Person wearing a plaid shirt and smiling with water in the background.

Mike Smale is assessing 38 wetlands in the Wisconsin part of the Lake Superior watershed to see what vulnerable plant and animal species are present. Submitted photo.

If Mike Smale were king of the world for a day, he might just decree that all city buses in Madison, Wisconsin, be outfitted with front racks to hold kayaks, in addition to bikes, as they are now. That way, a person could stow their kayak, climb onto the bus, ride to a nearby body of water, remove the kayak and have a paddle. This would be the convergence of two things Smale is passionate about – embracing mass transit to reduce emissions and enjoying water.  

“I’m kind of a nerd in that way (supporting eco-friendly trains and buses) on top of being a water nerd,” Smale said.

While filling the role of the J. Philip Keillor Great Lakes – Wisconsin Sea Grant Fellow focused on climate change and coastal wetlands, Smale may not really don the royal mantle and order what’s affixed to buses, but he can embrace his love of water. He took on the 18-month fellowship based at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in Madison in mid-June and has a dual-focused appointment.

First, he is tackling what he calls “oddball” tasks, such as collaborating with people in the DNR’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Program, attending conferences and assisting with Sea Grant’s review process to determine a biennial research package. His second focus is assessing how climate change is affecting 38 wetlands in the Wisconsin portion of the Lake Superior watershed.

Smale said, “We are coming up with methods for a framework to evaluate the climate sensitivity of these wetlands. That involves finding out what data is available, working with experts to establish those methods, and how that framework could be representative of true climate sensitivity. And then some mapping (of the wetlands).” The end point will be a scoring table for the sites.

He is looking through the lens of four shifts expected to affect wetlands under a changing climate as identified by the 2021 Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Report:

  • Warmer temperatures
  • Increased precipitation
  • Lake level fluctuations
  • Increased lake wind and wave action

Those shifts are being incorporated into a whole-picture analysis of a wetland. Smale elaborated, “Based on communities that are present (in a wetland), we can estimate which wetlands are more or less likely to shift – which wetlands are going to change the most. We’re starting with vegetation, and we are going to move into looking at the climate sensitivity of fish habitat and birds, and also culturally important beings.”

With that data in hand, Smale and his team will next determine how, “Those components or communities will translate, or not translate, into adaptive capacity. We’re asking, ‘How well could these wetlands, even though they’re sensitive, how well could they cope with the change in climate’?”

Smale’s work can also inform assessments throughout the Great Lakes Basin because one source of data is the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Data Program, which includes insights about the region’s fish, frog, bird, macroinvertebrate and vegetation populations, along with water quality. The program is based at Central Michigan University and is supported by contributions from binational governmental agencies, universities and a private business.

Person wearing waders and standing in brown and green vegetation. Submitted photo.

Smale said through the fellowship he has, “Learned that I like these actionable positions where you’re doing something that is having a visible effect on people’s lives. ” Submitted photo.

“We’re building the framework (in Wisconsin) to, at a very minimum, work with that dataset so it could be extrapolated to all the Great Lakes. We’re finding ways where we could include state data or from other sources to fill out gaps or make it a little bit more robust, more applicable, but other states could also use this data, tweak it to their own framework using their own data sources,” said Smale.

Speaking of tweaks, Smale said he’s so far encountered one in his own fellowship. “When I first started this position, it really seemed like I jumped into Sophie’s (his predecessor in the fellowship, Sophie LaFond Hudson) work. I thought ‘Oh, wow, this is halfway done. What am I going to be doing?’”

As he dug deeper, though, Smale realized he should adjust LaFond Hudson’s work in the aquatic invasive species (AIS) category – to view AIS as an indicator of stress in a wetland not as a community on par with, say, the state of fish and frogs. For example, if nonnative cattails are present, the wetland is near a tipping point toward a monoculture that should be reflected in an individual wetland’s resiliency score.

Adjusting that part of the framework, “Felt like I was regressing back in the project,” he said. “Here, I thought I was halfway done and actually I’m back working on the basics of the project. But after talking it through with Cherie Hagen, who’s my supervisor at the DNR, she’s like, ‘Oh no, this is exactly what you should be doing. You’re building it up more. You’re incorporating exactly the feedback you’re supposed to.’”

In light of this, Smale said, “I guess I was surprised at how much more influence I would have on this project and also kind of the depth that we are working on.”

In addition to the DNR’s Hagen, the Lake Superior basin supervisor in the Office of Great Waters, Smale is also mentored by Madeline Magee, monitoring and beach coordinator in that same DNR office; Sea Grant’s Associate Director Jennifer Hauxwell; and Titus Seilheimer, Sea Grant’s fisheries outreach specialist.  

