Special Symposia
The following organized symposia will be included in the program at the 2025 NEAFWA Conference! Read their overviews and learn more here.
These special symposia will be included as part of the technical program and will run concurrently with the General Fisheries and General Wildlife Tracks. Each symposia will comprise a number of integrated presentations that address aspects of a single topic or theme.
Symposium organizers have indicated type below if they are Invite Only or Open.
Symposia marked "open" below are accepting abstracts for inclusion in the symposium through the general call for presentations. Symposia marked "invite only" below are being organized by the contact and co-organizers listed; they are not considering abstracts collected through the general call. However, you may contact them to discuss being included.
All individual presentations within a symposium, including those that have been invited, need to submit abstracts through the online form, which will be open from early December to mid-January 2025.
These special symposia will be included as part of the technical program and will run concurrently with the General Fisheries and General Wildlife Tracks. Each symposia will comprise a number of integrated presentations that address aspects of a single topic or theme.
Symposium organizers have indicated type below if they are Invite Only or Open.
Symposia marked "open" below are accepting abstracts for inclusion in the symposium through the general call for presentations. Symposia marked "invite only" below are being organized by the contact and co-organizers listed; they are not considering abstracts collected through the general call. However, you may contact them to discuss being included.
All individual presentations within a symposium, including those that have been invited, need to submit abstracts through the online form, which will be open from early December to mid-January 2025.
S-01. Addressing the Combined Impacts of Climate Change and Invasive Species to Improve Fish and Wildlife Management
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Jenica Allen, Senior Research Fellow, University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Carrie Brown-Lima,NE CASC- US Geological Survey; Toni Lyn Morelli, NE CASC- US Geological Survey
Overview:
The combined impacts of invasive species and climate change represent a critical challenge to habitat management, restoration, and conservation. This symposium will outline invasive species and climate change issues most relevant to habitat management, highlight a series of projects focused on climate change and invasive species interactions, and provide an overview of the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC) and the Northeast Regional Invasive Species & Climate Change (NE RISCC) Management Network. NE RISCC is a boundary-spanning organization that aims to reduce the compounding effects of invasive species and climate change by synthesizing relevant science, communicating the needs of practitioners to researchers, building stronger scientist-practitioner communities, and conducting priority research relevant to their region. A facilitated discussion with the audience about how invasive species and climate change can be included in habitat management will conclude the session. We aim to share NE RISCC and NE CASC as resources and potential partners for wildlife professionals and showcase the RISCC model as an example of connecting science with practice.
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Jenica Allen, Senior Research Fellow, University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Carrie Brown-Lima,NE CASC- US Geological Survey; Toni Lyn Morelli, NE CASC- US Geological Survey
Overview:
The combined impacts of invasive species and climate change represent a critical challenge to habitat management, restoration, and conservation. This symposium will outline invasive species and climate change issues most relevant to habitat management, highlight a series of projects focused on climate change and invasive species interactions, and provide an overview of the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC) and the Northeast Regional Invasive Species & Climate Change (NE RISCC) Management Network. NE RISCC is a boundary-spanning organization that aims to reduce the compounding effects of invasive species and climate change by synthesizing relevant science, communicating the needs of practitioners to researchers, building stronger scientist-practitioner communities, and conducting priority research relevant to their region. A facilitated discussion with the audience about how invasive species and climate change can be included in habitat management will conclude the session. We aim to share NE RISCC and NE CASC as resources and potential partners for wildlife professionals and showcase the RISCC model as an example of connecting science with practice.
S-02. Applications for Decision Science in Wildlife Management: Balancing Data and Stakeholder Values
Type: Invite Only
Contact: Joshua Stiller, Small Game Unit Leader, New York State Dept. Env. Conservation, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Mandy Watson, NYSDEC; Brendan Quirion, NYSDEC
Overview:
Wildlife managers across the country constantly seek innovative strategies to balance ecological health with human values. This symposium will explore examples from around the northeastern United States where wildlife managers and research partners are applying decision science to make management defensible, durable decisions. The session will feature researchers and practitioners who continue to expand the use of decision science in managing the diverse species (both game and non-game) and habitats found throughout the region. These presentations will demonstrate how decision science tools, such as structured decision making (SDM), adaptive management, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), habitat prioritization tools, etc., are employed to address contentious wildlife management decisions. The presentations will cross silos within the wildlife management community and will include topics on harvest management, human-wildlife conflicts, habitat management, and species conservation.
