Salt marsh booklet released by Gulf of Maine Council

Today the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment released a 42-page booklet that I wrote under contract with the Science Translation Project in collaboration with 2 Council subcommittees. The booklet is called Salt Marshes in the Gulf of Maine: Human Impacts, Habitat Restoration, and Long-term Change Analysis. You can download a PDF or request a hard copy at www.gulfofmaine.org/saltmarsh. It’s a beautifully designed, full-color, glossy document with lots of photos and illustrations. The booklet is intended as a useful tool for resource managers, lawmakers, non-governmental organizations, educators, and others interested in understanding salt marshes as a key element of the Gulf of Maine ecosystem.

SeaWeb’s national survey on EBM communication

Yesterday I was at a small meeting in New Hampshire for a work group focused on developing communications infrastructure for ecosystem-based management (EBM) in the Gulf of Maine (click here for info about the work group). At the meeting, Kathleen Reaugh of SeaWeb presented preliminary findings from a national survey conducted over the last year-and-a-half. Results of the survey will probably be released by the end of March. Kathleen is SeaWeb’s Ecosystem-Based Management Communications Project Manager.

The purpose of the survey was to learn how to talk about EBM effectively with the public, “translate” science, and avoid communications pitfalls. They conducted a nationwide randomized poll and held focus groups in California, Florida, South Carolina, and Maine.

As next steps, SeaWeb plans to create research briefs, tools, training, and a website with resources that NGOs can use to communicate effectively about EBM. They also plan to organize a 2nd Annual EBM Communications Meeting in Washington, DC, probably in October 2008. For more information, check www.seaweb.org or contact Kathleen Reaugh at kreaugh@seaweb.org.