Forested Wetlands of the Upper Estuary
March 5–7, 2024 — College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina
About the Conference
This conference highlighed tidal freshwater forested wetlands as distinct and critical transition ecosystems, particularly in the southeastern U.S. Conference participants discussed environmental change and monitoring, societal values, ecological properties, carbon storage, and management options.
Freshwater and low-salinity forested wetlands occur in tidal reaches of rivers around the world. Though often overlooked, these systems provide important ecological services and human benefits with opportunities for management interventions in a dynamic and changing environment.
Objectives
Participants of this meeting enhanced their knowledge of recent and projected changes to tidally-influenced forested wetlands and built an understanding of the perspectives and information needs from stakeholders and colleagues of diverse disciplines by:
Compiling a state-of-knowledge for TFW systems, ecosystem services, and nature-based provisions within the southeast region.
Benefiting from community perspectives on ecological services and cultural identities tied to this resource.
Sharing insights from cross-system comparisons of management actions for TFWs across the U.S. and other countries.
Learning about decision-management frameworks, including Resist-Accept-Direct, and methods to include stakeholder perspectives to co-produce solutions.
Special Journal Issue
A special issue of Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science was produced in association with this conference.
Photo Credit: Carl Trettin.