A focus will be placed on how biological data (such as population dynamics, habitat requirements, and species interactions) are combined with stakeholder inputs (community values, economic considerations, and policy implications) to transparently identify the optimal management strategies that are scientifically sound, socially acceptable, and likely to be durable. By incorporating diverse perspectives and values with biological data in a rigorous, structured process, practitioners can use the results to build trust and informed consent with affected stakeholders, even if the decision does not reflect the individual stakeholder’s values.
The symposium will provide insights into the practical implementation of decision science, emphasizing the successes and challenges encountered by other natural resource managers in the northeast. Ultimately, it aims to create a collaborative platform for discussing future directions and improvements in how trust managers apply more robust, data driven decision processes to address evolving needs and challenges facing wildlife and the public for which they are managed.
Type: Invite Only
Contact: Joshua Stiller, Small Game Unit Leader, New York State Dept. Env. Conservation, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Mandy Watson, NYSDEC; Brendan Quirion, NYSDEC
Overview:
Wildlife managers across the country constantly seek innovative strategies to balance ecological health with human values. This symposium will explore examples from around the northeastern United States where wildlife managers and research partners are applying decision science to make management defensible, durable decisions. The session will feature researchers and practitioners who continue to expand the use of decision science in managing the diverse species (both game and non-game) and habitats found throughout the region. These presentations will demonstrate how decision science tools, such as structured decision making (SDM), adaptive management, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), habitat prioritization tools, etc., are employed to address contentious wildlife management decisions. The presentations will cross silos within the wildlife management community and will include topics on harvest management, human-wildlife conflicts, habitat management, and species conservation.
A focus will be placed on how biological data (such as population dynamics, habitat requirements, and species interactions) are combined with stakeholder inputs (community values, economic considerations, and policy implications) to transparently identify the optimal management strategies that are scientifically sound, socially acceptable, and likely to be durable. By incorporating diverse perspectives and values with biological data in a rigorous, structured process, practitioners can use the results to build trust and informed consent with affected stakeholders, even if the decision does not reflect the individual stakeholder’s values.
The symposium will provide insights into the practical implementation of decision science, emphasizing the successes and challenges encountered by other natural resource managers in the northeast. Ultimately, it aims to create a collaborative platform for discussing future directions and improvements in how trust managers apply more robust, data driven decision processes to address evolving needs and challenges facing wildlife and the public for which they are managed.
S-03. Changing Habitats in a Changing Climate: Effects on Freshwater Ecosystems
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Josie Pilchik, USGS Silvio Conte Research Laboratory, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Anna Baynes, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program, University of Massachusetts; [email protected] / Josie Pilchik, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program, University of Massachusetts; [email protected] / Jennifer Fair, U. S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center, University of Massachusetts; [email protected] / Ben Letcher, U. S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center, University of Massachusetts; [email protected] / Allison Roy, U.S. Geological Survey, Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Massachusetts; [email protected]
Overview:
Climate change is altering the temperature of streams as well as the frequency, duration and timing of streamflow events (floods and droughts), fundamentally changing habitats and likely threatening the aquatic organisms that inhabit them. Warming stream temperatures can elevate metabolic demand and increase mortality of fishes. Changes in temperature, combined with increased duration of droughts and frequency of high streamflow events, can also decrease availability of suitable habitat, in turn affecting fish distribution and migration patterns. Thus, refugia are increasingly important in a changing climate to provide suitable habitat in which biota can shelter from surrounding unfavorable environmental conditions. This session offers an opportunity to discuss approaches to better understand effects of climate change on stream habitats, coldwater species, coldwater refugia functionality, and habitat conservation. Topics may include: thermal habitat alteration, groundwater effects on stream temperature, advances in monitoring and modeling streamflow and temperature, fish movement and habitat use, fish acclimation and adaptation to thermal conditions, effects of increased water temperature on stream biota, methods for identifying current and future cold- and cool-water habitats, and novel refugia and habitat mapping methods.
