2014 Symposium program

Program not finalized

PRINTABLE PDF PROGRAM (updated 3/20)

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TUESDAY, APRIL 1

5:30 - 7:30 p.m., Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St.

Registration, food and drinks, view drought-related artwork in the exhibit "Dry Times" by Omaha ceramic artist Jess Benjamin

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2

7 - 8 a.m., Nebraska Union (City Campus)

Registration in hallway by Auditorium, continental breakfast inside Centennial Room

8 - 8:30 a.m., Auditorium

Welcome and introduction, Richard Edwards, Director, Center for Great Plains Studies and Don Wilhite, Symposium Co-Chair, School of Natural Resources, UNL

8:30 - 10 a.m., Auditorium

PLENARY SESSION 1: Drought Past and Future
Moderator: Don Wilhite

  • Sherilyn Fritz, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, UNL, "Great Plains Droughts and Megadroughts in Prehistory"
  • Marty Hoerling, NOAA/Earth Science Research Laboratory, "Preludes to Drought...What Recent Drought Behavior Foretells of the Future"

10 - 10:30 a.m., Centennial Ballroom

Break, exhibits, drought infographic display, and posters

Accepted posters:
Crystal Bergman, "Improving Drought Management for Transboundary River Basins in the United States"
Shuwei Dai, "Growing season climate change in the Midwest U.S. from 1981 to 2012"
Denise Gutzmer, "Far-reaching impacts of teh 2012 Midwestern corn production shortfall"
Tonya Haigh, "Managing Drought Risk on the Ranch: Perspectives on Planning and Impacts", "The Effect of the 2012 Drought on Agricultural Rist Perceptions"
Toni Klemm, "Improving Seasonal Climate Projections for Agricultural Producers"
Susan Knight, "Photographic Documentation of "Watered Down", an Installation About Groundwater"
Joseph Robine, "Developing a Drought Resiliency Index"
Jamie Royer, "The Timber Culture Act and the Great Plains in U.S. Land Policy"
Brock Ternes, "A Study of Domestic Water Conservation Among Kansans"

10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m., Auditorium

PLENARY SESSION 2: Advancing Drought Early Warning, Prediction and Preparedness
Moderator: Martha Shulski

  • Annarita Mariotti, acting director, NOAA Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections program, Claudia Nierenberg, director, NOAA Climate and Societal Interactions Program, "Coordinating research and networks to advance understanding monitoring, prediction of droughts and society's preparedness"
  • Mike Hayes and Mark Svoboda, National Drought Mitigation Center, UNL, "The Role of Monitoring, Early Warning and Information Systems and Planning in Managing Future Droughts"

12 - 1:15 p.m., Nebraska Union Ballroom

Lunch speaker
Moderator: Ronnie Green, Vice President and Vice Chancellor, Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources, UNL
Jason Clay, Senior Vice President, World Wildlife Fund, "Global Food Systems and Conservation in an Age of Weather Variability"

1:30 - 3 p.m., Nebraska Union

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

1.) Drought and Climate Change: Impacts on Human and Ecosystem Health
Regency B/C
Moderator: Charlie Bicak

  • Michelle Podgornik, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, future health implications, "The Public Health Impact of Drought"
  • Andrew Jameton, Professor Emeritus, UNMC, "Extended Health Effects of Drought in the Central High Plains"
  • Rick Schneider, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, "Effects of Climate Change on Wildlife and Ecosystems"

2.) Drought: A Prehistoric Perspective
Ubuntu
Moderator: Sherilyn Fritz

  • Paul Hanson, SNR, UNL, "Records of Prehistoric Droughts from Sand Dunes in the Central Great Plains"
  • Rolfe Mandel, University of Kansas, "The Past 10,000 Years: Evidence for Periods of Aridity from Rivers of the Central Great Plains"
  • Connie Woodhouse, University of Arizona, "Great Plains Drought in a Long-Term Context: The Tree-Ring Perspective"

3.) The Dust Bowl Revisited,  Part 1
Unity
Moderator: John Wunder

  • W. Brett Anderson, Eastern Illinois University, "The Grapes of Wrath and the Oklahoma Dust Bowl"
  • Stephen Behrendt, UNL, "One Man's Dust Bowl: Recounting 1936 with Don Hartwell, Inavale, Neb."
  • Donald Berg, South Dakota State University, "Dusting Off the Dust Bowl: 1930s Northern Plains Historical Geography"

