This is part three of a three part series of blog posts about developing a reef resilience index for the Great Barrier Reef at a workshop in Townsville in March 2015 … Reef Resilience in Townsville … William C.

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This is part one of a three-part series of blog posts about developing a reef resilience index for the Great Barrier Reef at a workshop in Townsville in March 2015. 'Resilience Based Management' was one of the concepts that arose during our workshop with resource managers at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in Townsville, Australia on 2 Mar 2015.

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Brianne Walsh and I traveled to Westborough, Massachusetts for a scientific synthesis workshop on climate change and moose in the North Woods of Northeastern U.S. The workshop was located at an amazing new facility which serves as the field headquarters for MassWildlife (Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife). This building was opened last autumn and is a zero-net-energy building which includes an artificial trout stream stocked with brook trout in the atrium.

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I attended a two-day workshop on January 13-14 held at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. It was organized by Tom Horton and Karl Blankenship and sponsored by Town Creek Foundation and the Bay Journal. Roughly 150 people gathered for these two days to talk about an issue that we generally do not talk about regarding Chesapeake Bay: population growth. Population growth has been an issue that Tom Horton, the prolific Chesapeake author and activist, has been advocating for some time.

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In the spring of 2014, Charles Darwin University in Australia's Northern Territory signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that allows us to exchange staff for extended periods. The goal is to increase our shared capacity for synthesis and communication of river and coastal management science. To begin flexing the cooperative spirit of the MOU, I will be traveling to Darwin (with family in tow) this January 2015 for about 3+ months.

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There are many changes ahead in 2015, including new leadership in academia, government and science, management strategies for the 2014 Chesapeake Watershed Agreement, a major Conowingo research effort, and new staffing at the Chesapeake Bay Program. Academic leadership. The Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, Brit Kirwin, is retiring after his distinguished tenure and his successor has been named, Bob Caret.

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I attended the 2nd International Ocean Research Conference entitled 'One Planet One Ocean' in Barcelona, Spain 16-21 Nov 2014. I was a co-organizer for a workshop 'How is your ecosystem doing? Advances in the use and understanding of ecosystem indicators' and presented an invited talk, 'Science communication strategies and environmental report cards for effective coastal ocean governance'. The conference and workshops were over a six-day period, and five plenary talks were presented.

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Three teams of coastal scientists, engineers, and planners are going head-to-head to see who can come up with the best ideas for creating a self-sustaining coast for Louisiana. That's the challenge posed by the Changing Course competition. Selection of these teams this summer completed a year-long process [pdf] that started with screening applications from over 21 groups. The eight strongest applicants were asked to prepare detailed proposals, which were reviewed last spring.

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What do volcanoes, floodplains, conversations, hops, a Sound, the Bay, and sea level rise all have in common? The Association of State Floodplain Manager’s annual conference in Seattle included every one. Even the hops. Puget Sound view of the Olympics and geoduck harvesters. Snow-capped Rainier in all its glory in February.

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The four Thiess International Riverprize finalists provided inspirational examples of creative solutions for river protection and restoration. The winner of the 2014 Riverprize was the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine, a group of committed and passionate individuals who have transformed the "Sewer of Europe" into a river with high water quality, migratory fish and restored floodplains. There were four very worthy finalists for the 2014 International Riverprize:

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