Climate change is a massive problem, with far-reaching effects that touch every aspect of society. It’s also already here. The impacts long forecast by scientists—heat waves, droughts, encroaching sea levels, thawing Arctic ground, frequent storms, and wildfires—are being felt now by communities from Alaska to the Amazon. But these communities, throughout the hardships being thrown their way, are learning to adapt. While national and international climate efforts take small steps, towns and cities are striding forward, building resilience through community engagement, urban planning, and advocacy.

What resilience looks like is different in every community. It is defined by each place’s unique challenges and ways of life. It requires creativity, trial and error, and unwavering persistence. These five community leaders share lessons learned from lives spent anticipating oncoming obstacles, finding and inventing solutions to each new challenge, and cultivating resilience in the face of climate change.

Resilience is… Proactive planning and learning from others.

Dale Morris

Former Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Charleston, SC and Climate Adaptation Consultant.

Charleston is a coastal city that floods on average 70 days in the year. When Woodwell Climate reached out to offer a free climate risk analysis as part of the Just Access project, Charleston was in the midst of their own comprehensive water plan. Morris recognized the need for expanded risk modeling for the wider County of Charleston, which encompasses three of the four largest cities in South Carolina, and whose upstream flooding risks were less understood but already impacting downstream communities. He facilitated the project, which modeled flood risks out to 2080.

“In the City of Charleston we weren’t at all surprised, but when we shared the results with the other cities, everyone was like ‘whoa, this is worse than we thought.’ Floodplain inundation from rainfall was a big part of it. And when you factor in sea level rise at the outfall of creeks and rivers, there’s less drainage capacity. Where does the water go?”

For Morris, understanding risk is a crucial first step towards building a resilient community. The next is putting that knowledge to use. In Charleston, city and county officials have used the Woodwell report to apply for grant funding to further improve stormwater management.

Though the risks can sometimes seem daunting, Morris says learnings from other communities, even those many thousands of miles away, can offer inspiration and guidance. Earlier in his career, Morris managed outreach for the Dutch government in the United States, helping apply learnings from the Netherlands to community flood programs.

“The Dutch, by necessity, have to know how to live well with water, with the use of different approaches—hard engineering, soft engineering, good spatial planning.” 

Morris was at the Dutch Embassy when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. Seeing the devastation there affirmed his belief that planning and governance also play a huge role in how well a community can recover from a disaster.

“I saw very clearly this was a failure of government and governance at all levels. The economic disruption, the family disruption, the devastation across wide swaths of New Orleans and along the Mississippi coast, it made me mad, and it motivated me to do more.”

“More” means more planning, more foresight, tackling future risks before they happen, and pursuing projects that produce multiple benefits.

“These are generational kinds of recoveries. We should think about proactive investments, not reactive responses.”

A resilient Charleston looks like: Clear future flood risk assessment, adaptive management plans for residents in flood zones, smart new development that can receive moving residents, city infrastructure planning that adapts to changing future conditions

Resilience is….Changing mindsets and changing economies.

Ben Robinson

Martha’s Vineyard Commission member and founder of the MVC Climate Action Task Force.

The island of Martha’s Vineyard can be a place of strong contradictions. Transient vacation-goers share the beaches with life-long residents. Multimillion dollar homes are being constructed while local workers struggle to find affordable housing. Rural fields border suburban neighborhoods which, in turn, border both forests and salt marshes. 

These complex dynamics are what Robinson grapples with as he leads the island’s climate adaptation planning efforts. As a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, he aided the creation of a climate action plan to identify areas of work across sectors, from food security to transportation. Woodwell Climate worked with the Commission to produce an assessment of the Vineyard’s drought, precipitation, and wildfire risks, as well as a study of existing carbon stores on the Island.

According to Robinson, the Vineyard faces not only increasing climate risks but also challenges in creating the needed social changes for adaptation.

“The social change piece is the one that’s really been the most frustrating, because it entails sacrifice. It entails recognizing the privileges that we’ve had and we still have and taking on a global responsibility.”

