Wetlands and Climate Change Talk

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Thosee who missed Laura Brophy’s presentation to our King Tide wrap-up party at the Inn at Otter Crest have another opportunity to hear her speak on the subject of sea level rise and how it may affect our coastal wetlands.  She will be featured in a “Science on Tap” event on Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Rogue Brewery (2320 S.E. Marine Science Dr.) in the South Beach area of Newport.  Doors open at 5:15, with Brophy’s talk at 6 p.m.  The free event, open to the public, is co-sponsored by the MidCoast Watersheds Council and the Hatfield Marine Science Center (and serves as the council’s monthly meeting).

Brophy is a certified Professional Wetland Scientist with over 25 years of field experience in habitats ranging from Pacific Northwest coastal forests and estuaries to tropical rainforests and high deserts.  She is the director of the Estuary Technical Group (ETG) at the Institute for Applied Ecology, and a faculty member at Oregon State University.  She specializes in using her group’s research and field experience to advance restoration science, and then apply that knowledge on the ground to help improve our management of estuary resources.   

Her talk will focus on a project the ETG is currently, with funding from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Program. This project analyzes how sea level rise may affect tidal wetlands in estuaries along Oregon’s coast, and where the tidal wetlands of the future may be—at least if they are able to migrate upslope. The analysis of impacts to Oregon’s tidal wetlands that may be created by sea level rise will build from the new, more accurate maps of the extent of tidal wetlands that were created in 2014 by Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development and ETG. The new tidal wetland maps were generated using remotely-sensed land surface elevation data (LIDAR) and long-term water level models. ETG’s sea level rise project will use the same methods to understand where these crucial habitats may be in the future, under predicted sea level rise scenarios.  (This is the same project she discussed on Jan 15 at our King Tide gathering.)  

Brophy will describe early draft results and how they can be used, and will seek the audience’s feedback and questions.