Past Workshops

Climate-Smart Native Plants for Restoration 2023

We ran a workshop at the 2023 New York Invasive Species Expo designed for natural resource practitioners and plant providers to identify 1) topics of concern for using neonative (range-shifting native) species for restoration, 2) barriers for providing or obtaining climate-smart restoration plant materials, and 3) new resources that identify candidate climate-smart plants for restoration in the Northeast. Climate change will alter the plant palette for restoration, as some species will no longer thrive in our region, and new species may become suitable. The main goals of the workshop were to foster dialogue about using neonative plant species, identify the primary concerns of and challenges in choosing and accessing neonative species for restoration projects, and solicit feedback on our upcoming nursery Management Challenge.

Guidelines for Climate-Smart Invasive Species Management 2023

After an overview of how climate change is affecting invasive species management, attendees rotated through small groups to provide feedback on sections of draft guidelines for climate-smart invasive species management, and then reconvened for final remarks. The feedback obtained during this workshop informed the further development and refinement of our Guidelines for Climate-Smart Invasive Species Management, which will be made available on the RISCC website in 2024.

Northeast Invasive Plant Councils 2020

We held a workshop of IPC representatives from seven Northeast states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont). Effective prevention of future range-shifting invasive species will depend on having unified policies across state borders. The goal of this workshop was to begin building stronger alliances at the regional level, facilitate information exchange, and discuss ways to develop proactive regional policy and management.

NAISMA Workshop 2019

The NE RISCC Management Network hosted a workshop at the North American Invasive Species Management Association conference titled “How do we implement climate-smart invasive species management?”. 

This workshop formed the basis of our management challenge ‘Taking Action’, which synthesizes steps that managers are already taking to implement climate-smart invasive species management.

RISCC Management Workshop 2016

The first Northeast Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (RISCC) Management Workshop (initially called the Northeast Invasive Species and Climate Change, or NISCC, workshop) was held on July 21, 2016. It was convened by the Department of Interior Northeast Climate Science Center (NE CSC), the New York Invasive Species Research Institute (NY ISRI), and the University of Massachusetts (UMass) as the first step in a conversation to address the question “How can we manage for upcoming biological invasions in the light of climate change?”. The objective of the workshop was to bring together a small group of climate scientists and invasive species scientists, managers, and policy makers from New York and New England to promote a two-way dialogue to 1) review the state of current research on the topic; 2) share regional knowledge about current management strategies; and 3) identify specific information needs of managers surrounding invasive species and climate change.