PIE-Rivers Partners Gather for Great Marsh Resiliency Modeling Workshop

In early April, more than 20 organizations and municipalities in the Great Marsh region gathered at the Parker River Wildlife Refuge headquarters for an all-day workshop. The purpose of the Great Marsh Modeling Symposium was to introduce the Great Marsh conservation organizations, regulators, and community decision makers to resiliency and climate change modeling and research efforts being conducted by the academic research community.  Due to its size, intact ecological processes, and availability of comprehensive scientific data, the Plum Island estuary is used by many researchers and modelers across the country to test their resiliency and climate change models.

Great Marsh communities have been actively pursuing understanding of how the salt marsh, barrier island systems, and the built community will respond to climate change. Incorporating some of the new models and research can give decision makers a better understanding of ecosystem response and climate forecasting as they embark on strategies to adapt and mitigate vulnerabilities.

Several entities are home to research being conducted about the Great Marsh, including The Plum Island Research Project and the Plum Island Ecosystems Long-Term Ecological Research (PIE-LTER).