One of the trickiest areas to tackle has been the island’s main economic driver: tourism. Summer months are extremely popular with wealthy tourists, and much of the island’s infrastructure is built to serve this influx of temporary residents.

“The Vineyard is really catering more and more every year to a wealthier and wealthier constituency. And they demand more services, more things, a different feel. And that level of over-consumption is one of the primary drivers of climate change.” 

It has also made life harder for ordinary residents, driving up property values to an untenable degree, forcing much of the labor force to live off-island and commute. 

“Those are really poor trends for a community that wants to be resilient.”

Additionally, reliance on imports undermines food security for residents. Currently, close to 95% of food has to be imported from the mainland.

“Right now there’s no way we would survive without the supply chain to the island, which has just become more and more intertwined with our everyday lives.”

The Vineyard is working to improve its food security by producing more on-island through agriculture and foraging. And despite the challenges in other areas, Robinson reminds himself that the best thing he can do is just keep chipping away at the problem.

“It’s easy to be frustrated in this kind of work, but this is a multi-generational change. I’m only going to see one period of it, and then somebody else is going to pick it up. This is just going to be a slow process of evolving our community. If we can do it right, we’ll be better off in the future.”

A resilient Martha’s Vineyard looks like: A robust, electrified public transit system, a diversified  economy with a non-extractive tourism industry, locally produced food, offshore wind 

Resilience is…A holistic approach to conservation.

Alexis Bonogofsky

Director of the Sustainable Ranching Initiative for World Wildlife Fund and Yellowstone County Planning Board member.

Being a rancher on the Northern Great Plains can be challenging. Profit margins can be low. Markets can be uncertain. And then there’s the increasing droughts and unpredictability of precipitation caused by climate change. As a resident of Billings, Montana who runs her own family sheep and goat ranch, Bonogofsky is acutely aware of these challenges.

“The larger Northern Great Plains is definitely experiencing impacts from climate change already. Our winters are getting warmer, so we have less snow pack, and we have less water going into the growing season and into the summer.”

Bonogofsky works on programs at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that provide funding support and guidance for ranchers pursuing regenerative grazing practices which can make ranches more resilient to climate change. Woodwell Climate partners with WWF to analyze ecological data that can help inform those practices and model future outcomes based on changes in land management. When properly managed, grazing animals can actually help mitigate climate change as well, promoting the growth of native plant species that lock away carbon in their deep roots.

“When you think about iconic Western wildlife, grassland ecosystems are where they thrive and where their best habitat is. Ranchers are managing a lot of grass, and the healthier the grasslands are, the more wildlife we have and the cleaner water we have. Grasslands also sequester a lot of carbon, so healthy grasslands that stay intact are necessary to help mitigate the effects of climate change.”

To improve management practices and achieve healthy grasslands, Bonogofsky says, you have to employ solutions that address the entire system holistically— and that includes the people.

“For resilient communities and ecosystems, you can’t separate the people from the land.

For the land and wildlife to be healthy, the people in those communities have to be healthy too.”

That means conservation work isn’t always just protecting plants or animals. It’s also working with community groups to improve housing options in nearby towns or setting up daycare services for ranching families. Strengthening communities, Bonogofsky says, makes people more likely to stay and invest in a place, to do their part in making it better.

“I do this work because it matters. I have a niece and nephew and I want to say to them that I did everything I could to try to make the place better—a place where people can thrive in the future. I’m surrounded by people every day that are making a difference in their communities. And I think if we all do that where we’re from, we actually have an impact.”

Resilient rangeland communities look like: Diverse and intact native grasslands, ranches that are profitable while storing carbon and maintaining ecosystem services, rural communities with services like daycare, housing, and healthcare

Resilience is… Getting creative with your resources.

Sean Hogan

Environmental Sustainability Manager for Barnstable, MA

Hogan’s job is to care about everything climate change, energy, and emissions-related in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. He works with the municipal government to identify and pursue funding for projects that could help the town adapt. Barnstable, the largest town on Cape Cod, is one of several Massachusetts communities for which Woodwell Climate conducted a risk assessment, modeling flood risk and stormwater system vulnerability. 

