Climate Change in America's National Parks: George Melendez Wright Initiative for Young Leaders in Climate Change (YLCC)

Meeting Date: 9/8/2016

- 9/8/2016

Location: Webinar


Thursday, September 8, 2016
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. EDT

REGISTER HERE

Overview: The George Melendez Wright Initiative for Young Leaders in Climate Change builds a pathway for exemplary students in higher education to apply cutting-edge knowledge about climate change to park management while gaining valuable work experience, exploring career options, and developing leadership skills through mentorship and guidance under the NPS. The program is funded by the Climate Change Response Program and enables parks to meet the complex real-world challenges of climate change. Learn more about some of this year's student experiences and learn how parks can apply to get a climate change intern for next summer.

About the Speaker​s:​

​Carolyn Turkaly
Interpreting Climate Change in the Midwest: Lessons from the Centennial Partnership with the American Solar Challenge Carolyn Turkaly interned with the Midwest Regional Office and created climate interpretation activities for the partnership event with the American Solar Challenge, an undergraduate solar car competition traveling through 9 national parks. Carolyn's experience clarified the importance of centering climate change messaging on local impacts and hopeful solutions.

​Sam Wershow
Assessing climate change impacts on the threatened alpine plants of Olympic National Park Olympic National Park's rare and endemic alpine plants are a defining characteristic of the landscape and critical park resource. These plants are at acute risk of habitat loss due to climate change. I am creating vulnerability assessments to inform management plans to conserve the park's most threatened plant species.

Leslie Fowler
Monitoring Soil Moisture and Fuel Loads in the Recharge Zone: Climate Change Effects at Hot Springs National Park Hot Springs National Park's primary natural resource is its unique geothermal spring water that is provided to the public, free and unaltered. There is concern about climate change's potential impact on water quality, specifically in regards to fire disturbances. This project focused on monitoring soil moisture and fuel loading within the park's recharge zone to provide a baseline for future climate change monitoring within the park.


About the Webinar Series

This monthly climate change webinar series is presented by the NPS Climate Change Response Program. The purpose of the series is to connect NPS employees, volunteers, and partners with scientists and experts in the field of climate change research. The webinar series is a Service-wide forum where researchers can share credible, up-to-date information and research materials about the impacts of changing climate in national parks and provide participants the opportunity to engage with them in discussion.

Presentations begin at 2 PM EST, on the second Thursday of the month, and last about 90 minutes. They are viewed by logging into GoToWebinar on-line at the time of the presentation. Audio is available via a call-in number (toll charges apply) or through your computer’s speakers (free, but may be limited by connection speed).