National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/what-lies-below-underwater-mapping/

In: Ashland, Baker City Creek Estuary, climate change in northern Wisconsin, Dave Sletten, Dorothy Tank, FEMA, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative conference, Karina Heim, Lake Superior Climate Champions Program, Lake Superior Collaborative, Meagan Quaderer, Natalie Chin, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science, Sara Hudson, Statewide Hazard Mitigation Committee, Thompson's Creek, Tony Janisch, Washburn, Wisconsin Northwest Region Emergency Managers Meeting

Northern Wisconsin communities benefit from climate change program

On: January 23, 2024

Members of the Lake Superior Climate Champions Program take a field trip to an eroded area in northern Wisconsin. Pictured left to right are Dave Sletten, Matt Hudson and Tony Janisch. Image credit: Karina Heim, Lake Superior Reserve

It’s official: 2023 was the hottest since we’ve been keeping records, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This can trigger extreme weather events such as storms and flooding. Northern Wisconsin is not immune from the impacts of climate change and communities are taking action.

Leaders in several northern Wisconsin counties and cities were chosen to participate in a Lake Superior Climate Champions Program organized by Wisconsin Sea Grant and the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in 2023. The program provided funding and guidance to two teams to work on goals of their choosing that addressed climate change.

Members of the Washburn/Ashland Climate Champions team attend a coastal resilience adaptation workshop organized by the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. Pictured left to right are Danielle Shannon, Sara Hudson, Tony Janisch, Bree Schabert, Matias Valero and Jessica Jacobson. Image credit: Karina Heim, Lake Superior Reserve

The first team from the cities of Washburn and Ashland included Tony Janisch, Washburn assistant city administrator, and Sara Hudson, Ashland park and recreation director and city forester. Their project involved creating the outline of a coastal adaptation plan for their cities that focused on flood resilience and climate adaptation. They also developed a project priorities list, connected with other communities at a climate-focused annual conference by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative in Chicago and brought a coastal resilience adaptation workshop to the region in collaboration with the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science and the Lake Superior Collaborative.

During a webinar, Janisch described how the contacts he made during the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative Conference helped him find funding for a long-standing problem in Washburn.

“We have some significant coastal erosion at one of our parks in the city. I had spent three years trying to find funding to start the work. I was connected with someone and then was able to get some FEMA funding. So, we have an engineer now doing design work for how to solve the problem,” Janisch said.

Another erosion project Janisch found possible funding sources for involves Thompson’s Creek, which runs underneath a local highway and along another road. “There was some erosion going on with one of the creek bends that’s eating away at one of our side roads. It’s very possible that it could start eroding the right-of-way on the highway itself,” Janisch said.

Hudson said the champions program, “…Opened up a couple projects that have been on the back burner in my mind. And then also just creating more of a living shoreline along our Baker City Creek Estuary and along the ore dock shoreline that is there. It’s been a really good process.”

The second team included emergency managers from Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas and Iron counties. These are Dorothy Tank (retired from Ashland County), Dave Sletten (Douglas County), Stacy Ofstad (Iron County) and Meagan Quaderer (Bayfield County) Their project focused on developing a digital form to record road maintenance activities for Great Lakes coastal counties in Wisconsin and beyond.

Quaderer said that development of the road maintenance form was timely. “This spring, the region had a lot of flooding and a lot of [road] damage. So, we actually had a real-world application of the document, especially in Bayfield County.”

The team presented the form at a Wisconsin Northwest Region Emergency Managers Meeting and it garnered their interest as well as that of representatives from Minnesota. The team was asked to present the form again to the Statewide Hazard Mitigation Committee. Those members saw the overwhelming value of the tool.

“I think it’s something that will be used here within our four counties but also hopefully, within both states,” Sletten said.

Tank said the form has already been used in Ashland County for a number of federally declared disasters. “It was not only approved at the state level, but by FEMA. It contained all the information they wanted,” she said.

The Climate Champions Program was facilitated by Karina Heim with the Reserve and Natalie Chin with Sea Grant. They recently released the call for applications for this year. Apply at this link: https://go.wisc.edu/0385yk. The deadline is March 15.

For more general information, visit: https://go.wisc.edu/am468e.

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Whimsical marine debris play debuts in Door County

On: November 14, 2022

In: American Players Theater, Cassandra Bissell, David Daniel, Door County, Ginny Carlton, marine debris education, Me and Debry play, Milly Zantow, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Neil Brookshire, U.S. Department of Commerce

Script will soon be available for others to use

Actors Neil Brookshire and Cassandra Bissell perform “Me and Debry,” a play about marine debris held at the Door County Public Library in the Donald and Carol Kress Pavilion. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

What empowers people to help the environment and rhymes at the same time? Answer: “Me and Debry,” a half-hour, whimsical, audience-participation play about litter (marine debris) in the Great Lakes.