Because of his position, Hogan has a clear view into the challenges faced by municipalities in regards to climate resilience. Funding is often short, offices understaffed, and public opinion hard to sway. Hogan has found the best way through is to chase opportunities that combine immediate positive impacts with long-term climate benefits.

“So far, I’ve found in municipal work you have to work opportunistically as to where grants might be available or where there’s institutional interest. We have a finite amount of resources, and if we can husband those resources appropriately, we can spend them in ways that serve the public good.”

Hogan uses the example of electric vehicles, which reduce emissions from transportation, contributing to long-term climate mitigation as well as reducing air pollution for residents in the near term.

“[Climate change is] a problem that’s uniquely designed to foil humans, because we have a hard time grasping those kinds of slow-moving crises. So you either have to change people’s minds, or you find projects that fit into a more favorable psychology.”

Funding opportunities for adaptation projects of all kinds have also become more uncertain with a federal administration slashing climate programs.

“We’re having to come to terms with the change in administration and the financing landscape. We’re gonna have to navigate this period by being a little bit cautious and we’re going to have to become more creative and keep a closer eye on the bottom line so we can create the savings necessary to fund more.”

Resilience will also involve building positive relationships, which for Hogan have been crucial to moving work forward.

“Relationships are important for everything— for building political support, access to resources, expertise, and different perspectives.”

A resilient Barnstable looks like:  Electrified systems that don’t depend on fossil fuels, loan programs to help homeowners install solar and resources for renters looking to lower energy bills, public projects that offer both immediate and long-term benefits, dedicated staff time to pursue climate and sustainability solutions. 

Resilience is… An uphill battle with a wildfire behind you.

Brooke Woods

Climate Adaptation Specialist for Permafrost Pathways and Tribal Citizen of Rampart, AK.

Woods’ hometown of Rampart, Alaska is a small fishing village on the Yukon River. Here, Alaska Native residents practice a subsistence lifestyle of hunting, fishing, and living off the land. Rampart, like many communities in interior Alaska—and across the Arctic—is feeling the impacts of the warming climate now.

The Arctic is one of the fastest warming places on the planet, and as it heats up, permafrost, or perennially frozen ground, upon which many villages are built, is thawing. This can lead to erosion, ground collapse, and infrastructural damage. Woods’s role on Woodwell Climate’s Permafrost Pathways project is to use her policy expertise to help Tribal partners navigate the tricky landscape of federal and state agencies and funding, as well as uplift tribal sovereignty.

On the Yukon River, one of the biggest concerns is the complete collapse of multiple salmon species. Salmon are suffering heat stress from increased water temperatures, changes in the marine environment, overharvest from bycatch in federal and state fisheries, and competition from hatchery-produced fish. 

“We have not been able to fish for five years with an expectation that we will not fish for seven more, and that is a climate and cultural crisis.”

Losing access to these fish cuts off Tribes from a traditional cultural practice as well as a critical food source. Both state and federal agencies are involved in managing fisheries in Alaska, and while there are options for consultation, there is no deference to Tribes in decision making.

Additionally, the threat of permafrost thaw places Tribes in an emotionally challenging position. Community members must decide whether to relocate their villages or stay and shore up crumbling infrastructure, with little guidance or support from government agencies. 

“There is no adaptation framework for the crisis tribes are in when it comes to relocation. One big hope of this project and working with our Tribal liaisons is developing that [framework] in any stage. That would be a big success.”

The fight for deference, respect, and resources has not been an easy one. Woods compares it to escaping a wildfire to face an uphill climb. But her people’s history of resilience—of maintaining their connection to the land over 10,000 years in Alaska—gives her strength. 

“You get out of the wildfire and you make your way up, and it’s a constant fight. Our ways of life are so connected to our ability to hunt, fish, and gather that Tribes are willing to continue this good fight. When it comes to advocating for our ways of life, our people are so humble and working tirelessly.”

