July 21, 2009 -- Boston, MA
We've had a couple of busy days here at CZ09. Yesterday started with the Plenary session where NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenko led off with a pretty comprehensive talk about the challenges and opportunities before us as coastal resource managers. Her theme was "Seas the Day" and really provided a hopeful look toward the future based on the Presidential commitment to coastal management outlined on a recent National ocean policy memorandum. The mood amongst coastal managers here seems a lot more optimistic than it has in recent years and I think that is probably due to some positive signs in the administration about the importance of issues we all care about. I would have liked to hear her at least mention the Great Lakes. The Department of Interior speaker and the EPA speakers did though.
I had two main responsibilities on Monday. First was to moderate a 1.5 hour session with 4 presentations focusing on Ecosystem-based Management approaches on the coasts. Mostly my job in this session was to introduce the speakers, keep them on time and help facilitate the question/answer period. The speakers all did a great job with staying on track and made it pretty easy for me. The second session I moderated was one that Heather Stirratt from NOAA and I organized and dealt with Great Lakes climate change issues and strategies. We had three speakers including Heather, Patrick Doran from the Nature Conservancy and Jim Hurley from Sea Grant. They did a great job laying out some of the context and issues (Heather), conservation approaches (Patrick) and outreach/education examples (Jim). We then had a bit of time to try to have a discussion about opportunities, gaps, needs, etc. Unfortunately the huge room was not very conducive to a dialogue but we did have some good questions, suggestions, and responses between the panel and the audience.
The poster session/ reception in the evening allowed for some great time to catch up with old friends and colleagues and to meet new folks.
Today (Tuesday) is full of concurrent sessions and the challenge is to figure out what not to go to.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Boston's Waterfront
July 19, 2009 -- Boston, MA
On the agenda for today was a whale watching trip out to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Unfortunately when the +/- 50 people signed up for the field trip arrived at Boston Harbor at a bit before 10:00 a.m. we learned that the trip was canceled due to a boat being out of service or something. Argh.
So a group of us Minnesotans rescheduled ourselves on a sunset whale watching trip through the Boaston aquarium at 6:00 p.m. That left a fair bit of time to explore the historic waterfront district and look at sailboats.
The harbor front was bustling with activity after the moening started to wear on a bit. It was not easy to find anything to eat until after 11:00 a.m. but after that the place started to come alive. The boat traffic in the shipping channel went from busy to crazy busy. There were lots of sail boats and powerboats and a few mega yachts. The Harbor Walk was great, following the very edge of the old piers and wharves for the most part. There were lots of neat old buildings that have been redeveloped into very high end condos and a nice variety of public spaces mixed in. The boat slips looked mighty tight and I watched one big powerboat take about 15 minutes and several dozen attempts to snug itself into the little space where it was trying desperately to tie up.
I was off on my own after CJL and DG headed back to check out the aquarium and I meandered my way through Boston's North End for a while. I ended up at America's oldest restaurant, the Union Oyster House for a late lunch/early supper of 1/2 doz. oysters and a bowl of "chaadaa" (known as chowder in MN). Both were very tasty. There were a bunch of street performers in the open air market and I got pulled into a show put on by Jason Escape.
I can now say that I've put someone into a straight jacket, wrapped him him ropes and hoisted him feet first 20 feet into the air. I hadn't had that on my lifetime to do list until now, but after today I can check it off.
I also saw Paul Revere's statue and The Old North Church, break dancers, guys doing remarkable percussion music on 5 gallon buckets and old metal pots, and scary clown/mimes.
The whale cruise took us out to see humpbacks on the Stellwagen Bank. We saw many spouts and got a few fairly close looks at a trio of whales feeding together.
The sunset was pretty amazing too.
On the agenda for today was a whale watching trip out to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Unfortunately when the +/- 50 people signed up for the field trip arrived at Boston Harbor at a bit before 10:00 a.m. we learned that the trip was canceled due to a boat being out of service or something. Argh.
So a group of us Minnesotans rescheduled ourselves on a sunset whale watching trip through the Boaston aquarium at 6:00 p.m. That left a fair bit of time to explore the historic waterfront district and look at sailboats.
The harbor front was bustling with activity after the moening started to wear on a bit. It was not easy to find anything to eat until after 11:00 a.m. but after that the place started to come alive. The boat traffic in the shipping channel went from busy to crazy busy. There were lots of sail boats and powerboats and a few mega yachts. The Harbor Walk was great, following the very edge of the old piers and wharves for the most part. There were lots of neat old buildings that have been redeveloped into very high end condos and a nice variety of public spaces mixed in. The boat slips looked mighty tight and I watched one big powerboat take about 15 minutes and several dozen attempts to snug itself into the little space where it was trying desperately to tie up.