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Josie Pilchik, USGS Silvio Conte Research Laboratory, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Anna Baynes, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program, University of Massachusetts; [email protected] / Josie Pilchik, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Program, University of Massachusetts; [email protected] / Jennifer Fair, U. S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center, University of Massachusetts; [email protected] / Ben Letcher, U. S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center, University of Massachusetts; [email protected] / Allison Roy, U.S. Geological Survey, Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Massachusetts; [email protected]
Overview:
Climate change is altering the temperature of streams as well as the frequency, duration and timing of streamflow events (floods and droughts), fundamentally changing habitats and likely threatening the aquatic organisms that inhabit them. Warming stream temperatures can elevate metabolic demand and increase mortality of fishes. Changes in temperature, combined with increased duration of droughts and frequency of high streamflow events, can also decrease availability of suitable habitat, in turn affecting fish distribution and migration patterns. Thus, refugia are increasingly important in a changing climate to provide suitable habitat in which biota can shelter from surrounding unfavorable environmental conditions. This session offers an opportunity to discuss approaches to better understand effects of climate change on stream habitats, coldwater species, coldwater refugia functionality, and habitat conservation. Topics may include: thermal habitat alteration, groundwater effects on stream temperature, advances in monitoring and modeling streamflow and temperature, fish movement and habitat use, fish acclimation and adaptation to thermal conditions, effects of increased water temperature on stream biota, methods for identifying current and future cold- and cool-water habitats, and novel refugia and habitat mapping methods.
S-04. Conserving Birds and Bats in the Face of Offshore Wind Energy Development
Type: Invite Only
Contact: Patrick Roberts, Renewable Energy Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, [email protected]
Co-Organizer: Kevin Burgio, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Overview:
Offshore wind represents an important resource for combatting climate change, but harnessing this source of renewable energy will also have impacts on the environment, including potential effects on birds and bats. The waters off the coast of the northeastern U.S. support millions of breeding, migrating, and overwintering birds and bats each year, but are also currently home to the large majority of the U.S. offshore wind industry. As a result, there is growing concern about the extent and severity of potential negative effects, such as collision mortality and habitat loss, on bird and bat populations. Currently there are substantial information gaps related to not only the effects of offshore wind on flying animals, but also the basic ecology and distribution of these species in the offshore environment. However, there are many efforts underway to fill these knowledge gaps as more offshore wind energy areas become operational. The primary aim of this symposium is to highlight the bird and bat research and conservation efforts with the hope of encouraging information exchange, collaboration, and coordination. This symposium will cover a range of topics, including, but not limited to, offshore bird and bat natural history, technology development, monitoring efforts, and conservation measures.
Type: Invite Only
Contact: Patrick Roberts, Renewable Energy Biologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, [email protected]
Co-Organizer: Kevin Burgio, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Overview:
Offshore wind represents an important resource for combatting climate change, but harnessing this source of renewable energy will also have impacts on the environment, including potential effects on birds and bats. The waters off the coast of the northeastern U.S. support millions of breeding, migrating, and overwintering birds and bats each year, but are also currently home to the large majority of the U.S. offshore wind industry. As a result, there is growing concern about the extent and severity of potential negative effects, such as collision mortality and habitat loss, on bird and bat populations. Currently there are substantial information gaps related to not only the effects of offshore wind on flying animals, but also the basic ecology and distribution of these species in the offshore environment. However, there are many efforts underway to fill these knowledge gaps as more offshore wind energy areas become operational. The primary aim of this symposium is to highlight the bird and bat research and conservation efforts with the hope of encouraging information exchange, collaboration, and coordination. This symposium will cover a range of topics, including, but not limited to, offshore bird and bat natural history, technology development, monitoring efforts, and conservation measures.