A resilient Yukon River community looks like: Healthy salmon populations, stable permafrost, legal deference to Tribes in decisionmaking around natural resources, federal and state support for relocation, continued traditional ways of life

Each year at the Mountainfilm documentary film festival a mural is erected on a coffee shop in downtown Telluride, Colorado— a mountain mining town turned world-class winter sports destination. The festival showcases films with thought-provoking themes including environmental justice, Indigenous sovereignty, racial equity, and our collective responsibility to care for the natural world. These murals carry those themes year-round, becoming an integral part of Telluride’s main avenue and vibrant art culture. Past murals have been commissioned from artists including Shepard Fairey and Banksy.

This year, Woodwell’s lead cartographer Greg Fiske was selected to display his maps as art for the mural wall. The resulting piece, “Cartographies of Arctic Change”, will remain in place until next spring, and shows the rapidly changing Arctic landscape as seen by Fiske during the process of turning satellite imagery into data used by the Center’s climate scientists. Here, Fiske talks about his process and thinking behind the creation of this mural:

SR: How did this opportunity come about?

GF: It kind of came out of nowhere. I certainly wasn’t expecting it when they said, “we think your stuff would look great on this wall. What do you think?” And I said sure! 

Of course, I’ve never created a map this size (26.5 by 36 feet), so I was eager to experiment. We had to go back and forth about which of the maps would best suit the space, yet also tell a story that leads viewers to our science here at Woodwell.

SR: How did you decide on the final image?

GF: I was told that whatever you put on the wall tends to influence the feeling that you get while you’re sitting there, having your coffee. [The shop owners] said that they made a mistake one year putting up an image of something cold like an iceberg, and it kind of made the whole place feel cold and dreary. So when we selected the maps, we had to make sure that they didn’t make people feel awkward while sitting there enjoying the outdoor space. 

We came up with the idea of multiple maps in strips instead of one big map to be able to have each map show something different, but could all have a single theme and tell a story.

SR: What is that story?

GF: “Cartographies of Arctic Change”— it’s what we look at on a regular basis within our geospatial analyses, modeling, and science here at Woodwell that indicates rapid change in the Arctic. 

Each one of these slices in the mural, in addition to being beautiful art, are also actually the data that goes into the models that drive Woodwell’s Arctic science. 

The Arctic is one of the fastest changing landscapes on the planet— melting ice, thawing ground, lakes forming or draining, less snow and more fires— and you get a unique view of those changes when you spend so much time looking at geospatial data and satellite imagery.

I’m one of the people who pull in this raw data and prepare it for others who may be creating models or mapping some element of a landscape. I look at this data and make sure it’s the right format, quality, and resolution to satisfy the needs of models, but in doing so, there are many cases where I’m like, “Wow, this is really beautiful. Other folks should see the data at this stage, instead of just the final product.” So some of those images are what ended up in the mural. I hope it can give the many viewers who will see it a new perspective on the impacts climate change is having on one of the most beautiful regions of the world.

SR: What does it mean to you to have been selected to showcase that beauty through this mural?

GF: Of course it’s an honor. It’s interesting to think about something that I’ve seen so many times at screen size or social media size now being amplified to building size.  I’m super thankful to the folks at Mountainfilm and Telco for displaying our work. I’ve never seen any of my maps in mural format and I won’t actually know how it’ll look until I get to Telluride and see it in person. I’m super excited!

With stronger storms, higher seas, and hotter days, climate change is disrupting the assumptions on which most of our modern systems were established. The insurance industry is feeling the acute impacts of increasingly extreme weather and disaster events, and regulatory policy has failed to keep up—putting communities and companies at risk of huge financial losses. 

That’s the message Woodwell Climate Research Associate Dominick Dusseau carried to policymakers during a congressional briefing in Washington DC on May 6. Woodwell Climate has conducted an extensive analysis of climate-caused vulnerabilities within the insurance industry. In a recent policy brief, Dusseau and Policy Analyst Jamie Cummings outlined major risks, as well as proposed regulatory solutions.

