2026 Great Lakes Coastal Symposium

2026 Great Lakes Coastal Symposium

9:00am EDT

Stewardship Event {pre-registration required} Offsite

11:30am EDT

Lunch on your own Offsite

1:00pm EDT

Assembly Welcome Banquet HallLiz Berg • Janice Kerns

1:15pm EDT

Mindful Moment Banquet HallChristine DeLoria

1:20pm EDT

Keynote: Great Lakes as Great Uniters: Envisioning the Great Lakes Horizon Banquet HallDr. Mike Shriberg

2:10pm EDT

Announcements Banquet HallLiz Berg

2:15pm EDT

Break with Exhibitors Banquet Hall

2:30pm EDT

Monitoring for diverse Great Lakes restoration needs with a focus on fisheries objectives HuronWes Bickford • Eric Ellis A Binational Framework for Resilient Great Lakes Coastal Ecosystems ErieNate Kroeze Data to Decisions: Monitoring in Green Bay Meets Coastal Wetland Restoration Design Daisy/MarigoldJessica Brandt • Brianna Kupsky • Sam Schaick • Mandy Sharkey

2:45pm EDT

Measuring Restoration Success at Brandenburg Park HuronEric Ellis • Jill Estrada • Cleyo Harris Developing Great Lakes Resilience Metrics Towards a Common Understanding of Progress ErieSamantha Miller Restoration of the Hillman Marsh Barrier Beach and Wetland Daisy/MarigoldTomas Cuevas • Danker Kolijn • Seth Logan • Greg Mayne • Kevin Money • Ben Yahr • Pete Zuzek

3:00pm EDT

Monitoring connectivity of restored marsh channels: Braddock Bay as a case study on Lake Ontario HuronRachel Schultz Enhancing Coastal Resilience through Multi-Scale Communities of Practice and Sea Grant Partnerships ErieKat Cameron • Sarah Peterson Successful coastal wetland restoration in Lake Erie’s turbid estuaries without water management infrastructure Daisy/MarigoldMatthew Kovach

3:15pm EDT

Manoomin's Good Life: Wild Rice Monitoring and Restoration in Georgian Bay HuronFran Davis • Drew Gronewold • Shane Lishawa • Becky Pearson • Sam Schurkamp Design Development Framework and Theory of Change ErieTom Denbow Contrasting Landscapes, Shared Recovery: Ecological Restoration of Martin’s Run and the Black River Daisy/MarigoldLauren Corrigan • Kate Golden

3:30pm EDT

Monitoring reconnected diked wetlands: assessing site- and landscape-scale impacts HuronKurt Kowalski Sandusky Bay Restoration Framework ErieScudder Mackey Collaborative programming to increase coastal resilience through local capacity building and nature-based solutions Daisy/MarigoldBrendan Cousino • Tyler Hackett • Emily Kuzmick • Brandon Krumwiede • Becky Nicodemus

3:45pm EDT

Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Environmental Monitoring: Insights from the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program HuronKenny Anderson • Lauren Brown • Janice Kerns • Lauren Kinsman-Costello • Mary Ellen Klukow • Raissa Mendonca • Jessica Meyerson • Olivia Schloegel Sandusky Bay Initiative Implementation and Adaptive Management ErieAlexis McCarter Climate and Coastal Resiliency Implementation in Buffalo Niagara Daisy/MarigoldEmily Root

4:00pm EDT

Evaluating Sustain Our Great Lakes (SOGL) Restoration Outcomes for Birds HuronStephanie Beilke • Jenni Fuller • Sarah Saunders The Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study: Assessing Vulnerability Using Future Scenarios ErieMike Padilla • Cara Pattullo • Johnna Potthoff Climate-driven impacts on Great Lakes coastal habitat suitability for at-risk species in Michigan Daisy/MarigoldTyler Bassett • Helen D. Enander • Michael J. Monfils • Logan M. Rowe • Nicole J. Smith

4:15pm EDT

Regional Coastal Wetland Monitoring to Guide Restoration and Adaptive Management HuronMichael Grieve • Dan Moore Scoping a Lake Ontario Adaptation Atlas: Operational Landscape Units and Strategy Suitability for Shoreline Resilience ErieKristen Hychka • Rewa Phansalkar Lake Michigan Bluff Erosion: Geology, Lake Level and Management Impacts Daisy/MarigoldRichard (Ricky) Becker • John Yellich

4:30pm EDT

NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation Efforts to Address Environmental Priorities HuronRyan Darnton • Terry Heatlie • Cassie Lovall • Julie Simmons Modeling with the Community – Advancing Coastal Resilience through Stakeholder Engagement ErieJeanne Beiter Investigating invasive wetland plant biochar production coupled with harvesting to facilitate wetland biodiversity Daisy/MarigoldShane Lishawa • Brian Ohsowski