The post Keillor Fellow, reviewing resilience of coastal wetlands first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Moira Harrington

For Emily Rau, whose term as the J. Philip Keillor Wisconsin Coastal Management-Sea Grant Fellow is coming to a close, the year-long position has been a homecoming in more ways than one. It brought her back to her home state of Wisconsin; to the city of her undergraduate alma mater, UW-Madison; and to a Sea Grant program.

Emily Rau, a 2021-22 Keillor Fellow, stands at Pebble Beach in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. For her fellowship, Rau has been stationed at the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program (WCMP). Some of the funding to help the Village of Sister Bay acquire this scenic shoreline came from the WCMP. (Submitted photo)

While in graduate school at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, Rau spent two years as a research assistant at Michigan Sea Grant, where, among other projects, she was the lead author for a report about employment trends connected to the Great Lakes. At that neighboring Sea Grant program, she saw the organization’s value and that of the broader network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs.

“Michigan Sea Grant helped me discover that I liked helping bridge the gap between science and decision making, especially when it comes to the Great Lakes,” said Rau. It also helped her locate her fellowship with Wisconsin Sea Grant—one that has felt tailor-made for her. Originally from Oak Creek, Wisconsin—a southern suburb of Milwaukee—Great Lakes coastal issues are close to her heart.

Said Rau, “This has been a perfect fellowship for me. I got to learn in depth about a specific subset of Great Lakes management and policy and how the Coastal Management Program works federally and on the state level. And I’m getting to broaden my network by interacting with experts and project partners who do coastal work.”

During her fellowship term from September 2021 to August 2022, Rau’s main task has been working on the third edition of the Wisconsin Coastal Processes Manual and shepherding it through the production process. That work has included writing and editing chapters, coordinating the review of chapters by Sea Grant Editor Elizabeth White, starting a reference system, cleaning up appendices, gathering images and more.

The manual has been a major undertaking that predecessors in her fellowship—including Sea Grant Coastal Engineer Dr. Adam Bechle, now one of Rau’s mentors—have also worked on. As Rau summarized, “The overall goal… is connecting the science of coastal processes with Wisconsin coastal communities along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior that can benefit from that information. It’s taking that science and bringing it to municipalities and local organizations in an easier-to-use format so they’re able to apply that work.”

When not occupied with the manual, Rau has tackled other projects, such as learning about the annual coastal grants cycle at the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Coastal Management Program, where her office is stationed. Municipalities, local governments and university researchers can apply for funding from the program.

“That’s been eye-opening for me because I have never been a part of the grantmaking process before but wanted to experience it,” said Rau. Reviewing some of the submitted proposals and helping administer the grant program have broadened her professional skillset.

Rau also helped develop and facilitate a series of “research roundup” webinars with Carolyn Foley, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant’s research coordinator, and Chiara Zuccharino-Crowe, Sea Grant liaison to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) for the Great Lakes region.

While her Keillor Fellowship is ending, Rau has her next step in her sights: contingent upon funding, she will continue working on coastal issues under another fellowship that will also be based at the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program. Through funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) that NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management administers, she anticipates serving as the coastal infrastructure project coordinator, helping to plan, coordinate and develop habitat-focused infrastructure projects funded through that legislation.

As for the Keillor Fellowship focused on coastal hazards, that post will continue with a new fellow for the 2022-23 year, with Hannah Paulson picking up the reins. Stay tuned for more information about Paulson, who, like Rau, hails from a Wisconsin coastal community and holds degrees from both the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan.

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Jennifer Smith

For Nicole Ward, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s current J. Philip Keillor Great Lakes Fellow, returning to Madison for this opportunity has brought her academic journey full circle.

Keillor Fellow Dr. Nicole K. Ward (Submitted photo)

Ward earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison just over a decade ago, then left the Badger State for graduate studies in Idaho and Virginia. Yet Ward was eager to get back to the Upper Midwest and work on Great Lakes topics—making the Keillor Fellowship, which began June 1, an excellent fit for the newly minted Ph.D.

She is based at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Office of Great Waters, where she works closely with Madeline Magee, monitoring program coordinator, and Cherie Hagen, the Lake Superior Basin supervisor. Ward is also active in the Great Lakes Working Group of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI).

