ESA in Action Fall 2015
  November




CENTENNIAL MEETING
 
 
The Centennial kicked off with a reception and the video "Ecology in a Changing World."  
 
President Obama wishes ESA a happy 100th birthday in this video message.
   
 
Centennial
The Ecological Society of America's Centennial Meeting in Baltimore attracted 4,680 attendees. The Scientific Plenary featured a congratulatory video from President Barack Obama, the debut of the video "Ecology in a Changing World" and video shorts "The Future of Ecology: Animating the Past" organized by the Student Section with support from an ESA Centennial Grant.centennial
 
Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) was selected as This Regional Policy Award winner by the Public Affairs Committee. Rene Cohen accepted the award on his behalf at the Opening Plenary.
 
ESA's Science Office organized a session entitled "The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): A Progress Report." Topics covered how the IPBES conceptual framework is creating assessments that are applicable to a range of international policies and value systems. The pollination and food production assessment is due to be completed in early 2016. Speakers shared what it was like to work on an IPBES assessment, opportunities for others to participate, and how U.S. scientists can raise funds to participate.
 
The SEEDS program partnered with The Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program (DDCSP) Collaborative to bring ten SEEDS alumni and 53 undergraduate students to the Baltimore. ESA members volunteered to serve as their meeting mentors. Awards presented during the Diversity Luncheon went to SEEDS Undergraduate Research Fellows who presented their projects at the Centennial: Daniel Metz, Julissa Hunte, and Carla Lopez.  The 2015 SEEDS Chapter of the Year was Florida Atlantic University - GLADES Chapter for their outstanding outreach activities and student engagement. 

ESA's Rapid Response Team luncheon speaker, Beth Strommen, director of Baltimore's Office of Sustainability, was very well received by the an audience of over 50. Strommen described weaving sustainability and social justice into all facets of her work.

ESA Public Affairs staff convened a policy communications training workshop attended by nearly two dozen ESA members. With support from the Public Affairs Committee members, they also organized a Graduate Student Policy Award breakfast bringing former winners together with students interested in applying for 2016. Many award alumni  voiced the positive impact the award is having in their careers.  
 
ESA's policy section organized a field trip to Washington DC attended by over 50  members as well as Public Affairs Office staff. Senator Cardin's office hosted a Capitol tour that included a session with Hill  and the Congressional Research Service staff. Next, the group headed to the Botanical Gardens to hear AAAS fellows talk about their current placements in federal agencies. The day continued with a visit to the AAAS office building where panelists shared insight into policy careers. Ann Bartuska, the US Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and ESA Past President (2002), spoke to the group at an evening reception.
 
Selected media entities covering the annual meeting included Nature, ClimateWire, Science NewsScience MagazineConservation Magazine, and BuzzFeed.
 
The social media and Twitter feed, in particular, were lively, with over 10,000 tweets or retweets using the #ESA100 hashtag. Photos from the annual meeting can be viewed on Flickr.
 
ESA donated $23,000 to the Parks & People Foundation to offset the environmental footprint of the Centennial Meeting based on the recommendation of the meeting's local host, Chris Swan, an associate professor at the University of Maryland.
 
ESA's 101st Annual Meeting will be held August 7-12, 2016 in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Proposals for Ignite sessions, workshops, special sessions, and field trips are due on Thursday, November 19 at 5:00 pm Eastern (2:00 pm Pacific). 
 
EDUCATION
 
 
CITIZEN SCIENCE
citizen
Issues in Ecology #19
, "Investing in Citizen Science Can Improve Natural Resource Management and Environmental Protection," was published in late September. Duncan C. McKinley (USDA Forest Service) and Abraham J. Miller-Rushing (National Park Service) led the development of this Issue, which examines the current use of citizen science in ecology and the environmental sciences in the United States and describes how organizations might benefit from its use. The Issue is part of the Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Toolkit.
 
CORRESPONDENCE TO POLICYMAKERS
correspondence
The Ecological Society of America 
(ESA) was among 2,500 national, state and local organizations that signed a
letter (pdf) to Members of Congress requesting that they work to replace sequestration cuts to non-defense discretionary spending programs with a more balanced approach to deficit reduction.
 
The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act
Joining with a number of other non-profit scientific societies as well as publishers, ESA cosigned a letter (pdf) expressing concern with S. 779, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act, which would place new mandates on the release of federally-funded research.The letter also expresses support for an Office of Science and Technology Policy memorandum for public access to federally-funded research.   
 
