Wisconsin Sea Grant
Researcher Speaks About Chequamegon Bay Climate Change Projects at UMD
February 15, 2106
By Marie Zhuikov
Wisconsin Sea Grant Researcher and Northland College Professor, Randy Lehr,
was in Duluth on Feb. 2, speaking about his
climate change research in the Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior and a new
integrated assessment project he’s starting for the same area.
Lehr spoke at the invitation of the University of Minnesota Duluth’s
Anthropocene Research Center along with Peter Annin, with whom he co-leads the
new
Burke Center for
Freshwater Innovation.
Lehr said that the Ashland, Wis., area is the focus of hard rains for some
reason -- “Harder than most other places studied in the region.” He said the
area can expect warmer, wetter weather in the future. With his Wisconsin Sea
Grant funding, Lehr and his team are studying the impacts of these hard rains
and warming temperatures on the bay and what tools city and natural resource
managers can use to address and adapt to these impacts.
The related two-year integrated assessment he is just beginning, also with
Sea Grant’s help, blends social and natural sciences. With this “Integrated
Assessment and Climate Change Adaptation Planning in the Chequamegon Bay Region
of Lake Superior,” Lehr and his colleagues will survey what the most valuable
resources are in the area to people and will prioritize them in terms of their
natural/social/ecological importance and how likely they are to be impacted by
climate change.
“People love their lakes,” Lehr said. “Even if they move away from
Wisconsin, surveys have found they are still willing to support local lake
associations in their efforts to care for lakes.”
Community leaders and elected officials will be engaged in conversations as
part of the process led by Northland College faculty. Decision tools will be
developed to help communities decide what actions to take. Local cities
(Ashland, Bayfield, Washburn), towns, tribes, the National Park Service and the
Forest Service will be involved.
This type of integration is a first for Wisconsin Sea Grant, and may lead to
similar assessments elsewhere in the state. The project will kick off with a
meeting where all technical and subject-matter experts interact with community
leaders, elected officials and their designated staff members.
The Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation that Lehr co-leads is co-located
on the Northland College campus in Ashland, Wis., and in Cable, Wis., at the
former summer home of the Burke family, Forest Lodge. Its operation is funded
by an endowment by the Burke family and the focus is on aquatic research,
communication and leadership on freshwater issues throughout the Great Lakes.
The center and its 900 acres are being operated in partnership with the
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
For more information, please contact Randy Lehr
at rlehr@northland.edu.