S-05. Doing More by Working Together: Research, Conservation, and Management of Fish and Wildlife by Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs) and their local Partners
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Budd Veverka, President, Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Katie Blake, Highstead; Megan Linske, The Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station
Overview:
Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs) grew out of a need to coordinate land protection across boundaries. In the 1990s, RCPs began to pop up across New England, fueled by those in the land trust community. RCPs are informal, yet organized networks, and are composed of partners from private and public entities such as land trusts, government agencies, conservation organizations, academic institutions, and many others. They address ongoing threats and challenges facing communities and our natural world and communities, such as climate change, habitat loss, food insecurity, racism, and unsustainable development practices. Together, RCPs members work together on projects that sustain farms and farming, mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change on clean water and air, and protect biodiverse habitats, develop economically and environmentally sustainable communities, and build reciprocal relationships with the communities they serve. In this symposium, we will highlight and discuss the work RCPs and their local partners are doing in fish and wildlife research, conservation, and management. Sponsored by the Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Budd Veverka, President, Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Katie Blake, Highstead; Megan Linske, The Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station
Overview:
Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs) grew out of a need to coordinate land protection across boundaries. In the 1990s, RCPs began to pop up across New England, fueled by those in the land trust community. RCPs are informal, yet organized networks, and are composed of partners from private and public entities such as land trusts, government agencies, conservation organizations, academic institutions, and many others. They address ongoing threats and challenges facing communities and our natural world and communities, such as climate change, habitat loss, food insecurity, racism, and unsustainable development practices. Together, RCPs members work together on projects that sustain farms and farming, mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change on clean water and air, and protect biodiverse habitats, develop economically and environmentally sustainable communities, and build reciprocal relationships with the communities they serve. In this symposium, we will highlight and discuss the work RCPs and their local partners are doing in fish and wildlife research, conservation, and management. Sponsored by the Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society
S-06. Drivers of Spread and Spillover of Wildlife Diseases
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Heidi Herb, Field and Laboratory Researcher, Rutgers University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Dina Fonseca, Rutgers Center of Vector Biology
Overview:
Wildlife health is a crucial component of One Health. As the demand for resources to support a growing human population increases, interactions between humans, domestic animals, and wildlife also rise, leading to a greater reliance on the resources and services that wildlife provide. Research on wildlife health has historically had a primarily anthropocentric perspective, focusing on topics such as disease spillover. However, wildlife species have important roles to play in ecosystems, and biodiversity has both functional and intrinsic value, so a broader perspective on wildlife health is warranted.
We are proposing a symposium that will showcase current wildlife health research and management techniques, focusing on transdisciplinary work occurring in the northeastern United States. Our aim is to provide those working with fish and wildlife new perspectives and knowledge they can incorporate into their respective programs. Considering the viewpoints of diverse stakeholder groups will assist in the creation of effective health management approaches with the goal of improving outcomes for wildlife, humans, and beyond in a changing world.
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Heidi Herb, Field and Laboratory Researcher, Rutgers University, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Dina Fonseca, Rutgers Center of Vector Biology
Overview:
Wildlife health is a crucial component of One Health. As the demand for resources to support a growing human population increases, interactions between humans, domestic animals, and wildlife also rise, leading to a greater reliance on the resources and services that wildlife provide. Research on wildlife health has historically had a primarily anthropocentric perspective, focusing on topics such as disease spillover. However, wildlife species have important roles to play in ecosystems, and biodiversity has both functional and intrinsic value, so a broader perspective on wildlife health is warranted.
We are proposing a symposium that will showcase current wildlife health research and management techniques, focusing on transdisciplinary work occurring in the northeastern United States. Our aim is to provide those working with fish and wildlife new perspectives and knowledge they can incorporate into their respective programs. Considering the viewpoints of diverse stakeholder groups will assist in the creation of effective health management approaches with the goal of improving outcomes for wildlife, humans, and beyond in a changing world.
S-07. Emerging and Existing Health Threats to Fish and Wildlife Species in the Northeast
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Melanie Kunkel, Northeast Regional Fish and Wildlife Health Coordinator, NEAFWA, [email protected]
Overview:
Health threats to free-ranging fish and wildlife species can directly cause or exacerbate population-level declines in free-ranging fish and wildlife species, many populations of which are experiencing other stressors, such as climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, and anthropogenic influences on ecosystems. In recent years, there has been heightened awareness and concern surrounding the potential impacts of infectious and non-infectious health threats to fish and wildlife populations in the Northeast United States and eastern Canada, as well as how these threats may be intertwined with public and ecosystem health. These threats, coupled with other stressors, threaten conservation and fish and wildlife management. This symposium brings together personnel from academia and state and federal fish and wildlife agencies to provide research and case study updates on current health threats to fish and wildlife populations in the Northeast United States and eastern Canada and address best practices to efficiently collect and use data to guide management decisions. Topics that will be addressed are varied but will include: novel approaches to chronic wasting disease management, anticoagulant rodenticide exposure in furbearers, SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife, incorporation of health threats into State Wildlife Action Plan revisions, an emerging pathogen in American toads, health threats to smallmouth bass, and implications of PFAS (colloquially referred to as ‘forever chemicals’) on wild fish health, among others. This symposium will bring together Northeast researchers and agency personnel to provide updates on current health threats to fish and wildlife populations in the Northeast United States and eastern Canada with potential management implications.