4.) Drought Monitoring, Early Warning and Impacts
Heritage
Moderator: Mark Svoboda

  • Jesslyn Brown, EROS/USGS, "Assessment of Recent Drought Impacts on Great Plains Land Cover"
  • Tegenu Engda, University of Wyoming, "Soil Water Dynamics and Soil Water Based Drought Analysis of Wyoming Rangelands"
  • Doug Kluck, NOAA, "Developing a Drought Early Warning Information System in the Missouri River Basin"

3 - 3:30 p.m., Centennial Room

Break, exhibits, drought infographic display, and posters

3:30 - 5 p.m., Nebraska Union

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

1.) The Dust Bowl Revisited: Part 2
Unity
Moderator: John Wunder

  • Drew Folk, Oklahoma State University, "Burglaries, Bank Robberies and Booze: The Social Impact of Crime Caused by Drought and Economic Depression in Nebraska Sandhills' Communities during the 1930s"
  • Douglas Sheflin, Colorado State University "Working in the Dust: Migrant Labor and the Dust Bowl in Colorado"
  • Steve Potts, Hibbing Community College, "So Far from Paradise: Drought, Depression and Migration in a Prairie Town"

1.) Drought Preparedness in the Yellowstone River Basin: A Citizen-Based Effort
Regency A
Moderator: Crystal Bergman, UNL Natural Resources graduate student

  • Susan Gilbertz, Montana State University-Billings, Damon Hall, St. Louis Univ., Luke Ward, Rocky Mountain College, Matt Anderson, MSU-B, Alyson Rode, MSU-B, "Building Local Capacities to Deal with Drought via Citizen Councils"
  • "Using Q Sort to Illuminate Conflicting Visions"
  • "Beneficial Use as a Modality of Dispossession: The Role of the 'Imaginary Collective' in the Politics of Water Rights in Montana's Yellowstone River Basin"
  • "Unraveling Citizen Council Challenges: The Yellowstone Basin Advisory Council and its Dilemmas"

3.) Drought and Water Management: Native American Perspectives
Regency B/C
Moderator: Dennis Smith

  • Micaela Young, Montana State University, "Negotiating the Non-negotiable: Water Infrastructure and Social Issues in Montana"
  • Richard Thomas, University of Oklahoma, "Using Historical Sources to Reconstruct 19th Century Climate in Indian Territory"
  • Alan Neville and Alyssa Kaye Anderson, Northern State University, "Water Quality Challenges and Initiatives Impacting South Dakota's Nine Reservations"

4.) Water Management, Conservation, and Law
Ubuntu
Moderator: Sandi Zellmer

  • Charles Bicak and Peter Longo, University of Nebraska at Kearney, "Nebraska's Natural Resource Districts: Dealing with Drought on the Great Plains"
  • Stephen Gasteyer, Michigan State University, "Shifting Intermediaries: Tracing the Land Grant Role in Water Management"
  • Ken Baake, Texas Tech University, "Attitudes Toward Water Conservation in West Texas: A Literary Example"

5.) Drought Impacts on Settlement and Population in the Great Plains
Heritage
Moderator: Jacob Friefeld

  • David Wishart, SNR, UNL, "Climatic and Human Dimensions of the 1893-1896 Drought on the Western High Plains"
  • Barbara Mayes Boustead, National Weather Service, "Little Drought on the Prairie"
  • Kevin Gallo, NOAA/NESDIS, and Eric Wood, USGS, "Historical Drought Episodes Recorded by Native Americans"

7 - 9 p.m., Embassy Suites Hotel

Dinner speaker
Moderator: Roberto Lenton, Executive Director, Robert B. Daugherty Water For Food Institute
Michael Forsberg, wildlife photographer, "Pulse of the Plains: A Photographer's Journey Connecting Water, Wildlife and Landscape in the Heart of the Continent"

THURSDAY, APRIL 3

7 - 8 a.m., Centennial Room

Registration in hallway by Auditorium, continental breakfast inside Centennial Room

