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Ecological Drought: Integrating Ecological Drought Considerations into Restoration Efforts and Natural Resource Management (Part 1)

Event Date
September 17, 2025
Event Time
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Timezone
ET
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This webinar series seeks to raise awareness of ecological drought, share actions that strengthen ecosystem resilience and mitigate the impacts of droughts, and highlight advancements in integrating interdisciplinary research and management needs for future drought planning and preparedness. The series is co-hosted by the NOAA National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) and the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center (NCASC), with expert speakers from the research community, tribal nations, and government agencies. Information shared will build on the NIDIS/NCASC 2021 National Ecological Drought Webinar Series.

NOTE: If you have interest in the results of one of the projects highlighted today, bookmark the hyperlink below in the title for their research profile on drought.gov, which will be updated as publications and other resources from the projects are released. 

Timestamp
0:00

Webinar Introduction

Speakers: Britt Parker, NOAA National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)

  • This webinar is the third in a webinar series that seeks to raise awareness of ecological drought, share actions that strengthen ecosystem resilience and mitigate the impacts of droughts, and highlight advancements in building tribal drought resilience and preserving natural and cultural resources.
  • The series was jointly organized by NIDIS and the National CASC—and our speakers are contributing their expertise to meet these webinar goals.
  • Information shared will build on the NIDIS/NCASC 2021 National Ecological Drought Webinar Series.
  • NIDIS is a multi-agency partnership that coordinates drought monitoring, forecasting, planning, and information at federal, tribal, state, and local levels across the country. There are 8 regional Drought Early Warning Systems (DEWS).
  • The USGS CASCs’ mission is to deliver science to help fish, wildlife, water, land, and people adapt to a changing climate. There are 9 regional CASCs.
  • One way NIDIS meets the needs set forth in our Public Law is to fund competitive, applied research through the Coping with Drought grant program. Recent competitions focused on improving our understanding and management of drought risk in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and supporting tribal nations in building drought resilience. We will highlight the results from three of those grants today.
  • This webinar will explore ecological drought research and collaborative efforts to inform terrestrial and coastal restoration efforts.

 

Timestamp
6:21

Projecting Socio-Ecological Impacts of Drought in Southwestern Ecosystems to Prioritize Restoration Initiatives

Speaker: Sara Souther & Diana Stuart, Northern Arizona University

  • Our project asks: how can we identify which areas are most vulnerable to drought, and how can we integrate cultural priorities to guide restoration to where it matters most?
  • The work is focused on three species of trees in Arizona—the Pinyon Pine, the Emory Oak, and the Douglas Fir,—which are ecologically and culturally important to the Western Apache Tribes and the Navajo Nation.
  • Integrating social and ecological data from the project, we will share maps with community and tribal partners to get feedback, so they can then be used to inform restoration initiatives.
  • Implications and benefits of the project:
    • It supports tribal sovereignty and cultural continuity by identifying and protecting culturally important harvest areas for acorns and pinyon.
    • It provides land managers science-based, map-ready guidance for restoration priorities.
    • This work advances our understanding of ecological drought and resilience mechanisms in the Southwest.
    • Taken together, this work demonstrates how ecological drought research can directly support community resilience goals.
  • Stayed tuned to for multiple publications on various aspects of the project.

 

Timestamp
23:30

Drought Effects on Coastal Restoration Success: Quantifying Impacts and Testing Strategies to Enhance Resilience 

Speaker: Anna Braswell, University of Florida and Florida SeaGrant 

  • Large-scale wetland restoration efforts in the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve corresponded with multi-year drought conditions in California, which created an opportunity to investigate the impact of drought to restoration efforts and explore approaches to mitigate those impacts.
  • The project explored patterns of transplant and recruitment success that led to experimentation with watering, seed treatments and soil amendments, and a deeper dive into soil and hydrological characterization to provide insight into restoration success.
  • Lessons learned:
    • The results of experiments may surprise you—which is exactly why you need them.
    • Irrigation or watering can mitigate drought under certain circumstances.
    • Harnessing wet years is very important.
    • Large experiments can be added as a part of later adaptive management in a restoration project.
  • Stayed tuned for multiple publications on various aspects of the project and a decision support product to support those engaged in coastal restoration efforts. 

 

Timestamp
39:20

An Integrated Framework for Drought Response in Southern California's Natural Landscapes

Speaker:  Megan Jennings, San Diego State University

  • Southern California is an ecologically diverse region threatened by urbanization, water scarcity, and shifting wildfire frequency. This project focused on building regional understanding of the vulnerabilities and effects of ecological drought. The researchers developed regionally specific information on ecological drought and a framework that supports responsive and adaptive natural management to drought-related climate impacts.
  • Researchers engaged with a community of practice and an advisory group (made up of state and federal agencies, tribal governments, nonprofits, and water management agencies) to really understand information needs and how to deliver that information.
  • The project engaged in a scenario-based co-production approach to identify key management issues, select relevant drought and related data, develop management scenarios, and then use those scenarios to get to specific management strategies that will be released as an adaptation menu.
  • Many lessons informed the project, which we continue to incorporate into ecological drought preparedness and response:
    • Information to inform decision-making is out there, but harnessing that information and making it accessible for specific problems or landscapes is important.
    • There is a great deal of knowledge and experience to build on when identifying response and adaptation strategies.
    • When building strategies, there is benefit to considering both mitigating impacts in the short-term while building resilience over the long-term.
    • Drought monitoring will also benefit from partnerships, given the need to better understand drought conditions and impacts across landscapes and boundaries.
    • A key component of the work was building flexibility and adaptive management into our strategies and approaches to address ecological drought.
  • Stayed tuned to for multiple publications on various aspects of the project as well as the adaptation menu that is the result of this collaborative effort. 

 

Timestamp
50:05

Question and Answer Session

Moderator: Crystal Stiles, University of Colorado Boulder/Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and NOAA/NIDIS

 

Key Partners

NOAA emblem

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).

National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)

U.S. Geological Survey logo.

U.S. Geological Survey

U.S. Geological Survey.

National Climate Adaptation Science Center

Northern Arizona University

Northern Arizona University

University of Florida logo

University of Florida

San Diego State University.

San Diego State University

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