Lecture to discuss wetlands’ ability to alleviate some pressures of climate change

September 26, 2022 — Dr. Christopher Craft will discuss “Restoring Wetlands in a Rapidly Changing World” as part of the William H. Patrick, Jr. Memorial Lectureship for the Communication and Public Engagement for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland.

The meeting is sponsored by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America.

During the lecture, Craft will illustrate how wetland restoration can be used to alleviate some of the pressures of climate change. These include population increases and intensifying the demand for land, water, and food. He’ll address urbanization and the demands of people living in coastal areas. These trends are expected to continue, putting increasing pressure on water, land, and other natural resources including wetlands. 

According to Craft, large-scale restoration of freshwater wetlands can lessen the negative effects of agriculture on water quality by filtering sediment and nutrients from runoff. In urban environments, wetland restoration can be used to enhance wildlife habitat while, at the same time, providing opportunities for education and comfort from the often-frenetic lifestyle. 

He will close the lecture by discussing the challenges of wetland restoration in a rapidly changing world and how engagement with the broader public can best prepare restored wetlands to be resilient to it.

Christopher Craft is the Janet Duey Professor of Rural Land Policy in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he teaches courses in Wetlands Ecology, Restoration Ecology, Applied Ecology and Environmental Science. Professor Craft has 35+ years of experience working in inland freshwater and coastal wetlands. His research interests include wetland restoration, agricultural and urban wetlands, nutrient enrichment & eutrophication, carbon sequestration, and effects of climate change.  His research projects span the eastern, Midwest and western U.S., Europe, and China. Craft is a founding member (since 2000) of the National Science Foundation-funded Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research program. In 2012, Professor Craft received the National Wetlands Award for Science Research sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute, Washington DC. Professor Craft is author of Creating and Restoring Wetlands: From Theory to Practice, 2nd Edition (2022), and co-editor of Wetland Soils: Hydrology, Landscapes, and Classification (2016) with Michael Vepraskas.

For more information about the Communication and Public Engagement for Healthy People and a Healthy Planet ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, visit https://www.acsmeetings.org/. Media are invited to attend the conference. Pre-registration by October 25, 2022 is required.

To speak with Dr. Craft prior or during the meeting, contact Susan V. Fisk, [email protected] to arrange an interview.