United Nations climate conference
Along with a dozen ecological societies, ESA issued a joint statement (pdf) requesting that the countries meeting at this year's United Nations climate conference in Paris take decisive steps to deter the effects of global climate change.
 
Travel to scientific conferences
In August, ESA cosigned a letter (pdf) to Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Vice Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) thanking them for their support of federal employee attendance at science conferences as well as a thank you letter to Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Chris Coons (D-DE) for offering an amendment to grant federal agencies increased flexibility in revising travel policies.
 
Senate America COMPETES Reauthorization
ESA cosigned a scientific society letter (pdf) offering input to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee as it works to develop legislation reauthorizing the America COMPETES Act. ESA had previously sent its own letter (pdf) to the committee.
 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization
In July, ESA sent a letter (pdf) to leadership of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee and the House Education and Workforce Committee requesting that language supporting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education be included in any final conference agreement between the two chambers to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
 
ESA also cosigned a letter (pdf) requesting that the ESEA reauthorization maintains the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) initiative as a separate and specific federal funding stream.
 
National Ecological Observatory Network
A dear colleague letter from current and past ESA presidents was mentioned during a recent House, Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) descope plan. In the letter, the presidents reaffirmed their support for NSF and NEON and encouraged more engagement with the ecological community.
 
Supporting Earth Science
ESA was among 50 scientific and professional organizations to endorse a non-binding resolution offered by Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) recognizing the importance of earth science. Click here to view Rep. Honda's press release, which includes the text of the resolution and organizational endorsements.

MEMBERS IN ACTION

members

Aaron Ellison
AARON ELLISON (Harvard University) and CHARLES DAVIS (Harvard University) drafted an opinion piece for the Seattle Times praising the pope's environmental encyclical highlighting the importance of protecting the planet and all organisms that inhabit it.
 


Knute Nadelhoffer
KNUTE NADELHOFFER (University of Michigan) also co-wrote an article for the Detroit Free Press praising the pope's encyclical as an affirmation that humanity needs to come together to take urgent action on global climate change.
  
  

   
Monica Turner
ESA announced new 2015-16 President MONICA TURNER (University of Wisconsin-Madison) with a
 press release along with photo posts on Tumblr, Ecotone, Flickr, and other social media.Turner also delivered a public lecture on fire, climate and the future of Yellowstone on Sept. 30, 2015, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the invitation of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance.

Brian Harvey
Turner and BRIAN HARVEY (University of Colorado-Boulder) and other scientists participated in a two-day field trip in Yellowstone National Park (Oct. 1-2, 2015) arranged by the Northern Rockies Fire Science Network for regional land managers and fire specialists.
Emphases included what is known about fire over paleoecological time scales and what has been learned about post-fire succession following the 1988 Yellowstone Fires. Participants came from multiple  federal agencies and NGOs. The excellent discussions among the scientists and managers will lead to greater future collaboration.

 
Judith Weis  
JUDITH WEIS (Rutgers University) was recently interviewed on a podcast on "Speak Up for the Blue" about her latest book, "Marine Pollution, What Everyone Needs to Know." She has been appointed to the Ecosystems and Habitat Advisory Committee of the mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and continues as the Chair of the Science Advisory Board of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. She is also one of the lead authors for the Sixth UNEP Global Environment Outlook.
 

ESA Award Nominations
GET INVOLVED
EcoTone: ESA's blog is soliciting guest contributions about citizen science as well as posts highlighting ecology and its connections to policy and society. Contact ESA Communications Officer, Liza Lester to learn about contributing a post: llester@esa.org.
 
Podcasts: The Ecologist Goes to Washington podcast provides a venue to communicate experiences in public policy. For more information, contact ESA Policy Analyst, Terence Houston: terence@esa.org. FieldTalk features the field experiences of ecologists, including the work of those who have been published in the Society's journals. For more information, contact Liza Lester: llester@esa.org
 
ESA in Action Winter 2015: If you have an interesting story about sharing your work beyond the ecological community or are actively involved in policy or media communication, we'd like to hear from you. Please send updates to ESA's Public Affairs Office at pao@esa.org.
 
Keep track of science and policy developments, news about your fellow ecologists and join the conversation through our Facebook page and Twitter.


Ecological Society of America | 202-833-8773
pao@esa.org | www.esa.org 
1990 M Street NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
Forward this email



This email was sent to by pao@esa.org |  


Ecological Society of America | 1990 M Street NW | Suite 700 | Washington | DC | 20036