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Melanie Kunkel, Northeast Regional Fish and Wildlife Health Coordinator, NEAFWA, [email protected]
Overview:
Health threats to free-ranging fish and wildlife species can directly cause or exacerbate population-level declines in free-ranging fish and wildlife species, many populations of which are experiencing other stressors, such as climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, and anthropogenic influences on ecosystems. In recent years, there has been heightened awareness and concern surrounding the potential impacts of infectious and non-infectious health threats to fish and wildlife populations in the Northeast United States and eastern Canada, as well as how these threats may be intertwined with public and ecosystem health. These threats, coupled with other stressors, threaten conservation and fish and wildlife management. This symposium brings together personnel from academia and state and federal fish and wildlife agencies to provide research and case study updates on current health threats to fish and wildlife populations in the Northeast United States and eastern Canada and address best practices to efficiently collect and use data to guide management decisions. Topics that will be addressed are varied but will include: novel approaches to chronic wasting disease management, anticoagulant rodenticide exposure in furbearers, SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife, incorporation of health threats into State Wildlife Action Plan revisions, an emerging pathogen in American toads, health threats to smallmouth bass, and implications of PFAS (colloquially referred to as ‘forever chemicals’) on wild fish health, among others. This symposium will bring together Northeast researchers and agency personnel to provide updates on current health threats to fish and wildlife populations in the Northeast United States and eastern Canada with potential management implications.
S-08. Freshwater Habitat Restoration - Solving Problems for Fish and People
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Mike Bednarski, Chief of Fisheries, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, [email protected]
Co-Organizer: Todd Richards
Overview:
The states and provinces of NEAFWA contain a variety of aquatic habitats including cold and warm water streams, natural lakes, impoundments, and tidal systems. These systems support quality recreational opportunities for sportfish as well as hosting some of the world’s most biodiverse communities. The purpose of this symposium is to share information about fish habitat improvements and challenges throughout NEAFWA member jurisdictions. The information presented here provide examples of project implementation, measures of success, lessons learned, funding mechanisms and collaborative frameworks for aquatic habitat management. We anticipate that this symposium will prompt discussion about how to work across jurisdictions on improving aquatic habitat throughout NEAFWA member jurisdictions.
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Mike Bednarski, Chief of Fisheries, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, [email protected]
Co-Organizer: Todd Richards
Overview:
The states and provinces of NEAFWA contain a variety of aquatic habitats including cold and warm water streams, natural lakes, impoundments, and tidal systems. These systems support quality recreational opportunities for sportfish as well as hosting some of the world’s most biodiverse communities. The purpose of this symposium is to share information about fish habitat improvements and challenges throughout NEAFWA member jurisdictions. The information presented here provide examples of project implementation, measures of success, lessons learned, funding mechanisms and collaborative frameworks for aquatic habitat management. We anticipate that this symposium will prompt discussion about how to work across jurisdictions on improving aquatic habitat throughout NEAFWA member jurisdictions.
S-09. Landscape Conservation: Successful Strategies and Ongoing Challenges
Type: Invite Only
Contact: Mikael Cejtin, Coordinator of the Staying Connected Initiative, The Nature Conservancy/Staying Connected Initiative, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Lisabeth Willey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Overview:
Maintaining and enhancing populations of at-risk species is increasingly focused on the conservation and restoration of large landscapes, which in the Northeast are a matrix of contiguous wildlife habitat as well as agricultural and developed lands. Such landscapes must support the natural processes and functions vital to long-term sustainability of populations of both wide-ranging and less mobile species.
The nature of land ownership and political jurisdictions in the Northeast, however, poses elemental impediments to landscape-level planning and the implementation of actions to conserve large, well-connected landscapes. Because the majority of lands in the region are privately owned, the resulting landscape patterns are driven from the bottom up, with individual decisions made by local land-owners and town planners collectively determining habitat quality at the landscape level.
Furthermore, important transportation infrastructure decisions that impact landscape connectivity are made at state and local levels, often with little knowledge or consideration of the multi-jurisdictional, landscape-level environmental implications of their actions. As a result, the primary threats to many species of greatest conservation need today cannot be adequately managed by wildlife agencies alone, nor addressed solely at the scale of individual states.