One of the chief concerns is the use of “catastrophe models.” Insurance companies calculate potential financial losses from natural disasters based on these models, which estimate the likelihood of something like a category 5 hurricane occurring in a particular year based on historical data. What these catastrophe models generally do not take into account are increases in the frequency and intensity of such events due to climate change. Additionally, population expansion in risk-prone areas continues to increase the potential for damage.

“Climate change is making extreme weather events less predictable and that uncertainty makes it harder for models to get it right,” says Dusseau.

This means the cost of existing insurance policies in high-risk areas like coastal or wildfire-prone communities may not reflect the actual risk to life and property. Alternatively, those insurers who do account for climate change might raise premiums out of the range of affordability or be unable to price high-risk areas appropriately due to regulation and decide an area is altogether uninsurable—a trend being felt acutely in California in recent years.

Catastrophe models are also proprietary, meaning the price of similar insurance policies can vary widely depending on which one a company uses, and lack of transparency leaves the public in the dark on what’s accounting for those differences.

“Depending on which model insurers use, the premiums could be significantly different,” says Dusseau. “This is one of the reasons that greater review and regulation of these models is necessary, so that the risks associated with those premiums are calculated accordingly.”

Solutions, Dusseau and Cummings propose, lie in coherent federal regulation. The brief proposes a national public catastrophe model and rules around fair and appropriate pricing, as well as more accessible public information about insurance. The report also proposes we explore alternative methods of insurance, like parametric policies that cover lost income when a certain metric, like temperature, breaches a threshold, like heat that makes working conditions unsafe.

To get this information into the hands of policymakers, Dusseau participated in a panel briefing for congressional staff hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI). The briefing identified areas where Congress should play a role in bolstering the long-term resilience and insurability of communities. Dusseau highlighted areas of Woodwell’s report, speaking on the shortcomings of catastrophe models, as well as areas for improvement within the National Flood Insurance Program. 

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island provided opening remarks at the briefing. Whitehouse is the Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and former chair of the Senate Budget Committee. Through both his current and former leadership positions, he has been a steadfast champion of climate mitigation and adaptation, underscoring the economic ramifications of climate change.

“The insurance industry makes trillion dollar bets anticipating what’s going to happen in the real world, and it also has a fiduciary duty…to get it right,” said Whitehouse.

The 100-year flood event currently impacts more than 840,000 structures and causes greater than $1.47 billion (2025 USD) in building damages across Ethiopia, according to a country-wide climate change risk assessment from the Woodwell Climate Research Center. The report, titled “Climate Risk Assessment: Ethiopia,” was released May 14 and offers granular projections on risk factors that will impact Ethiopia’s communities over the coming decades. 

“Ethiopia faces big climate risks like droughts, extreme rainfall, unreliable stream flows, and floods, but they’re not impossible to overcome. By using robust data, focusing on communities, and taking a joined-up approach (like Woodwell Climate Research Center suggests), Ethiopia can become more resilient and create a sustainable future for everyone. The time for action is now,” said Professor Engdawork Assefa with the Center for Environment and Development at Addis Ababa University. 

“The climate risk assessment enhances Ethiopia’s capacity to take targeted action, boosting its national climate goals under NDC 3 and supporting its case for equity in Loss and Damage frameworks. By offering a scientific foundation, it enables Ethiopia to strategically direct investments, policies, and partnerships toward a resilient future,” said Abas Mohammed with the Ethiopian Ministry of Planning and Development.  

The assessment, completed in collaboration with the Addis Ababa University and Ministry of Planning and Development, reveals that climate change will reshape weather patterns across Ethiopia, posing challenges to water availability for agriculture and flooding in the built environment. Key findings include:

“Climate shocks threaten food security, yet targeted investments in closing the yield gap—through improved seeds, irrigation, livestock practices, market access, and insurance—can help mitigate crisis impacts.,” said Dr. Abay Yimere, CEO of African Climate Center for Adaptation and Mitigation and Woodwell collaborator.

The report underscores that while Ethiopia has established a strong policy landscape for climate action through several strategic initiatives, including the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and the Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (CRGE), localized data insights are crucial for evidence-informed approaches to resilience. 