4:45pm EDT

Monitoring for diverse Great Lakes restoration needs – Panel Discussion HuronWes Bickford • Eric Ellis Panel: Basin-wide resilience implementation efforts ErieSamantha Miller Successful Phragmites Management at Tommy Thompson Park Daisy/MarigoldAndrea Chreston

5:00pm EDT

Happy Hour at the Hotel Banquet Hall

5:30pm EDT

Bus into town for dinner Offsite

7:00am EDT

Bird Walk at Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve {pre-registration required} Offsite

7:30am EDT

Breakfast Banquet Hall

8:30am EDT

Opening Remarks Banquet HallJanice Kerns

8:45am EDT

Keynote: H2Ohio - Partnerships and Measuring Success Banquet HallAlexis McCarter • Dr. Lauren Kinsman-Costello • Carol Kauffman • Mary Mertz • Breann Hohman

9:45am EDT

Break with Exhibitors Banquet Hall

10:00am EDT

Applying the Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Framework in Lake Erie ErieLiz Berg • Brandon Krumwiede • Todd Redder • Bob Holsman Using the Adaptation Workbook and Great Lakes Coastal Adaptation Menu in real-world planning Daisy/MarigoldDanielle Shannon Workshop TBD Huron

12:00pm EDT

Lunch pick-up Banquet Hall

12:30pm EDT

Field Trip to South Bass Island {pre-registration required} Offsite Field Trip: Contrasting Landscapes, Shared Recovery - Ecological Restoration of Martin’s Run and the Black River {pre-registration required} Offsite Field Trip: H2Ohio - Incorporating agricultural drainage into existing or restored wetlands {pre-registration required} Offsite Field Trip: H2Ohio Wetlands - From “Headwaters” to Coast {pre-registration required} Offsite

6:00pm EDT

Poster Session and Reception Banquet Hall POSTER: Allouez Bay Marsh Bird Habitat Restoration Banquet HallTom Prestby POSTER: Analyzing Soil Microbial Diversity in Organically Managed Fields Amended with Dredged Material in Northwest Ohio Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Mira Luna Ebersole • Shikshya Gautam • Jyotshana Gautam • Carlos D Soto • Angélica Vázquez-Ortega • Pei Wang • Zhaohui Xu POSTER: Benthic algal community composition: It’s not all Cladophora Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Madeline Betz • Mary Anne Evans • Kasia Przybyla-Kelly POSTER: Classifying wetlands by hydrologic regime using remote sensing imagery Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Kenneth Anderson • Hana Esber • Lauren Kinsman-Costello • Jackson Miller • He Yin POSTER: Comparing seasonal changes of stem CH4 flux of Acer saccharinum and co-occurring Quercus species in the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Sacha Brewer • Dr. Inke Forbrich • Dr. Roberta Bittencourt Peixoto • Dr. Nick Ward POSTER: GLCRS: Identifying Vulnerabilities in Erie's Blue Economy Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Shelby Clark POSTER: High Resolution Mapping of Invasive Buckthorn Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Rabecca Bakker • Laura Bourgeau-Chavez • Chris Cook • Dorthea VanderBilt POSTER: Identifying potential wetland restoration sites and assessing health for coastal resilience Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Michael Battaglia • Laura Bourgeau-Chavez • Jeremy Graham • Jessica LaReaux • Mary Ellen Miller POSTER: Invasive cattail harvest and biochar application influence on Great Lakes wetland manoomin restoration Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Liz Berg • Daniel Hayden • Shane Lishawa • Brian Ohsowski • Megan Wenner POSTER: Invasive Typha biochar amendment increases manoomin (Zizania palustris; northern wild rice) biomass despite presence of invasive Myriophyllum spicatum (Eurasian watermilfoil) Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Aimee Baier • Coleman J. Benedict • Dani Fegan • Shane C. Lishawa • MacKenzie Michaels • Brian M. Ohsowski • Hadley R. Rule POSTER: Marsh Bird Passive Acoustic Monitoring Detections Affected by Invasive Plant Populations Banquet HallMikaila Cadavona POSTER: Modeling the Second Phase of Restoration at Allouez Bay, WI Banquet HallTom Prestby POSTER: Obtawaing Biosphere Region Coastal Resilience Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Liz Berg • Jill Estrada • Amanda Grimm • Zoe Goodrow Kuntze • Shane Lishawa • Samantha Miller • Samantha Nellis • Doug Pearsall • Adam Schubel • Kate Truitt POSTER: Phosphorus Trends in Little Long Lake Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Alison Bressler • Alex Edwards • Zoe Frankel POSTER: Quantifying wave impact hours for eroding bluff shorelines in Southeastern Lake Huron Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Dr. Chris Houser • Ben Woodward POSTER: Rates of bluff retreat and shoreline change along the north shore of Lake Erie Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Cooper O'Rourke • Jacqueline Voisin-Roewade POSTER: Restoration and Resilience Case Studies under the Initiative for Resilient Great Lakes Coasts Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Brendan Cousino • Tyler Hackett • Brandon Krumwiede • Emily Kuzmick • Becky Nicodemus POSTER: Speculative Ecology: Wetlands, Coastal Resilience, and Real Estate Capital on Buffalo's Outer Harbor Banquet HallBanquet Hall • Phillip Campanile