I was off on my own after CJL and DG headed back to check out the aquarium and I meandered my way through Boston's North End for a while. I ended up at America's oldest restaurant, the Union Oyster House for a late lunch/early supper of 1/2 doz. oysters and a bowl of "chaadaa" (known as chowder in MN). Both were very tasty. There were a bunch of street performers in the open air market and I got pulled into a show put on by Jason Escape.
I can now say that I've put someone into a straight jacket, wrapped him him ropes and hoisted him feet first 20 feet into the air. I hadn't had that on my lifetime to do list until now, but after today I can check it off. I also saw Paul Revere's statue and The Old North Church, break dancers, guys doing remarkable percussion music on 5 gallon buckets and old metal pots, and scary clown/mimes.
The whale cruise took us out to see humpbacks on the Stellwagen Bank. We saw many spouts and got a few fairly close looks at a trio of whales feeding together.
The sunset was pretty amazing too.
Arrival in Boston
July 18, 2009 -- Boston MA
My Flight left Duluth at 6:30 Central Time and with a brief stop over in Detroit, got into Boston’s Logan Airport at about noon Eastern time.
By 1:30 CJL and I were checked into the room and ready to explore a bit. Since this was the only day I expect any substantial free time, we took a cab to the Museum of Fine Arts. Just as were were about to go in the door, a guy came up to us and gave us free tickets for admission. There was some sort of event there today and he either had some extras or didn’t need his. Whatever the reason, it saved us $17 each for admission. Since the place closes at 5:00, I was glad we didn’t have to pay the admission price.
Once inside we learned that the Japanese Arms and Armor exhibit is no longer on display due to some major construction underway. That seemed disappointing at first, but we discovered that the far eastern art they still have on display is more than enough to fill a few hours. There were at least a couple of pieces that I recognized from my recently purchased used textbook on the history of eastern art. That was cool.
Some very cool, very old stone sculptures from that part of the world, a smallish sword display that focused mainly on tsuba (hand guards), a recreated room from a Buddhist temple with some very large statues, and much more. There was lots more, (including an exhibit on the architecture and furniture of Greene and Greene) but we didn’t, have the time to see it all before the place closed up for the day.
From the Museum we walked to an Irish pub (the Lir). CJL had Sam Adams Summer brew and the shepherds pie. I had a couple Smithwicks and the Cork fish and chips. The beer and food was very welcome by this point (you may have caught that we skipped lunch in favor of maximizing our time at the museum). The fish and chips were okay but on the plus side there was plenty of food to make up for missing lunch.
After that it was about a 1.1 mile walk back to the hotel according to CJL’s Blackberry/GPS unit. There I discovered it is almost $11 per day for internet access from the room. Ouch!
My Flight left Duluth at 6:30 Central Time and with a brief stop over in Detroit, got into Boston’s Logan Airport at about noon Eastern time.
By 1:30 CJL and I were checked into the room and ready to explore a bit. Since this was the only day I expect any substantial free time, we took a cab to the Museum of Fine Arts. Just as were were about to go in the door, a guy came up to us and gave us free tickets for admission. There was some sort of event there today and he either had some extras or didn’t need his. Whatever the reason, it saved us $17 each for admission. Since the place closes at 5:00, I was glad we didn’t have to pay the admission price. Once inside we learned that the Japanese Arms and Armor exhibit is no longer on display due to some major construction underway. That seemed disappointing at first, but we discovered that the far eastern art they still have on display is more than enough to fill a few hours. There were at least a couple of pieces that I recognized from my recently purchased used textbook on the history of eastern art. That was cool.
Some very cool, very old stone sculptures from that part of the world, a smallish sword display that focused mainly on tsuba (hand guards), a recreated room from a Buddhist temple with some very large statues, and much more. There was lots more, (including an exhibit on the architecture and furniture of Greene and Greene) but we didn’t, have the time to see it all before the place closed up for the day.From the Museum we walked to an Irish pub (the Lir). CJL had Sam Adams Summer brew and the shepherds pie. I had a couple Smithwicks and the Cork fish and chips. The beer and food was very welcome by this point (you may have caught that we skipped lunch in favor of maximizing our time at the museum). The fish and chips were okay but on the plus side there was plenty of food to make up for missing lunch.
After that it was about a 1.1 mile walk back to the hotel according to CJL’s Blackberry/GPS unit. There I discovered it is almost $11 per day for internet access from the room. Ouch!
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