8 - 9 a.m., Union Auditorium

PLENARY SESSION 3: Adaptation to Drought in the Great Plains
Moderator: Lilyan Fulginiti
Richard Hornbeck, Dept. of Economics, Harvard University
"Economic Adaptation to the Environment: Lessons from the Dust Bowl and the Ogallala Aquifer"

9 - 10:15 a.m., Union Auditorium

PLENARY SESSION 4: The Global Context for Drought in Similar Environments: Case Studies
Moderator: Mike Hayes

  • Northeast Brazil: Erwin De Nys and Nathan Engle, World Bank, "Institutionalizing Proactive Drought Policy andManagement in Brazil"
  • Canada: Harvey Hill, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, "Dealing with the Lumbering Walrus of Canadian Natural Disasters -- Drought: Past, Present, and Future"

10:15 - 10:45 a.m., Centennial Room

Break, exhibits, drought infographic display, and posters

10:45 - noon, Union Auditorium

PLENARY SESSION 5: Agricultural Drought Managment: Coping with Changing Climate Extremes
Moderator: Christopher Neale, Director for Research, Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute

    • Theib Oweis, ICARDA, "Coping with Increasing Water Scarcity: From Efficiency to Productivity"
    • Stephan Baenziger, UNL Agronomy and Horticulture, "The Importance of Genetics During Drought"

Noon - 1:30 p.m., Union Ballroom

Lunch talk
Moderator: Rick Edwards, Director, Center for Great Plains Studies, UNL
Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, "American Desert or Garden in the Grasslands: The Nervousness of Not Knowing"

1:30 - 3 p.m., Nebraska Union

CONCURRENT SESSIONS

1.) Drought and Ecosystem Health
Unity
Moderator: John Carroll

  • David Wedin, UNL School of Natural Resources, Walter Schacht, Agronomy and Horticulture, Jerry Volesky, West Central Research & Extension Center, UNL, "Grassland Resilience, Drought and the Stability of the Nebraska Sandhills"
  • Elaine Wheaton, Saskatchewan Research Council, "Dust Storms of the Canadian Prairies: A Dustier and Muddier Outlook"
  • Larkin Powell, UNL School of Natural Resources, "Born of Crisis: Drought Delivered Conservation Programs to Private Lands"

2.) Drought in Literature: Indigenous and Settler Perspectives
Ubuntu
Moderator: Tom Lynch

  • Tom Gannon, Dept. of English, UNL, moderator, "The Blue Man and the Great American Desert: Climatic Tropes in Great Plains Literature"
  • Fran Kaye, Dept. of English, UNL, "Osage Dustbowl: 'a hell of a thing that a depression would come along durin' such hard times'"
  • Tom Lynch, UNL, "Climate, Literature, and the Limits of the Settler-Colonial Agrarian Imaginary on the Great Plains and Australian Outback"

3.) Mental Health and Farm Crises
Heritage
Moderator: Alan Tomkins

  • Alan Tomkins, University of Nebraska Public Policy Center, Moderator
  • Denise Bulling, University of Nebraska Public Policy Center
  • Marilyn Mecham, Executive Director, Mentors Foundation

4.) Climate, Drought and Risk
Regency B/C
Moderator: Peter Longo

  • Chad McNutt, NOAA Earth Systems Research Lab, "Tribal Engagement on Climate and Weather Extremes in the Upper Great Plains"
  • Heather Lazrus, NCAR, "Water Decisions for Sustainability: Drought and Risk in South-Central Oklahoma"
  • Gabriela Burian, Monsanto, "Towards Sustainable Agriculture Landscapes: Global Commitments and Global Partnerships"

3 - 3:30 p.m., Centennial Room

Break, exhibits, drought infographic display, and posters

3:30 - 5 p.m., Nebraska Union

CONCURRENT SESSIONS:

2.) Drought and Fire: Its Role on Ecosystem Management
Ubuntu
Moderator: Gary Willson

  • Scott Josiah, State Forester and Director, Nebraska State Forest Service, UNL, "The Impacts of Recent Megafires on Nebraska's Coniferous Forest Ecosystems"
  • Dirac Twidwell, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, UNL, "Opportunistic Management with Fire During Drought"
  • Rich Guyette, University of Missouri, "A Great Plains Story of Fire and Climate"