This session will feature inspiring examples of successful strategies for working collaboratively across borders and at multiple scales to implement and build capacity for landscape conservation and connectivity work. It will also explore ongoing challenges as well as opportunities to further enhance and build upon existing efforts, in order to increase the pace and scale of landscape conservation in the Northeast and beyond.
Type: Invite Only
Contact: Mikael Cejtin, Coordinator of the Staying Connected Initiative, The Nature Conservancy/Staying Connected Initiative, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Lisabeth Willey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
Overview:
Maintaining and enhancing populations of at-risk species is increasingly focused on the conservation and restoration of large landscapes, which in the Northeast are a matrix of contiguous wildlife habitat as well as agricultural and developed lands. Such landscapes must support the natural processes and functions vital to long-term sustainability of populations of both wide-ranging and less mobile species.
The nature of land ownership and political jurisdictions in the Northeast, however, poses elemental impediments to landscape-level planning and the implementation of actions to conserve large, well-connected landscapes. Because the majority of lands in the region are privately owned, the resulting landscape patterns are driven from the bottom up, with individual decisions made by local land-owners and town planners collectively determining habitat quality at the landscape level.
Furthermore, important transportation infrastructure decisions that impact landscape connectivity are made at state and local levels, often with little knowledge or consideration of the multi-jurisdictional, landscape-level environmental implications of their actions. As a result, the primary threats to many species of greatest conservation need today cannot be adequately managed by wildlife agencies alone, nor addressed solely at the scale of individual states.
This session will feature inspiring examples of successful strategies for working collaboratively across borders and at multiple scales to implement and build capacity for landscape conservation and connectivity work. It will also explore ongoing challenges as well as opportunities to further enhance and build upon existing efforts, in order to increase the pace and scale of landscape conservation in the Northeast and beyond.
S-10. Managing Fire-Adapted Landscapes for Wildlife Species of Interest
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Annie Stupik, Wildlife Biologist, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Neil Gifford, Conservation Director, Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission, [email protected]. Jordan Youngmann, Wildlife Biologist, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, [email protected]
Overview:
As we enter an era of unprecedented global change, management of rare habitats and the species dependent on them is critical but often ecologically and logistically complex. Pine barrens, grasslands, oak-pine woodlands, and other xeric habitats support many of the region’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) identified within State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAP) and Young Forest initiatives. Historically present across the region, xeric habitats have precipitously declined in abundance through human development and fire suppression. Due to its relative rarity across the landscape, xeric habitats typically harbor unique wildlife communities that include threatened and endangered species. Prescribed fire is increasingly utilized as a management tool in remnant xeric landscapes to improve ecosystem health and habitat quality for SGCN, with additional benefits for game species through improving cover and forage quality. However, implementation of prescribed fire in the Northeast can be challenging due to legislative and logistical barriers, safety concerns, and public perception. In this symposium, we will explore the history of fire in the Northeast, management of fire-adapted species, and how SGCN across the region can benefit from prescribed fire. Topics will include barriers to prescribed fire implementation and how to overcome them, the importance of adaptive capacity, internal and external partners, and success stories. We will host talks featuring a variety of taxa (including regional SGCN and game species), such as insects, migratory birds, and reptiles. We will conclude the symposium with a panel discussion on overcoming barriers to prescribed fire implementation.
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Annie Stupik, Wildlife Biologist, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Neil Gifford, Conservation Director, Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission, [email protected]. Jordan Youngmann, Wildlife Biologist, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, [email protected]
Overview:
As we enter an era of unprecedented global change, management of rare habitats and the species dependent on them is critical but often ecologically and logistically complex. Pine barrens, grasslands, oak-pine woodlands, and other xeric habitats support many of the region’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) identified within State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAP) and Young Forest initiatives. Historically present across the region, xeric habitats have precipitously declined in abundance through human development and fire suppression. Due to its relative rarity across the landscape, xeric habitats typically harbor unique wildlife communities that include threatened and endangered species. Prescribed fire is increasingly utilized as a management tool in remnant xeric landscapes to improve ecosystem health and habitat quality for SGCN, with additional benefits for game species through improving cover and forage quality. However, implementation of prescribed fire in the Northeast can be challenging due to legislative and logistical barriers, safety concerns, and public perception. In this symposium, we will explore the history of fire in the Northeast, management of fire-adapted species, and how SGCN across the region can benefit from prescribed fire. Topics will include barriers to prescribed fire implementation and how to overcome them, the importance of adaptive capacity, internal and external partners, and success stories. We will host talks featuring a variety of taxa (including regional SGCN and game species), such as insects, migratory birds, and reptiles. We will conclude the symposium with a panel discussion on overcoming barriers to prescribed fire implementation.
