Update Nov 08, 2007
Field Trip - Becky Blanchard
IGERT Fellow Becky Blanchard traveled to the southern Yucatan peninsular region September 11-16 for a rapid assessment of the impacts of Hurricane Dean on rural agricultural and forest communities in Campeche and Quintana Roo. Becky was part of an interdisciplinary group of researchers led by Dr. Eric Keys in the geography department. During their time in the field, the group interviewed community members and local leaders from 7 ejidos about the damages caused by the hurricane to farm and forest resources and anticipated coping strategies. Initial estimates suggest affected communities suffered near-total loss of maize, and forest communities located near the coastal zone in Quintana Roo saw up to 80% of trees damaged by the storm. Becky and other researchers from the group will return to the area to conduct further research on how communities respond to the disaster through changes in livelihood strategies and resource management.
Awards, Poster Presentation
Narcisa Pricope, Anna Cathey, and Becky Blanchard have been awarded a travel grant for the Conference for Sustainability IGERTs which will be held at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks from October 11th through the 13th. They will be presenting a poster created with fellow students in the IGERT Adaptive Management: Water, Watersheds, Wetlands which draws from the students' class experiences in the program. This poster is a synthesis of their knowledge of watersheds in North America and southern Africa, in an attempt to answer questions of large-scale experimentation as part of the adaptive management cycle and sustainable watershed management. Narcisa, who has just returned from her first research field season in Botswana and Namibia, will also be presenting a poster on some aspects of the research she undertook in southern Africa this past summer. The poster is entitled "Socio-ecological resilience and climate change adaptation in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, Botswana and Namibia."
Water Utility Benchmarking Workshop - Julie Padowski
Julie Padowski, IGERT fellow and student in the Soil and Water Science Dept. travelled to San Jose, Costa Rica to attend a workshop on benchmarking water utilities in Central America sponsored by UF's Public Utilty Research Center and the Inter-American Development Bank. The workshop was held October 15-16, 2007 and brought together water regulators, policymakers, and utility managers from 10 different countries to review a recent benchmarking study comparing water utility performance within the region. The workshop served as a forum where participants could discuss the obstacles water utilities face and the strategies each country has taken to improve performance.
Workshop, Presentations - Deb Wojcik
Deb Wojcik led a workshop on the Guidelines for Excellence in Environmental Education and Presentation Skills for the U.S. Forest Service October 25-27. The training was facilitated by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) and took place at Kings Gap State Park outside of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Deb will be making two presentations and coordinating a scholarship charity auction for the NAAEE Annual Conference taking place November 13-17 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Adaptive Management: Wise Use of Water, Wetlands & Watersheds
is an NSF-funded IGERT program at the University of Florida
