Water Weaves Together Landscapes and Culture in the Southeast: Southeast Ecological Drought Workshop Report

The southeastern US is generally considered a water-rich area, though periodic drought is part of the historical climate patterns of the region. As the Southeast continues to grow in population and climate change exacerbates extremes in precipitation, balancing the demands for water to support human activities and culture as well as to support healthy ecosystems and their functions will become more challenging.

The Southeast Climate Science Center convened a multi-disciplinary group of scientists in late 2016 to discuss topics related to drought, and specifically ecological drought. Defined as prolonged and widespread deficit in naturally available water that creates multiple stresses in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, ecological drought is emerging as a research focus are for the DOI Climate Science Centers and the USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center. The summary report from the workshop synthesizes workshop discussions that identified existing knowledge of the ecological impacts of, resistance to, and recovery from drought.

Participants in the Southeast Ecological Drought workshop were from USGS science centers, US Forest Service, USEPA, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, and academia. Their expertise represented relevant scientific disciplines such as climate science, hydrology, and terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal ecology, and spanned important geographic regions of the Southeast.

The findings from Ecological Drought Workshops planned to be held at all the regional CSCs will be incorporated into a national report. The workshop products will also inform SE CSC strategic planning efforts and help us better understand drought issues and management implications in the Southeast.
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More Information about Drought and Ecological Drought

Resources, data, maps, and tools related to drought in the U.S., including region-specific summaries: U.S. Drought Portal
Initiatives of the CSCs and NCCWSC to understand regional effects of ecological drought, identify potential threats to valued resources, and prioritize research efforts: NCCWSC Ecological Drought
Multi-organization partnership developing multi-disciplinary science-based solutions to wicked global problems, including ecological drought:
Science for Nature and People Partnership Ecological Drought Working Group