7:00am EDT

Bird Walk at Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve {pre-registration required} Offsite

8:00am EDT

Breakfast Banquet Hall

9:00am EDT

Mindful Moment Banquet HallChristine DeLoria

9:05am EDT

Opening Remarks Banquet HallCherie Hagen

9:10am EDT

Keynote: Connect the Dots, Catalyze the Culture: Lessons from Cuyahoga County’s Fresh Water Institute Banquet HallEmily Bacha

9:55am EDT

Announcements Banquet HallLiz Berg

10:00am EDT

Break with Exhibitors Banquet Hall

10:15am EDT

Priority Islands for Conservation in the Lake Erie-St. Clair/Detroit River System Region Daisy/MarigoldMatt Preisser • Jessica Collier Interdisciplinary Research to Relate Coastal Wetlands to Great Lakes Water Quality HuronZane Almquist • Karl Bosse • Laura Bourgeau-Chavez What If Partnerships Are Living Systems? ErieChristine DeLoria Concurrent Sessions TBD

10:30am EDT

Conserving Lake Huron Island Habitats of Northeast Michigan Daisy/MarigoldAmber Hubbard Connected wetlands meaningfully contribute to nutrient retention within the Lake Erie watershed HuronEileen Acosta • Kenneth Anderson • Christie Bahlai • Richard Becker • Thomas Bridgeman • Lauren Brown • David Costello • Kennedy Doro • Stephen Jacquemin • Laura Johnson • Janice Kerns • Lauren Kinsman-Costello • Mary Ellen Klukow • Ganming Liu • Kevin McCluney • Raissa Mendonca • Helen Michaels • W. Robert Midden • Siliva Newell • Olivia Schloegel • Christopher Winslow Engaging Communities in Resilience Planning ErieYvonka Hall

10:45am EDT

Monitoring Rare Species and Habitats on Lake Huron Islands Daisy/MarigoldAmber Hubbard Plant influences on nutrient retention in restored wetlands are both species-specific and trait-specific HuronLauren Brown • Trevor DeGroote • Ethan Glassman • Steve Hovick • Janice Kerns • Lauren Kinsman-Costello • Corbin Kohart • Kevin McCluney • Helen Michaels • W. Robert Midden Restoring the Willow Creek Watershed through Partnerships, Funding, and a Holistic Vision ErieDonald Romancak • Mark Rufener

11:00am EDT

The Nature Conservancy of Canada's work to conserve and restore Ontario's Great Lakes Islands Daisy/MarigoldJill Crosthwaite Data Management Strategies and Challenges in the H2Ohio Wetland Monitoring Program HuronConnor Gluck • Lauren Kinsman-Costello • Raissa Marques Mendonca • Ishfaq Rahman • Olivia Schloegel Managing New York’s Great Lakes Coasts through Collaboration and Partnerships ErieRyan Elliott • Kristin Fitzgerald

11:15am EDT

Beyond protection: restoring and stewarding Great Lakes islands Daisy/MarigoldJill Crosthwaite Optimization of Soil Sampling in Wetlands When Monitoring Resources are Limited HuronGenna Hunt • Lauren Kinsman-Costello • Mary Ellen Klukow • Corbin Kohart • W. Robert Midden Treading New Marshes: Advancing the Midwest Marshbird Partnership Under a Translational Ecology Approach ErieNathan Michael • Rachael Pierce

11:30am EDT

Natural Community Surveys of Isle Royale National Park, Lake Superior Park I Daisy/MarigoldJoshua Cohen • Jesse Lincoln Interpreting Wetland Conditions with Multiple Taxonomic Indices HuronValerie Brady • Matthew Cooper • Emily Eberly • Carl Ruetz III • Todd Redder • Donald Uzarski Community Engagement of the Great Lakes Center for Fresh Waters and Human Health ErieSara Guiher

