Online via Zoom: Register here.
As climate change impacts our ecosystems and our local communities, how can we work together to mitigate its effects, and to adapt to them?
On Wednesday, February 3 from 6:30-8PM via Zoom, the public is invited to participate in “Recreating in a Changing Climate,” a Sense of Place community forum. Decades of local weather data show clear trends of declining snowpack, warming winter air temperatures, increases in annual precipitation, and increases in large rain events. How are these warming climate trends, which are expected to continue, affecting outdoor recreation and the growing outdoor recreation economy in the Mount Washington Valley? Join this forum for a panel discussion about the science and local impacts of climate change, ways to mitigate these impacts, and what actions are being taken to reduce emissions. Panelists from the Appalachian Mountain Club, Clean Energy NH, Cranmore Mountain Resort, the Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, and the U.S. Forest Service will share their perspectives, followed by a facilitated discussion. Jim Innes from the U.S. Forest Service will moderate. Register for the event at bit.ly./SOPclimate.
“Recreating in a Changing Climate” is one of a series of community forums on outdoor recreation and public lands in the Mount Washington Valley, organized through a collaboration of groups that are working to protect ecosystems and to invite humans to be in healthy relationship with the natural world and each other in shared public spaces: Access Fund, Appalachian Mountain Club, Backyard Concept, Chocorua Lake Conservancy, Granite Backcountry Alliance, Granite Outdoor Alliance, Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, REI Co-op, Saco Watershed Collaborative, The Nature Conservancy, Tin Mountain Conservation Center, Upper Saco Valley Land Trust, Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, the White Mountain National Forest, and the White Mountain Trail Collective. Sense of Place forums take place on the first Wednesday of the month through May, live via Zoom. Join us next month on Wednesday, March 3, 6:30PM, for “Supporting Diversity & Inclusion in the Outdoors.”
About the Panelists:
John Campbell is a Research Ecologist with the US Forest Service in Durham, NH. His research focuses on ecological processes in forest watersheds, with an emphasis on impacts of changing winter conditions. The goal of his research is to understand ecosystem responses to natural and human-caused disturbances to help inform land management decisions and policies.
Madeleine Mineau is the Executive Director of Clean Energy NH. Previously, Madeleine was Waterways Manager with the City of Nashua and co-chair of the Granite State Hydropower Association. Madeleine has a BA in Biology and Environmental Policy from Colby College and a PhD from Idaho State University.
Sarah Nelson is the Director of Research at the Appalachian Mountain Club. Her research focuses on understanding the effects of atmospheric pollution and climate change on forests, foodwebs, and freshwaters in remote and protected ecosystems. Current research includes geochemistry in lakes, climate change with a focus on changing winters, and mercury contamination.
Ben Wilcox is President and General Manager of the Cranmore Mountain Resort.
Banner description: Ice encases bare branches in winter. Photo: Rafa G. Bonilla on Unsplash