The play had its “world premiere” in Wisconsin’s Door County in October before a full house at the town library in Egg Harbor. Starring in it were two local actors: Cassandra Bissell and Neil Brookshire. They live just two blocks away from the library and the play was for a good cause, so lending their talents to it, “seemed like a no-brainer,” said Bissell.

Brookshire said he was drawn to the play because his father was an environmental economist who specialized in water resources research and his mother worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “So, I have a personal family history of being aware of these kinds of issues and information. One of the reasons we live up here is we like nature. We like the water, so we naturally want to do anything we can to spread awareness to keep it clean.”

Wisconsin Sea Grant staff member Julia Noordyk (right) and her family members Ethan (left) and Zander (center) study their script for an audience participation part of the “Me and Debry” play. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The actors described the play, produced by David Daniel with American Players Theater, as an “information play” and their parts as vaudevillian characters who banter with each other to lighten the subject matter and make the information easier for the audience to take in.

“I’m Jerry Bardo Apam Napat Sesquipedalian Cornelius Watershed Dubry,” said Bissell. “And in the vaudevillian act of the duo, I’m the really long-winded talky one. And Neil is…”

“Beck,” Brookshire deadpanned.

“He’s much more to the point and has fewer words,” Bissell said.

Brookshire highlighted the play’s audience participation, which includes prewritten parts for a kayaker, young person, crane and fish. “Any time you involve an audience, people are going to remember better because it wasn’t just something they observed, it was something they participated in.”

The project was led by Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Education Outreach Specialist Ginny Carlton, who described the variety of marine debris. “It’s a solid found in our waters. It’s not perhaps the most common pollutant that you think about when you think of pollution in our waters. It’s not oil slicks on the water. It’s these solid things that can be really tiny – like microplastics – or really big – like derelict fishing vessels.”

Carlton described the performance as “Wonderful. The actors really brought it to life with all the different nuances they added.”

After the play, audience members visited learning stations around the room that featured art and science activities involving marine debris. These included experiments to determine different types of microplastic pollution, a table with information about Milly Zantow, who helped create Wisconsin’s recycling mandate, and a station where people could decorate their own reusable tote bag.

Wisconsin Sea Grant Education Coordinator Anne Moser (center) staffs a water education station that was one of several learning activities available after the play. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov

Carlton said the play will be performed again next spring with the Gilmore Fine Arts Middle School in Racine and that the script will soon be available for other groups to perform.

Besides environmental messages, the play instills a sense of hope and empowerment in the audience.

“Now we know how we can help,” said Brookshire playing his Beck character. “You and I right here can always make a difference.”

“You are the difference,” said Bissell playing her character. “You’re what our watershed needs! One who knows their actions have impacts on the land and the inland sea.”

“If it’s to be, it’s up to me!” said Beck.

“That is the truest creed,” said Jerry Bardo Apam Napat Sesquipedalian Cornelius Watershed Dubry.

“Me and Debry,” (pronounced “debris”) is part of a two-year project funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant with grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the state of Wisconsin.

The project, called, “The Play’s the Thing: Using Drama as an Introduction to Marine Debris Prevention and Meaningful Stewardship Experiences” harnesses the power of storytelling to engage, educate and inspire performing artists and community members to be committed stewards of their Great Lakes watershed. In addition to the performance, the project includes marine debris prevention workshops, cleanup events, and public outreach and education activities.

Neil Brookshire and Cassandra Bissell practice their lines before the play. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov

The post Whimsical marine debris play debuts in Door County first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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In: Cassandra Bissel, David Daniel, Donald and Carol Kress Pavilion, marine debris in the Great Lakes, Me and Debry play, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Sea Grant College Program, Neil Brookshire

Family-friendly environmental play debuts in Door County

On: September 23, 2022

Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

“Me and Debry,” a half-hour, whimsical, audience participation play about litter (marine debris) in the Great Lakes, will debut at 10:30 a.m., Oct. 9, at the Donald and Carol Kress Pavilion and Egg Harbor Library at 7845 Church Street, Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. The performance is free and open to all, though best suited for audiences in upper elementary grades to adults.

The rhyming play was produced by David Daniel with American Players Theater. It stars Door County actors Cassandra Bissell and Neil Brookshire.

Doors open at 10:20 a.m. Seating is first-come, first-served. After the play, a science fair with family-friendly activities will be available at the pavilion until noon.

“Me and Debry,” (pronounced “debris”) was funded by Wisconsin Sea Grant with grants from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the state of Wisconsin.

The post Family-friendly environmental play debuts in Door County first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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New wave buoy will provide data to support wave and flood forecasting on Lake Champlain

On: June 22, 2021

In: buoy, Communication, data, environmental science, Great Lakes, Hydrodynamics, Lake Champlain, lakes, Limnology, model, Modeling, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Research, science, technology, wave model

The NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) and partners recently deployed a buoy in Lake Champlain that will measure the lake’s wave heights to assess the accuracy of a new experimental model for the lake. This is part of … Continue reading →