New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Acting Commissioner Peter Iwanowicz today announced the release of the draft report of the New York State Sea Level Rise Task Force for public comment.
Including 9 findings and 14 specific recommendations for action and projections of up to 55 inches of sea level rise by the 2080s this report is well worth reviewing. New York Harbor has already experienced an increase in sea level of more than 15 inches in the past 150 years, with harbor tide gauges showing a rise of between 4 and 6 inches since 1960.
Want to learn about the draft recommendations of the task force and to provide comments? Join the meeting on November 22, 2010 at 7 p.m. at the DEC offices at 625 Broadway and via videoconference to DEC’s New Paltz, White Plains, Long Island City (Queens) and East Setauket offices. All locations will be open to the public and accessible as a webinar. Click here for more.
Public comment period ends December 12 and the task force will finalize its report by January 1, 2011.
The Nature Conservancy's Rising Waters Project has been an enlightening process designed to create new connections with diverse stakeholders and get them thinking through Climate Change adaptation. The project helped visualizing Climate Change in the Hudson Valley. Over the course of one year, more than 160 local stakeholders, railroad businesses, emergency responders, government agencies and environmental groups, met at a series of “scenario planning” workshops. These workshops explored the impacts of Climate Change in the Hudson Valley. Groups were given four scenarios to be considered for the Hudson River, each describing different outcomes from 2010 to 2030. Participants began creating strategies for preparing communities to respond to possible impacts of climate change. Check out the results at: http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newyork/science/art23583.html 