Broadly speaking, her focus is on incorporating climate change resilience planning into the DNR’s Great Lakes projects. The three main projects she’s associated with are:

  • The WICCI Great Lakes Working Group report, expected to be published online in late September. The report summarizes climate change effects on Great Lakes ecosystems and covers some potential solutions.
  • Great Lakes coastal wetlands: assessing the condition and resiliency of Wisconsin’s coastal wetlands in the face of climate change. This, in turn, could inform the prioritization of wetlands for restoration or protection.
  • Developing climate adaptation resources and information for DNR Office of Great Waters staff to ensure climate resiliency is built into all projects involving the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.

The range of duties draws upon Ward’s passion for freshwater ecosystems, but also allows her to grow her skillset. “I’ve worked in multiple other types of freshwater ecosystems, like rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs, but this will add to my repertoire through working on the Great Lakes and coastal wetlands,” she said.

Nicole K. Ward explores some of Wisconsin’s waters by canoe. (Photo: Titus Seilheimer)

A native of Rochester, Minnesota, Ward spent three years with the Minnesota DNR working on native mussels and stream ecology after earning her bachelor’s degree.

Those years with the Minnesota DNR set her future direction in motion: “It was while snorkeling and scuba diving in the streams and rivers of Minnesota that I began seeing the effects of land management and decision-making that were far removed from the stream itself,” she said. “I had an ‘aha moment’ while working there, when I decided I needed to learn more about how people make environmental decisions, and how those decisions may change in response to changing ecosystems. The ever-changing and complex Great Lakes Basin is really the perfect place to apply my skills in understanding feedbacks between ecosystem change and human decision-making.”

After a master’s degree at the University of Idaho in water resources, doctoral work in biological sciences at Virginia Tech followed. There, she examined land use and climate change over the course of 31 years in the Lake Sunapee watershed in New Hampshire.

During her time at Virginia Tech, she also worked with a local lake association to co-produce an online, interactive data visualization tool for communicating with landowners about lawn management practices. She collaborated with a social psychologist to develop the tool and gauge its effectiveness.

This points to another area of interest: science communication and finding effective strategies for connecting with varied audiences. One of the key things she learned from working with the psychologist, Ward said, was that “Simple messaging is better. While you see that in the literature, this experience was a really direct, personal reality check of just how simple you need to keep things if engaging with a particular audience for the first time about a topic.”

The human dimension of environmental decisions is a throughline in her work. Said Ward, “A foundational part of how I think about myself as a scientist is to fully recognize that people make environmental decisions based on much more than just scientific evidence. Water issues are never actually about the water, they’re about the underlying values and priorities of people, and people have more shared values than we often recognize.”

The post Keillor Fellow to integrate climate change planning into Great Lakes and coastal wetlands projects first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Jennifer Smith

Wisconsin’s Sea Grant’s “Lake Talks,” a series of informal science presentations, returns for the fall season with an event on Thursday, Sept. 23, from 7-8 p.m. Kicking off the new season is speaker Jackson Parr, the J. Philip Keillor Flood Resilience-Wisconsin Sea Grant Fellow. His talk is titled “Understanding Flood Resilience in Your Community.”

The virtual event will be held on Zoom. It is open to everyone, though registration is required. (Register for this event now.) The hour will include time for audience questions.

The Keillor Flood Resilience Fellowship is jointly supported by Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Climate and Health Program at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), where the fellow is stationed. The goal of the position is to boost resilience to flooding events in communities around the state—particularly smaller ones that may have less capacity or fewer resources to devote to this issue than larger municipalities.

Jackson Parr (submitted photo)

Parr’s topic is a timely one, as flooding and other damage from Hurricane Ida has captured the concern of the nation. While Wisconsin does not face hurricanes, other severe weather events have caused damage and displacement here. For example, widespread and significant flooding in the southern portion of the state in 2008 led to 31 counties being declared disaster areas. According to the National Weather Service, more than 40,000 homes and 5,000 businesses were damaged, and state officials estimated the total damage at more than $1.2 billion.

In his talk, Parr will describe a tool called the Flood Resilience Scorecard, which helps communities assess their level of flood preparedness through three lenses: environmental, institutional and social. The tool also assesses readiness for dealing with the health impacts that often follow floods. Parr and colleagues at DHS and Sea Grant work with communities on completing the scorecard, and, based on the outcomes, they help those communities take action to boost their readiness.

Parr is well-versed in Wisconsin communities as both a former Door County journalist and a two-time graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds master’s degrees in public affairs and water resources management.

Future Lake Talks this fall will focus on Wisconsin shipwrecks (October); Great Lakes children’s literature by Native American authors (November); and a conversation with Minnesota-based poet Moheb Soliman, who draws upon his Great Lakes travels in his work, including his most recent poetry collection, HOMES (December). Those talks will also be delivered via Zoom.