S-11. Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Wildlife in New England
Type: Invite Only
Contact: Caroline Gleason, Program Specialist, Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC), [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Toni Lyn Morelli, Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC)
Overview:
New England is highly exposed to climate change, facing a rate of warming higher than most places on earth. New England’s streams and forests, and the fish and wildlife that inhabit them, are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In particular, boreal forests and northern hardwood forests are expected to be highly sensitive to climate warming and increasing droughts. Both these forest ecosystems, as well as many of the birds, mammals, amphibians, fish, and insects that inhabit them, are at their southern range edges here in New England and thus are considered especially vulnerable to climate change. In addition to warming temperatures and increased drought conditions, local species’ adaptive capacity is limited by habitat fragmentation, high rates of invasive species, and other stressors. There is considerable uncertainty with respect to the magnitude and direction of future changes, particularly considering changes in land use and land management, as well as novel interactions amongst co-occurring species. Thus, a focus on climate adaptation in northern forest ecosystems, including evaluations of the impacts of particular management actions, is critical as we think about the future of natural resource management.
In this symposium, we highlight the work that is being done in partnership with the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC) to help fish, wildlife, land, and people adapt to a changing climate in New England. This work includes identifying coldwater refugia for fish facing warming streams, tracking range shifts for red squirrels, increasing understanding of phenological shifts in color-changing snowshoe hares, monitoring abundance and occurrence changes in songbird populations, and more. Using the latest field, lab and modeling methods, together with knowledge coproduction and translational ecology approaches, a diverse team of researchers and practitioners are increasing understanding and acting on conclusions to result in more effective action on the ground.
Type: Invite Only
Contact: Caroline Gleason, Program Specialist, Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC), [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Toni Lyn Morelli, Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC)
Overview:
New England is highly exposed to climate change, facing a rate of warming higher than most places on earth. New England’s streams and forests, and the fish and wildlife that inhabit them, are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In particular, boreal forests and northern hardwood forests are expected to be highly sensitive to climate warming and increasing droughts. Both these forest ecosystems, as well as many of the birds, mammals, amphibians, fish, and insects that inhabit them, are at their southern range edges here in New England and thus are considered especially vulnerable to climate change. In addition to warming temperatures and increased drought conditions, local species’ adaptive capacity is limited by habitat fragmentation, high rates of invasive species, and other stressors. There is considerable uncertainty with respect to the magnitude and direction of future changes, particularly considering changes in land use and land management, as well as novel interactions amongst co-occurring species. Thus, a focus on climate adaptation in northern forest ecosystems, including evaluations of the impacts of particular management actions, is critical as we think about the future of natural resource management.
In this symposium, we highlight the work that is being done in partnership with the Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC) to help fish, wildlife, land, and people adapt to a changing climate in New England. This work includes identifying coldwater refugia for fish facing warming streams, tracking range shifts for red squirrels, increasing understanding of phenological shifts in color-changing snowshoe hares, monitoring abundance and occurrence changes in songbird populations, and more. Using the latest field, lab and modeling methods, together with knowledge coproduction and translational ecology approaches, a diverse team of researchers and practitioners are increasing understanding and acting on conclusions to result in more effective action on the ground.
S-12. Species Distribution Modelling for Wildlife Conservation and Management
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Stefanie Farrington, PhD Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Amanda L. Zak, Ecology Program, Pennsylvania State University, [email protected]; Allison H. Roy, U.S. Geological Survey Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, [email protected]; Duane R. Diefenbach, U.S. Geological Survey Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, [email protected]
Overview:
A critical component of conserving and managing wildlife is understanding where species are located across a landscape and with which habitat features they are associated. Species distribution models can be used to target habitat for protection, identify potential restoration sites, identify potential threats that limit dispersal, and inform future monitoring. This symposium offers an opportunity to share modeling approaches (e.g., species distribution, occupancy, abundance, using Bayesian and frequentist methods) and applications across species and systems to advance fish and wildlife conservation and management. Appropriate topics include suitable habitat, species distribution over time, site selection, landscape-scale species management, and applications of models.