“Ethiopia has done excellent work on climate research and resilience, and it is an honor to be able to support those efforts with our science,” said Woodwell President Dr. Max Holmes. “We hope that this risk assessment will help our Ethiopian government partners prepare for additional climate change impacts and invest in adaptation.” 

Upcoming Workshop to Share Climate Analysis Skills

In conjunction with the report launch, Woodwell will host a capacity-sharing workshop after the report delivery in Addis Ababa. The workshop will provide participants with technical skills in climate data analysis fundamentals, including QGIS exercises and Google Earth Engine techniques.  

“Knowledge sharing and growing capacity is a crucial part of building climate resilience,” said Dom Dusseau, Lead Author on the report who will be facilitating portions of the workshop. “I am very excited for the bi-directional skill transfer that will be taking place.” 

The full-day workshop will include hands-on exercises, discussions on climate analysis methodologies, and resources for continued learning.

My first attempt at using Woodwell’s new Total Organic Carbon (TOC) analyzer began with a week of performing potassium chloride (KCl) nutrient extractions on 120 soil samples , and abruptly ended when the analyzer immediately failed to accurately measure total nitrogen correctly. While this disruption was frustrating, experiencing setbacks is a common part of lab work. 

Woodwell Climate Research Center has four labs used by researchers to prepare and analyze soil, plant, gas, and water samples. In the preparation labs, scientists spend hours filtering, treating, extracting, and grinding samples, usually hundreds at a time. My job involves doing biogeochemical analyses on soils and water to understand how nutrients and greenhouse gasses are affected by different land management practices. The projects that I have worked on include studying the role of cover crops on soil health, exploring the impacts of tropical agriculture on reservoir dynamics, and the impacts burning of arctic tundra on nutrient availability. As a result, I have become extremely familiar with the breadth of complex assays that Woodwell Climate’s labs offer. 

Performing these tasks can feel tedious, and facing boxes upon boxes of samples can be daunting. But when I put on some R&B and dig in deep, I’m able to transform the work into more of a meditation. Suddenly the rhythm of the music aligns with my pipetting, or how I change out samples while weighing, or my pace when cleaning and preparing materials for the next batch of samples. Recently, I spent an entire week grinding 500 soils for Woodwell Climate Carbon Program Director, Dr. Jon Sanderman’s Rangeland project. In the beginning, it was a little awkward finding the best approach to the grinding/cleaning dichotomy, which involves filling capsules with dirt, loading them onto a shaking instrument for grinding, storing the ground samples, then spending a decent amount of time cleaning up for the next set. With time, though, I caught a groove and the work became almost muscle memory. 

Once the preparation steps are complete, the samples are ready for analysis on our sophisticated instruments, which measure greenhouse gasses, nutrients, carbon and nitrogen levels, and other soil and water qualities. Analysis might seem like the more complex aspect of our work, but between automation and well-developed methods, data collection can be as simple as loading samples into the apparatus and pressing start. 

However, sometimes the instruments misbehave, and that’s where my biggest challenges begin. Troubleshooting is a very open ended process, so knowing where to start requires experience and in-depth understanding of the instrument. The answer to a problem can come from the manual, other lab users, or tech support, and often encountering an unfamiliar error can be the best way to learn the intricacies of equipment, and ultimately new skills. Since joining this lab, I have learned a good deal about electronics by having to check the performance of, and occasionally replace, components such as fusion boards, distribution boxes, and fuses. Similarly, software engineering has become less elusive to me. Familiarity with these and similar aspects of our instruments allows lab members the ability to restore harmony when they begin to misbehave. 

Despite the challenges, lab work is really fulfilling. Watching the seemingly endless queue of samples dwindle down to nothing is gratifying, and the data produced can provide long-anticipated answers to some of our biggest research questions. Trial and error is a tried and true way to learn, so needless to say, a lot of learning occurs in the lab. Lab results are rewarding by nature, because they drive the important work done at Woodwell Climate, but after an uphill battle, they become much more gratifying. Struggling with an instrument only increases my appreciation for smooth sailing and working through so many samples reminds me of the thorough research that all our scientists are doing every day. My work may seem aggravating at points, but it is very much worthwhile for the greater mission of mitigating climate change.