For Lake Talks event and registration information, visit the Sea Grant website, or follow Wisconsin Sea Grant on Facebook or Twitter. You can register for Jackson Parr’s talk now.

For questions about this series, contact Wisconsin Sea Grant science communicator Jennifer Smith.

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Jennifer Smith

Making tracks is nothing new for Jackson Parr, the J. Philip Keillor Flood Resilience-Wisconsin Sea Grant Fellow. A serious athlete who once committed to walking across the entire United States (his plan has morphed to running it in segments), he has also traversed the scenic towns of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula as a newspaper reporter and editor.

Jackson Parr (Photo: Len Villano)

Now, he’s getting acquainted with dozens of small communities statewide to help them build resilience to flooding hazards.

Parr began his one-year Keillor Fellowship in April. The position stems from a partnership between Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Climate and Health Program at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS).

He’ll work extensively with the Flood Resilience Scorecard, a toolkit that measures how well prepared a community is to cope with the effects of flooding—and identifies steps they can take to boost that preparedness.

The Illinois native brings a varied set of skills to this work. Parr holds two master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison: one in public affairs and one in water resources management. His capstone project for the water resources degree involved analyzing the severe flooding of Coon Creek in Vernon County in August 2018. The project was suggested and advised by UW research scientist Eric Booth.

The village of Coon Valley was downstream from the breached dams during the August 2018 flood event. (Photo: John Lee)

“There were a few dam breaches in that region during that flooding event, and it devastated the area,” said Parr. Flash flooding brought on by torrential rains displaced residents and caused major damage to homes, businesses and public infrastructure. “While I didn’t have an academic interest in flooding before working on that capstone project,” said Parr, “I found myself fascinated with the ways that rural communities navigate these issues.”

As he noted, sometimes smaller communities lack the administrative capacity or technical expertise required to fully address issues or tap into available funding sources that might help them. As a Keillor Fellow, Parr will be in a position to link communities with needed resources.

By March 2022, when his fellowship concludes, Parr hopes to have worked through the Flood Resilience Scorecard with 30 communities. Those locations will be chosen through collaboration with Wisconsin’s nine regional planning commissions.

First rolled out in 2019, the scorecard focuses on three key areas that affect a community’s resilience to flooding: environmental factors (such as precipitation patterns and soil composition), institutional factors (such as city planning documents) and social factors. Social factors include the socioeconomic makeup of the community, which may affect what happens after flooding.

“Since this effort is a partnership with the Department of Health Services, they’re definitely interested in the public health aspect of flooding. Demographic data is important in considering populations that might have socioeconomic vulnerabilities that would exacerbate their health outcomes related to flooding,” said Parr.

As an example, he noted that residents in low-income communities often lack the resources to find other housing when displaced. As a result, those populations face not only physical injuries related to flooding, like blunt-force trauma and hypothermia, but extreme stress and other mental health impacts.

“The goal is to identify communities that face these vulnerabilities and hopefully target more resources toward those communities to achieve health equity,” he said.

As Parr conducts this work, he has a trio of mentors. At DHS, he reports to Climate and Health Program Coordinator Margaret Thelen. On the Sea Grant side, he’s working with Climate and Tourism Outreach Specialist Natalie Chin and Coastal Engineering Specialist Adam Bechle.

Said Thelen, “The partnership between the Department of Health Services and Sea Grant has allowed us to work together to integrate our flood resiliency tools for local decision makers. These resources allow Wisconsin to better prepare for and respond to increased extreme precipitation events due to climate change. We are fortunate to have Jackson Parr, through the Keillor Fellowship, working to improve these tools and make them more accessible to municipalities across the state.”

Parr in his triathlon days. Though he no longer competes, he’s running across the United States in segments. (Submitted photo)

As university travel restrictions related to the pandemic ease, Parr hopes to complete in-person assessments, arranging visits to work through the scorecard with elected officials, administrators and planning staff in the selected communities.

“There’s a huge value in having these conversations face to face; it takes collaboration from people of different backgrounds” who actually live in those communities, said Parr.

But completing the scorecard with a community is not an end point, Parr stressed. Rather, he hopes it is a springboard for taking action.

“While community leaders would immediately get some high-level recommendations on ways to improve resilience, I’d go back and look through our conversations and come back to the municipality and work with them on implementing recommendations. It’s a whole other ballgame to actually pass an ordinance or apply for a grant or participate in a buyout program. The goal is for communities to act on the recommendations they receive,” said Parr.

Parr can be reached at jackson.parr@dhs.wisconsin.gov.

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Jennifer Smith