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Policy News: September 12, 2017

In This Issue: Administration Joins with Democrats to Pass Continuing Budget Resolution Harvey disaster funding tied to federal budget EPA Changes Require Political Aide’s Approval for Grants, Reshuffle Offices Pruitt stifles science by giving political appointee authority to squash grants Flood Infrastructure and Harvey New executive order strikes sea level consideration from federal infrastructure projects Zinke Makes Monument Recommendations and…

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On Capitol Hill, a GSPA winner sees firsthand “why it’s so important to have scientists present, in person, to ensure that our voices are heard”

A guest post by Ben Taylor (Columbia University), 2017 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipient. This year’s six award winners traveled to Washington, D.C. at the end of April for policy experience and training.   The GSPA program is designed to be an enlightening and intense three days, and it delivered on that in a wonderful fashion. From getting…

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Integrating geographically isolated wetlands into land management

Mark Rains is a Professor of Geology and the Director of the School of Geosciences at the University of South Florida, where he studies hydrological connectivity and the role it plays in governing structure and function in aquatic ecosystems. He shares this Frontiers Focus on how to integrate geographically isolated wetlands into land management decisions from a paper published in…

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Collaborating with the incarcerated in ecological restoration, education, and sustainability

By Nalini Nadkarni, professor at the University of Utah and ESA’s vice president for Education and Human Resources; Tom Kaye, executive director and senior ecologist at the Institute of Applied Ecology; Chad Naugle, sustainability program manager at the Oregon Department of Corrections; Debbie Rutt, adjunct faculty member at Portland State University and volunteer at the Coffee Creek Corrections Facility, Kelli…

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Top, L-R: Shane Hanlon (credit: S. Hanlon), Priya Shukla (credit: Gabriel Ng), Diogo Verissimo (courtesy of D. Verissimo) , Skylar Bayer (credit: Jesse Stuart); Bottom, L-R: Virginia Schutte (credit: V. Schutte), Annaliese Hettinger (credit: OMSI staff), Rebecca Johnson (credit: Alison Young)

ESA SciComm Section puts the human element front-and-center in #MySciComm blog series and #ESA2017 workshops and special events

By Kika Tuff, Annaliese Hettinger, and Bethann Garramon Merkle, current officers of ESA’s SciComm Section. Learn more about them and their roles here. Read more about our section here. Science Communication is an emerging career path with diverse entry points and skillsets. Have you ever read about a science writer, filmmaker, or blogger and wondered, how in the world did they…

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ESA joins other scientific societies to request a meeting with EPA administrator to discuss climate science

July 31, 2017 The Honorable Scott Pruitt Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20460 Dear Administrator Pruitt: As leaders of professional scientific societies with our collective membership of hundreds of thousands of scientists, we are writing in response to reports that you are working to develop a “red team/blue team” process that challenges climate science….

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Delivering On Science’s Social Contract – Guest Post

By Jane Lubchenco, Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR This article has been republished with permission from the Michigan Journal of Sustainability.  5(1) 2017 DOI: 10.3998/mjs.12333712.0005.106   As an environmental scientist, I think about the questions that you have been discussing today in light of my own experiences in the world of science, engagement, management, policy and public understanding….

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Policy News: July 25, 2017

In This Issue: Member Input Requested: Special Policy Forum at Portland Annual Meeting We want to hear from you. Send us questions today or by the end of this week that you would like the panelists to answer. Action Alert: Comment on Marine National Monuments and National Marine Sanctuaries by July 26 Climate Science: Pruitt and Perry Endorse “Red Team–Blue…

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ESA to Hold New Special Policy Forum at Annual Meeting

View the Special Policy Forum Program announcement and speakers on the ESA Annual Meeting website. In the wake of the change in administration in January, the political landscape has become more challenging to navigate for scientists seeking to conduct research and inform policy. The new administration in Washington has proposed significant cuts to federal spending on scientific research and development…

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In Meetings on the Hill, GSPA Recipient Works to Put a Face on Science Funding

A guest post by Tyler Coverdale (Princeton University), 2017 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipient. This year’s six award winners traveled to Washington, D.C. at the end of April for policy experience and training. As a 2017 ESA Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA) recipient, I traveled to Washington, D.C. in late April with five other students from around the…

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From theory to practice: lessons in ecosystem services from Indonesian mangroves to Oregon estuaries

2017 Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America: Linking biodiversity, material cycling and ecosystem services in a changing world 6–11 August 2017 Ecological researchers care deeply about the health of the systems they study, but do not always know how to put into practice the knowledge they acquire through experimentation. Scientists who have worked at the interface of discovery…

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Daniel Winkler awarded Forrest Shreve Student Research Funds to study a desert invader

Getting to the roots of Sahara mustard invasion in the American Southwest- Awards from the Forrest Shreve Student Research Fund provide $1,000-2,000 to support ecological research by graduate or undergraduate student members of ESA in the hot deserts of North America (Sonora, Mohave, Chihuahua, and Vizcaino). In 2015, a rural community in southeastern California approached Daniel Winkler and his doctoral…

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