Type: Open Symposium
Contact: Stefanie Farrington, PhD Candidate, University of Massachusetts Amherst, [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Amanda L. Zak, Ecology Program, Pennsylvania State University, [email protected]; Allison H. Roy, U.S. Geological Survey Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, [email protected]; Duane R. Diefenbach, U.S. Geological Survey Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, [email protected]
Overview:
A critical component of conserving and managing wildlife is understanding where species are located across a landscape and with which habitat features they are associated. Species distribution models can be used to target habitat for protection, identify potential restoration sites, identify potential threats that limit dispersal, and inform future monitoring. This symposium offers an opportunity to share modeling approaches (e.g., species distribution, occupancy, abundance, using Bayesian and frequentist methods) and applications across species and systems to advance fish and wildlife conservation and management. Appropriate topics include suitable habitat, species distribution over time, site selection, landscape-scale species management, and applications of models.
S-13. National Fish Habitat Partnership
Type: Invite Only
Co- Organizers: Jason Olive, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish Habitat, Partnership Coordinator, [email protected]; Timothy Schaeffer, Ph.D., Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Executive Director, [email protected]
Overview:
The National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) is a cooperative, non-regulatory nationwide program to conserve (protect, restore, and enhance) the habitats of the Nation’s marine and freshwater fish populations, and to increase public fishing opportunities. This is accomplished by encouraging partnerships among public agencies and other organizations to promote fish habitat conservation to achieve measurable results through strategic actions of regional Fish Habitat Partnerships (FHP’s) that lead to better fish habitat conditions and increased fishing opportunities.
NFHP was formed in 2006 in response to a recommendation from the Sportfishing and Boating Partnership Council, who recognized the declining state of the Nation’s aquatic habitats despite significant financial investments by federal agencies, state agencies, and a number of NGOs over the preceding decades. The National Fish Habitat Action Plan was developed by a coalition of federal agency, state agency, and NGO representatives, and was signed in 2006 by the U.S. Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce, as well as the President and Executive Director of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. In 2020, Congress passed the America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Act, which codified NFHP and authorized annual funding. Currently, there are 20 regional FHP’s that work with federal, state, and NGO partners to prioritize and coordinate fish habitat conservation work for their focal species or habitat.
This symposium will highlight the work of some of the FHP’s who work in the NEAFWA geography as well as that of their partners. Those include: Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, Atlantic Coastal FHP, Reservoir FHP, Ohio River Basin FHP, Great Lakes Basin FHP, and the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership. The symposium will conclude with a panel discussion to offer conference attendees the opportunity to engage with FHP Coordinators.
Type: Invite Only
Co- Organizers: Jason Olive, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fish Habitat, Partnership Coordinator, [email protected]; Timothy Schaeffer, Ph.D., Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Executive Director, [email protected]
Overview:
The National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) is a cooperative, non-regulatory nationwide program to conserve (protect, restore, and enhance) the habitats of the Nation’s marine and freshwater fish populations, and to increase public fishing opportunities. This is accomplished by encouraging partnerships among public agencies and other organizations to promote fish habitat conservation to achieve measurable results through strategic actions of regional Fish Habitat Partnerships (FHP’s) that lead to better fish habitat conditions and increased fishing opportunities.
NFHP was formed in 2006 in response to a recommendation from the Sportfishing and Boating Partnership Council, who recognized the declining state of the Nation’s aquatic habitats despite significant financial investments by federal agencies, state agencies, and a number of NGOs over the preceding decades. The National Fish Habitat Action Plan was developed by a coalition of federal agency, state agency, and NGO representatives, and was signed in 2006 by the U.S. Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce, as well as the President and Executive Director of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. In 2020, Congress passed the America’s Conservation Enhancement (ACE) Act, which codified NFHP and authorized annual funding. Currently, there are 20 regional FHP’s that work with federal, state, and NGO partners to prioritize and coordinate fish habitat conservation work for their focal species or habitat.
This symposium will highlight the work of some of the FHP’s who work in the NEAFWA geography as well as that of their partners. Those include: Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture, Atlantic Coastal FHP, Reservoir FHP, Ohio River Basin FHP, Great Lakes Basin FHP, and the Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership. The symposium will conclude with a panel discussion to offer conference attendees the opportunity to engage with FHP Coordinators.