Lab Operations and Field Safety Manager, Steve Gaurin oversees the operations of Woodwell Climate’s four lab spaces, running them efficiently and effectively so researchers can generate the data they need for their studies. His day to day job involves regular maintenance on the complex machinery, troubleshooting glitches, maintaining safety procedures, and ensuring the Center’s scientists have the required materials to analyze samples and collect data. Here, Gaurin discusses what it actually takes to keep the lab running in top form.

SR: So, Steve, tell me about the Woodwell Lab.

SG: The lab is an essential piece of any research that takes place at the Center. It’s incredibly important to ensure our data is accurate and generated by reliable instruments; that’s a big part of my job.

We have four lab spaces at the Center— the main lab on the 3rd floor, our basement lab which is mostly used for soil sample prep, the gas chromatograph room, and somewhat disused at present, the shed lab.

SR: What do you wish more people knew about lab operations?

SG: The amount of effort and time and energy it takes to keep all these instruments running. They are incredible pieces of technology, but they’re also quite complicated, and there’s a number of different ways that they can go wrong. And they do. So when I say in a staff meeting, “all the instruments are working well” that’s a real statement, because it’s not always the case.

SR: And when problems with the instruments do pop up?

SG: It takes a lot of problem solving, almost like detective work to get to the bottom of it.

SR: Do you enjoy detective work?

SG: I enjoy it when we figure it out. Then it’s like one of the best feelings of my day. It feels like a triumph. The research assistants are happy, the PIs are happy. I’m happy. Everything’s good. 

SR: But I take it we don’t always figure it out?

SG: Yeah, as I mentioned, these instruments are incredibly complex, and there are a number of ways that they can fail. For example, one of the soil analyzers, it has so many different O rings at all its connection points and if any one of those O rings is a little bit askew, it’s going to fail a leak test. Or the problem could be the flange seal at the top of the combustion tube. Or any number of things. Even though it seems like these things are simple input-output devices, the technology, the electronics, the chemistry, the physics, everything that went into those is nothing short of remarkable.

SR: Sounds like it’s a tall order to keep all these complicated instruments running.

SG: It’s not just me. Any time that I’m trying to solve a problem with anything in the lab, I’m working with the research assistants. And in many cases, it’s those discussions and those interactions with them that really get to the heart of the problem—and to the solution. In our last case with the nutrient analyzer, it was a lot of sleuthing from Andie Norton that really identified the problem. It’s essential to have the input and ideas of the people who really run the instruments most often. 

SR: The lab, I imagine, also requires a lot of material resources to keep running.

SG: Yes. Most of the instruments run in the range of, say, 50 to 80 thousand dollars new. As we purchase new instrumentation, we also purchase service contracts for preventative maintenance visits and access to a technician, which is also incredibly valuable for troubleshooting. The other thing these instruments also need is consumables. You constantly need to be ordering those as supplies get depleted—chemicals, gas cylinders and the like. It’s not cheap but it’s crucial.

SR: What are your goals for the future of the lab?

SG:  I think that the main goals for the lab are to continue to maintain and keep striving for that level of reliability, excellence, and cutting edge research that we’ve been conducting since before I got here.

The Frontiers Planet Prize, the world’s largest science competition to enhance planetary health by fast-tracking innovative research, today announced National Champions from 19 different countries who now advance to the International competition, which will award three winners $1M each to scale up their research.

Read more on the Marine Biological Laboratory website.

I’m a field research scientist. What does this mean? I enjoy being outside, in forests and wetlands, studying the environment up close and personal. One of my favorite places to work and explore over the course of my career has been Howland Research Forest in central Maine. 

Dominated by red spruce, eastern hemlock, and red maple, this mature northern forest feels old. There is a 400 year old yellow birch that was already a mature tree during the American revolution. The ground is soft— spongy with a lot of “holes” where past trees have fallen and roots decomposed. My feet often plunge into these holes, which can sometimes be filled with water.