2.) Climate Variability, Climate Change and Management
Regency A
Moderator: Cody Knutson

  • Tucker Hamilton, University of Wyoming, "Climate Change and Variation: Management Implications for Cattle Producers"
  • Nicole Wall, National Drought Mitigation Center and Tarik Abdel-Monem, Nebraska Public Policy Center, "Exploring Perceptions of Bias in Climate Change Survey Measures"
  • Shawn Salley, Alan Knapp, Patrick Martin and Gene Kelly, "Great Plains Soil Moisture: Contemporary Record and Climate Change Forecasts"

3.) How Do Droughts Make Place?
Heritage
Moderator: David Wishart

  • Joshua Ewalt and Julia Moore, UNL Communications, "Dust, Drought, and Dreams Gone Dry: Using Dust Bowl Memories as Resources for Contemporary Message Construction"
  • Kent Fricke, Chris Helzer, Larkin Powell, UNL School of Natural Resources and Nebraska Nature Conservancy, "Effects of Drought on Biodiversity in the Great Plains"
  • Jason Hertz, UNL English, "Rethinking 'Drought' for a Sustainable Prairie Discourse"
  • Aubrey Streit Krug, UNL English, "Just Dust: Native and Settler Poetics of Drought"

4.) Drought, Grasslands, and Community Preparedness
Regency B/C
Moderator: Jerry Volesky

  • Benjamin Rashford, University of Wyoming, "Climate in the Northern Great Plains"
  • Sarah Olimb, World Wildlife Fund, "Identifying Corridors in the Northern Great Plains Using Topological Data Analysis"
  • Milan Wall, Heartland Center for Leadership Development, Lincoln, "Using Community Capitals as a Tool to Prepare Drought Ready Communities"

5.) Drought and Public Health
Unity
Moderator: Andrew Jameton

  • Michelle Podgornik, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Bryan Buss, U.S. Public Health Service Commander, CDC field officer, Nebraska Departmentof Health and Human Services
  • Ellen Yard, Epidemiologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Dinner on your own

FRIDAY, APRIL 4

7 - 8 a.m., Centennial Room

Registration in hallway by Auditorium, continental breakfast inside Centennial Room

8 - 10 a.m., Union Auditorium

PLENARY SESSION 6: Drought Impact Sectors
Moderator: Mike Hayes, National Drought Mitigation Center, UNL

    • Water: Chad McNutt, National Integrated Drought Information System/NOAA, "Drought in the Great Plains: Are We Closer to an Early Warning System?"
    • Energy: Kristen Averyt, Western Water Assessment/NOAA/RISA, Univ. of Colorado, "Drought: Where Energy, Land Use, and Water Collide"
    • Livestock: John Paterson, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, "The Impacts of Recent Droughts on the Beef Industry"

10 - 10:30 a.m. Regency Room

Break

10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m., Auditorium

PLENARY SESSION 7: Research and Policy Challenges for a Sustainable Future for the Great Plains in the Context of a Changing Climate
Moderator: Prem Paul, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development

    • Ronnie Green, Vice President and Vice Chancellor, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, UNL, The Role of Land Grant Universities and the Rural Futures Institute
    • Roberto Lenton, Executive Director, Daugherty Water for Food Institute, University of Nebraska, The Role of Science and Technological Innovation
    • Mark Rosegrant, Director of the Environment and Production Technology Division, International Food Policy Research Institute
    • Chuck Schroeder, Executive Director, Rural Futures Institute

Closing remarks from Richard Edwards, Director, Center for Great Plains Studies, UNL and Don Wilhite, School of Natural Resources, UNL

