National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Integrating blue carbon into state climate planning and coastal management: overview, opportunities and needs

About the Talk As awareness grows of the important contributions of "blue carbon" habitats–such as salt marsh, tidal forested wetlands, and seagrass beds–in sequestering carbon and reducing climate change impacts, states are beginning to incorporate these coastal ecosystems into their strategies for reducing emissions and enhancing carbon storage through improved management of natural and working lands. This webinar will highlight efforts on the part of the Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) to help states integrate conservation and restoration of coastal habitats into natural and working lands climate planning, including development of blue carbon inventories and management strategies. The webinar will then feature Laura Brophy from the Institute for Applied Ecology, who will focus on data gaps and needs for coastal wetland management and blue carbon planning that could be supported by NASA and satellite data.

About the Speaker Sylvia Troost is a senior manager with Pew's conserving marine life in the United States project. Her portfolio includes advancing coastal blue carbon management strategies in state climate mitigation and adaptation efforts and helping states leverage the federal Coastal Zone Management Act in support of conservation and resilience goals. She previously supported Pew's oceans conservation work through strategic planning, operations and budgets, and campaign management within the federal fisheries project. Before joining Pew, Troost helped design and implement California's Marine Life Protection Act Initiative and managed a grantfunding portfolio related to coastal and marine conservation in California. Earlier in her career, she focused on international community development with an emphasis on coral reef conservation and sustainable livelihoods in the Pacific Islands of Fiji, Vanuatu, and Kiribati. Troost earned a bachelor's degree in public policy from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a master's degree in international affairs from George Washington University. Laura Brophy directs the Estuary Technical Group at the Institute for Applied Ecology, a nonprofit in Corvallis, Oregon and is on the faculty of Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. She develops and delivers solid science to support estuary restoration and conservation by coastal communities. Over the past 20 years, Laura has led field studies in nearly all of Oregon's major estuaries, including effectiveness monitoring at the state's largest tidal wetland restoration projects. Building on these projects with collaborative teams across the U.S. Pacific Northwest and West Coast, she and her colleagues have made exciting discoveries about tidal wetland characteristics and functions, leading to better mapping of estuary habitats and improved quantification of tidal wetland functions like carbon sequestration and fish habitat. Laura currently collaborates with many state, Tribal, regional and national entities to apply these new methods and insights, helping to improve estuarine resource management across the U.S.

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