The Howland Forest Research station was established in 1986 by the University of Maine in partnership with a packaging and paper company, International Paper. My first trip to Howland Forest was in 1998 and at the time the research center was just a collection of trailers housing equipment. I had never seen so much mouse poop in a building. 

Howland was one of the first sites ever dedicated to measuring the net exchange of carbon between a forest and the atmosphere. Its support comes from the Ameriflux Network, a grass roots, science driven network of research stations spread across North and South America that monitors the flow of carbon and water across ecosystems. In these early years, Howland forest also served as a training site for testing out NASA’s remote sensing capabilities. At one time, Howland Research Forest was the most photographed site on earth from space. Soon the well used trailers were replaced with multiple buildings to accommodate the ever expanding research. The mice were evicted. 

Howland forest was selectively harvested over 100 years ago, evidenced by cut stumps, but the forest has remained intact, growing under natural conditions since then. Most trees range between 100-120 years old. In 2007, International Paper was scheduled to harvest these mature trees. Recognising the value of maintaining a continuous long-term record of observations, scientists from Woodwell Climate Research Center, The University of Maine (UMaine Orono), and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) partnered with the Northeast Wilderness Trust (NEWT) to purchase the forest. The Howland Research forest, now owned by NEWT, was protected in a forever wild state. This science and conservation partnership saved an invaluable mature natural forest and research site. As scientists continued to collect data over the next decades, we would learn just how important this partnership was to our understanding of mature forests.

Long-term measurements of carbon exchange between the forest and the atmosphere are being taken from the top of a tower, as part of the Department of Energy (DOE) supported Ameriflux Network, and paired with measurements on the ground. It’s the measurements on the ground where I come in. Myself and collaborators at UMaine Orono, USFS and a host of other scientists and students over the decades have measured carbon exchange from soils, tracked changes in temperature and moisture, and taken tree inventories. 

Mature forests contain large stores of carbon in their tree stems, foliage, roots, and within the soils, accumulated over decades of growth and decomposition. Allowing mature forests to continue to grow, untouched, is beneficial to maintaining carbon stores along with the natural biodiversity and water cycling, often collectively called “ecosystem services”.  

Over the last 25 years, Howland Research Forest has seen the warmest, driest, and wettest years. Observations show an increasing trend in the net uptake of atmospheric carbon (as carbon dioxide) into this mature forest, meaning that Howland forest is continuing to take up and store more carbon each passing year.

If the forest had been harvested in 2007, observations spanning that shorter time frame would have indicated a decreasing trend in net net carbon uptake, meaning that Howland Forest was taking up less carbon each passing year.  

Although Howland Forest continues to take up carbon, the overall number of live trees has been declining (17% decline since 2001 in live trees, particularly red spruce and northern white cedar) and  the number of dead trees has nearly doubled since 2001. Theoretically, fewer live trees would indicate less carbon uptake, but that is not happening. The mature, large diameter trees continue to grow; although there may be fewer in number, they continue to take up significant amounts of carbon.

Tree species can differ in how they respond to environmental changes as well as how carbon is allocated within the tree and across a mature forest ecosystem. Teasing out these complex, multi-scaled, multispecies responses requires long term studies. However,  given the challenges to acquiring and sustaining funding for long-term studies, it’s unusual to have this type of paired dataset like we have at the Howland Research forest. This would not have been possible without the forward-looking vision of scientists and NEWT, and the consistent support from the Ameriflux Network.   

Thanks to its preserved, forever-wild status, a new generation of scientists has the opportunity to continue this work, building on our understanding of the mechanisms driving climate resilience in this mature northern forest.  

The partnership between science and conservation is a victory for both. Results from the Howland Research Forest demonstrate the need to continue supporting long-term studies to fully understand how natural, mature forests respond to a changing climate. Conservation organizations and land trusts are preserving and restoring critical habitats across the U.S. and the globe. This is an opportunity to build alliances between science and conservation, to inform how natural ecosystems function and the impact of restoration efforts on the ecosystem services that we all benefit from, while preserving natural spaces for future generations.