PARTICIPANTS

W. Brett Anderson, Eastern Illinois University
Alyssa Kaye Anderson, Northern State University
Matt Anderson, Montana State University-Billings
Kristen Averyt, Western Water Assessment/NOAA/RISA, University of Colorado
Ken Baake, Texas Tech University
P. Stephan Baenziger, Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Stephen Behrendt, English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Donald Berg, South Dakota State University
Crystal Bergman, Graduate Student, Natural Resource Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Charlie Bicak, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, University of Nebraska at Kearney
Barbara Mayes Boustead, National Weather Service, NOAA
Jesslyn Brown, Earth Resources Observation and Science/United States Geological Survey
Denise Bulling, Public Policy Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Gabriela Burian, Monsanto
Bryan Buss, U.S. Public Health Service Commander, CDC field officer, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
John Carroll, Director, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jason Clay, Senior Vice President, World Wildlife Fund
Erwin De Nys, World Bank
Tegenu Engda, University of Wyoming
Nathan Engle, World Bank
Joshua Ewalt, Great Plains Graduate Fellow, Communication Studies graduate student, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Richard Edwards, Director, Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Drew Folk, Oklahoma State University
Michael Forsberg, wildlife photographer
Ian Frazier, The New Yorker
Jacob Friefeld, University of Nebraska-Lincoln History graduate student, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Kent Fricke, Great Plains Graduate Fellow, Natural Resource Sciences graduate student, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Sherilyn Fritz, Earth and Atmospheric Science , University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lilyan Fulginiti, Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Kevin Gallo, NOAA/ National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
Tom Gannon, English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Stephen Gasteyer, Michigan State University
Susan Gilbertz, Montana State University-Billings
Ronnie Green, Vice Chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Rich Guyette, University of Missouri
Damon Hall, St. Louis University
Tucker Hamilton, University of Wyoming
Paul Hanson, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Mike Hayes, National Drought Mitigation Center, symposium co-chair, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Chris Helzer, The Nature Conservancy
Jason Hertz, Great Plains Graduate Fellow, English graduate student, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Harvey Hill, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Marty Hoerling, NOAA/Earth Science Research Laboratory
Richard Hornbeck, Economics, Harvard University
Andrew Jameton, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Scott Josiah, State Forester and Director, Nebraska State Forest Service
Fran Kaye, English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Gene Kelly, Colorado State University
Doug Kluck, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Alan Knapp, Colorado State University 
Cody Knutson, National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Aubrey Streit Krug, Great Plains Graduate Fellow, English graduate student, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Heather Lazrus, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Roberto Lenton, Executive Director, Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Peter Longo, Economics, University of Nebraska at Kearney 
Tom Lynch, English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Rolfe Mandel, University of Kansas
Annarita Mariotti, Climate Program Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
Patrick Martin, Colorado State University
Chad McNutt, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth Systems Research Lab
Marilyn Mecham, Executive Director, Mentors Foundation
Julia Moore, Communication Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Alan Neville, Northern State University
Claudia Nierenberg, Climate Assessments and Services,  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Sarah Olimb, World Wildlife Fund
Theib Oweis, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
Prem Paul, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
John Paterson, National Cattlemen's Beef Association
Michelle Podgornik, Health Scientist, Emergency Coordinator, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Steve Potts, Hibbing Community College
Larkin Powell, chool of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Benjamin Rashford, University of Wyoming
Alyson Rode, Montana State University-Billings
Mark Rosegrant, Director of the Environment and Production Technology Division, International Food Policy Research Institute
Shawn Salley, Colorado State University
Walter Schacht, Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Rick Schneider, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Chuck Schroeder, Executive Director, Rural Futures Institute
Douglas Sheflin, Colorado State University
Martha Shulski, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Dennis Smith, History, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Mark Svoboda, National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Richard Thomas, University of Oklahoma
Alan Tomkins, Public Policy Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Dirac Twidwell, Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Jerry Volesky, West Central Research and Extension Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln  
Nicole Wall, National Drought Mitigation Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln  
Milan Wall, Heartland Center for Leadership Development
Luke Ward, Rocky Mountain College
David Wedin, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Ellen Weissinger, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Nebraska-Lincoln  
Elaine Wheaton, Saskatchewan Research Council
Don Wilhite, School of Natural Resources, symposium co-chair, University of Nebraska-Lincoln  
Gary Willson, Editor, Great Plains Research, Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
David Wishart, Geography/School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Eric Wood, United States Geological Survey
Connie Woodhouse, University of Arizona
John Wunder, Emeritus professor, History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
Ellen Yard, Epidemiologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Micaela Young, Montana State University
Sandi Zellmer, Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute, College of Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln