California Islands Connection
Half-Day Webinar on Zoom
November 9, 2022
9:00 am - 12:00 pm Pacific Time
WEBINAR RECORDING
AGENDA
9:00 am Welcome
Annie Little, Co-chair, Channel Islands National Park
Jenna Hamilton-Rolle, Co-chair, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History & Sea Center
9:05 am Opening Remarks
Dayna Barrios, Tribal Chair of the Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Mission Indians
Cindi Alvitre, CSULB American Indian Studies Full-Time Faculty, NAGPRA Coordinator
9:15 am Amy Gusick, PhD
Associate Curator, Anthropology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Title: The Human Dimension: Cultural Heritage and the Channel Islands in the Decade of Ocean Science
9:45 am Kate Faulkner
NPS Retired Chief of Natural Resources, Channel Islands National Park
Title: People, Partnerships, and Persistence; key factors for successful conservation programs
10:15 am Break
10:30 am Melissa Neuman, PhD,
National Marine Fisheries Service
Title: Islands of Hope for Haliotis: A Partnership to Recover White Abalone Throughout Its Range
11:00 am Nick Holmes, PhD
Associate Director for Oceans, The Nature Conservancy
Title: The Global Contribution of Key Island Restoration Tools
11:30 pm Video Submissions
12:00 pm Closing Remarks
SPEAKERS
Amy Gusick, PhD Associate Curator, Anthropology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
Title: The Human Dimension: Cultural Heritage and the Channel Islands in the Decade of Ocean Science
Synopsis: This presentation will focus on this interdisciplinary research into cultural heritage and consider how the Channel Islands can be an integral region to support the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and sustainable ocean development for future generations.
Bio: Dr. Amy Gusick is Curator of Anthropology and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Officer at the Natural History Museum Los Angeles County (NHMLA). She is an archaeologist studying human-environmental dynamics, the development of maritime societies, peopling of the Americas, and maritime cultural landscapes. Dr. Gusick uses both terrestrial and underwater archaeological methods in her research, which has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Geographic Society, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, among others. Since joining the museum in 2018, her field research has increasingly focused on maritime landscape studies and development of technologies and methods to increase efficiency in underwater archaeological study. Her collections research at NHMLA has focused on providing access to descendant populations and collaborative projects that uplift indigenous histories.
Kate Faulkner, NPS Retired Chief of Natural Resources, Channel Islands National Park
Title: People, Partnerships, and Persistence; key factors for successful conservation programs
Synopsis: Ecological restoration programs present numerous technical and scientific challenges. I will discuss the diverse organizations, expertise, and individuals who, between 1990 and 2016, successfully managed the complexities of restoration at the Channel Islands.
Bio: Kate Roney Faulkner worked for the National Park Service for 35 years, including 25 years at Channel Islands National Park. She retired in 2016. At the park, she managed long-term ecological monitoring, eradications of non-native species, reintroductions of extirpated native vertebrates, and environmental compliance.
Melissa Neuman, PhD National Marine Fisheries Service
Title: Islands of Hope for Haliotis: A Partnership to Recover White Abalone Throughout Its Range
Synopsis: Through strong partnerships and a long-term strategy for recovery, the white abalone recovery consortium is making important discoveries about this rare and critically endangered marine invertebrate that ranges from Point Conception, California to Punta Abreojos, Baja California, in Mexico. Beginning in the Fall of 2019, 7,999 captive-bred white abalone and 6,219 red abalone have been placed by scientific divers into natural reef habitats and there are promising signs that the strategies and methods being developed are helping to advance our knowledge of abalone status, the threats they face in the wild and how to rebuild depleted abalone populations.
Bio: Melissa Neuman earned a Ph.D. in ecology and evolution from Rutgers University in 1999, an M.S. in fisheries, animal and veterinary science from the University of Rhode Island in 1993, and a B.A. in biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990. She served as adjunct faculty at Rider University, the University of Delaware, and Stockton State College where she taught marine vertebrate zoology, ichthyology, and associated laboratories. As a post-graduate she served as assistant director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station and post-doctoral research associate at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. In 2002, Melissa was hired to lead NOAA Fisheries’ recovery program for the first marine invertebrate to be listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Nick Holmes, PhD Associate Director for Oceans, The Nature Conservancy
Title: The Global Contribution of Key Island Restoration Tools
Synopsis: Islands are a focal point in the biodiversity crisis. We present global syntheses of two key restoration actions on islands – invasive vertebrate eradications and seabird restoration – and discuss trends, challenges and opportunities for scaling outcomes.
Bio: Dr. Nick Holmes is an Associate Director for Oceans Program at the Nature Conservancy in California, working in thematic areas of island conservation, invasive species, seabird restoration and threatened species recovery, with projects at California, Pacific and Global scales. Between 2011-2019 Nick was the Director of Science for the NGO Island Conservation, from 2006-2010 the Coordinator for the Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project at the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit for the University of Hawaii, and earned a PhD from the University of Tasmania, Australia in 2006. He is an Associate Researcher at the University of California at Santa Cruz Institute of Marine Sciences, an Associate Editor for the journal Biological Invasions, and member of the Scientific Advisory Council for Island Conservation. He is an author on more than 80 peer-reviewed publications.