is whole neighborhoods and regions. Tropical storms Irene and Sandy demonstrated both the spatial and temporal scale of energy supply vulnerabilities. The panel will highlight recent proactive efforts that target energy systems to both increase resilience to future extreme events, and more broadly assist transition to sustainable and energy-secure communities. Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of how to prioritize points of vulnerability in energy and fuel distribution within their municipal boundaries. You will also be introduced to the economic benefits of implementing both demand-side management and alternative energy strategies, which concurrently mitigate the impacts of greenhouse gases.
Session Leader:
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- Fouad Dagher, PE – Manager of New Products and Energy Services, National Grid
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Jim Newman – Principal, Linnaean Solutions
- Travis Sheehan – Ecodistricts Energy Fellow, Boston Redevelopment Authority
- Chris Lotspeich – Director of Sustainability Services, Celtic Energy
Session Presentation Materials
What Do We Know About Our Places
TRACK: Community Engagement & Communication
Motivating Community Behavior (T4E)
How do we get community members engaged and involved in today’s over-busy society? How do we get them to move beyond attitudes and opinions to providing mutually supportive behaviors? Good strategic planning integrates a scientific approach (for identifying goals, objectives, stakeholders, research, and latent readiness) with the creative (for the design of triggering events and activities that motivate behaviors). This session will build upon successful behavioral public relations and management strategies that can be translated down to the local level so to move a community’s preparedness forward. Participants will leave with an understanding how to:
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- Use of triggering events to move individuals along the behavior continuum
- Motivate volunteer support over time
- Identify and build relationships with opinion leaders in advance of asking for their support
Session Leader:
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- Christa Daniels, AICP – Faculty and Doctoral Fellow, Antioch University New England
Session Speakers/Panelists:
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- Robin Schell – Senior Counsel, Jackson Jackson and Wagner
Session Presentation Materials
T4e: Motivating Community Behavior
Tuesday May 20th 3:45 – 5:00 PM
PLENARY: Closing Session & Remarks
Covering the costs: How do we pay for it all?
The focus of this concluding plenary is to address what the future holds for financial support for emergency preparedness and longer range adaptation planning. This will include an update on the rapidly changing costs of insurance for activities within identified vulnerable zones and how to best navigate the complexities for payments for damage incurred. Tips will be given about already existing funds that can be tapped to support current efforts and how a community might think out-of-the-box to mitigate future costs.
Session Leader:
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- Lewis Milford – President and Founder, Clean Energy Group & Clean Energy States Alliance
Speakers:
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- Perry Plummer – Director, New Hampshire Homeland Security and Emergency Management
- Sara Pollock Hoverter – Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
- Cynthia McHale – Director, Insurance Program, Ceres
Session Presentation Materials
Evening Plenary Intro Lewis Milford Introduction Presentation
