UMaine graduate students help tourism-dependent communities prepare for climate change

Four University of Maine graduate students will help communities that rely on natural resources for recreation and tourism prepare for the ramifications of climate change. 

The team will provide stakeholder municipalities data to help them adapt to the changing climate and assist them with developing climate adaptation frameworks using ‘scenario planning’— a method of forecasting potential future conditions that can inform decision-making. The effort will also involve students hosting workshops that will help participants learn what climate challenges and opportunities they may face, what resources they have and what potential solutions could be.

Graduate students participating in the project include Lydia Horne, a Ph.D. student of ecology and environmental sciences; Gabriela Wolf-Gonzalez, a master’s student of ecology and environmental sciences; Valeria Briones and Asha DiMatteo-LePape, both master’s students of forest resources. Sandra De Urioste-Stone, an associate professor of nature-based tourism and faculty fellow with the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, advises the group in collaboration with other UMaine faculty. 

Read more about the initiative on the Mitchell Center website

Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu