Understanding resilience to climate change effects is critical to the future of environmental assessment and reporting. Changing air and water temperature, precipitation patterns and storm frequencies, CO2 concentrations, and sea level rise will add significant pressure to the natural and engineered systems that provide us services. Understanding system resilience to these changes is important to developing relevant monitoring, assessment, and reporting frameworks.

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Alex Fries and I had the chance to represent UMCES at the Conference on Ecosystem and Ecological Restoration (CEER) on the New Orleans riverfront from July 28 to August 1, 2014. I presented on our … Alex Fries at the UMCES booth … CEER Conference a good venue for the Mississippi Report Card … There could not have been a more appropriate location to talk about a report card for the Mississippi River than New Orleans, Louisiana this July.

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‘Environmental literacy‘ series … The seven environmental literacy principles for the Missouri River are the following: • The Missouri River is the longest tributary (2,300 miles) of the Mississippi River. • Navigation on the Missouri River is supported by a series of levees and dikes from the mouth to Sioux City, Iowa, about 760 miles. • A series of reservoirs north of Sioux City on the Missouri River serves multiple uses.

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Alex Fries and I had the chance to travel to Adelaide, Australia to deliver a two-day Science Communication Course to the South Australia Department of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources (DEWNR). The course focused on Ecosystem Health Report Cards. DEWNR is currently creating state-wide report cards in the marine, freshwater, terrestrial, and atmospheric environments, reporting on elements like pest species, soil health, reefs, seagrass, salt marsh, and dunes.

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In September, America’s Great Watershed Initiative (AGWI) held a summit in St. Louis, Missouri to develop more coordinated management of the Mississippi River Basin. AGWI is an initiative primarily led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), although the management of the initiative itself is up for discussion. The summit brought together stakeholders with many perspectives to work on common management, communications, and assessment frameworks for the Mississippi River Basin.

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Developing an environmental assessment framework in the Pacific … In collaboration with the Secretariat for Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), Heath Kelsey, Tracey Saxby, and Adrian Jones traveled to Samoa (Tracey and Adrian will be there until the end of this month) to help develop an environmental assessment framework for Pacific island countries. This current work follows on from a workshop in Nadi, Viti Levu, Fiji, in March this year.

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The Summit … Earlier this month I got to participate in what everyone hopes is a seminal moment for the future of the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Summit 2011 brought together invitees from scientific, academic, government, industry, NGO, and environmental law communities in the region for 5 days in Houston, Texas in early December.

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Holidays are when we really catch up with family, and the "How's work?" question is inevitable. If you're lucky, a few family members are even interested in your reply, but we all know that's rare. I'm excited about what we do at IAN, but most of the time only a few of my family really want to get into it.

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