11:45am EDT

Natural Community Surveys of Isle Royale National Park, Lake Superior Part II Daisy/MarigoldJoshua Cohen • Jesse Lincoln Mapping Multi-Decadal Coastal Wetland Responses to Shifting Lake Levels and Invasive Species Pressure HuronMike Battaglia • Dorthea Vander Bilt • Laura Bourgeau-Chavez • Rachel Gumpper Developing an Actionable Roadmap for Nutrient Reduction in Michigan’s Western Lake Erie Basin ErieJennifer Berkowitz • Alison Bressler • Analeigh Majewski • Adam Reimer • Bhavya Yaddanapudi

12:00pm EDT

Lunch Banquet Hall

1:00pm EDT

The Bird-friendliness Index: Assessing wetland restoration impact on Great Lakes marshbirds HuronJennifer Fuller • Nicole Michel • Sarah Saunders Communicating uncertainty in wetland nutrient retention: Lessons from dialogue among researchers and practitioners ErieKenneth Anderson • Stephen J. Jacquemin • Janice Kerns • Lauren Kinsman-Costello • Mary Ellen Klukow • Siena Larrick • Raissa Mendoça • W. Robert Midden • Eileen Acosta Porras • Olivia Schloegel Like a Rolling Stone: Tracking Cobble Transport and Student Discovery on Lake Ontario Daisy/MarigoldDavid Clarke Concurrent Sessions TBD

1:15pm EDT

Improved Great Lakes marsh bird monitoring using Autonomous Recording Units (ARUs) HuronStephanie Beilke • Jennifer F. Fuller • Andrew Gronewold • Sarah P. Saunders • Sam Schurkamp Creating Harmful Algal Bloom resources for lake residents in Michigan ErieErica Anculle • Lauren Labadie • Geneva Langeland • Sarah Scheitler Understanding Community Perceptions of Dredged Material Management Daisy/MarigoldJoseph M Lane • Kelsey Prihoda

1:30pm EDT

Dynamic stability in a Great Lakes coastal wetland: Cecil Bay MI, 1971-2020 HuronDennis A. Albert • Shane C. Lishawa • Brian G. Scholtens An Introduction to GLC's Sediment Management to Support Restoration and Resilience Project Daisy/MarigoldJill Estrada • Samantha Miller • Mary Sabuda Cuyahoga County’s Lakefront Public Access Plan (LPAP) / Construction of the Euclid Beach Connector ErieTrevor Hunt • Jim Sonnhalter

1:45pm EDT

Identifying Ecologically Significant and At-Risk Coastal Wetlands of Lake Ontario HuronSimon Denomme-Brown • Anders Holder • Richard Kavanagh • Greg Mayne • Pavel Zaretsky Keeping Sediment in the System: Lessons from Beneficial Placement Across the Great Lakes Daisy/MarigoldStevie Adams • Olivia Green • Kristen Hychka • Rewa Phansalkar Planning for Resilience: Engaging a Lake Erie Port Community ErieAndi Cooper • Chelsea Murphy • Terri Trisket

2:00pm EDT

What’s happening in there? Using aerial imagery from UAS to monitor coastal wetlands HuronDr Richard Becker • Dr Lauren Brown • David Dean Ohio's Commercial Lake Erie Harbors Dredge Material Management and Beneficial Use Projects Daisy/MarigoldJoe Cappel • Vanessa Steigerwald-Dick SEAS in Pennsylvania: A U.S. Great Lakes Waterfront Trail Collaboration ErieEmily Carra • Xiao Chen • Xingyan Chen • Shelby Clark • John Hartig • Jess Liendhardt • Roberto Carriedo Ostos • Christine Sit

2:15pm EDT

Great Lakes Geospatial Gaggle HuronBrandon Krumwiede Innovative Use of Dredge Material in Sandusky Bay Water Quality Projects Daisy/MarigoldAshlee Decker Surf's Up! How Engaging Recreational Users Improves Coastal Project Outcomes and Benefits ErieSarah Damron

2:30pm EDT

Delineation of Critical Dunes in Michigan HuronTyler Bassett • Zach Chamberlin • Brian Majka Beneficial Reuse of Dredge Material in Wetland Creation at Tommy Thompson Park Daisy/MarigoldAndrea Chreston Waterfront Integrated Restoration Prioritization Implementation Update: Building Effective Partnerships and Collaboration Outcomes Arisen From The Development of a Strategic Restoration Strategy ErieAndrew Ramesbottom • Thomas Sciccionne • John Stille • Ralph Toninger

2:45pm EDT

Monitoring surface water, inundation and ground water elevation across the Great Lakes Basin HuronAndrea Albright • Rabecca Bakker • Michael Billmire • Laura Bourgeau-Chavez • Jeremy Graham [PLACEHOLDER] Daisy/MarigoldJill Estrada Building Coastal Wetland Resilience Through Restoration, Partnerships, and Adaptive Management at Lynde Shores ErieDan Moore