Restore America’s Estuaries Summit to Examine Management Approaches for a Changing Climate

Pew experts will discuss nature-based solutions, blue carbon, coastal resilience

Event October 6-10, 2024 Read time:

Projects: U.S. Conservation

The Pew Charitable Trusts works to address the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss through the conservation and restoration of coastal ecosystems. That’s why Pew is proudly sponsoring and participating in the Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) 2024 Coastal and Estuarine Summit: “Capitalizing on Our Coasts.”

RAE sessions featuring Pew

Our subject matter experts will moderate or participate in the following sessions:

Monday, Oct. 7

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EDT, Conference Theater, “From Theory to Application: Integrating Blue Carbon Into Coastal Conservation and Restoration,” Jazmin Dagostino, moderator.
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EDT, Room 7, “Marshing Forward: Implementing and Sustaining the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative’s Regional Plan,” Lora Clarke, panelist.
2-3:30 p.m. EDT, Conference Theater, “Blue Carbon at the State Level,” Sylvia Troost, moderator

Wednesday, Oct. 9

1:30-3 p.m. EDT, Room, 8, “Making Natural Resource Management Climate-Ready: Key Elements, Challenges, and Opportunities,” Justin Grubich, moderator.

Meet the Pew team in Arlington, Virginia

Visit Booth 18 to connect with an expert:

Lora Clarke Officer

Lora Clarke supports Pew’s efforts to improve the adaptation and resilience of coastal ecosystems and human communities in the Southeast United States. In leading Pew’s work on the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative, Clarke focuses on conserving 1 million acres of the important habitat stretching from North Carolina to east central Florida. Previously, Clarke worked to advance sustainable fishing policies in the U.S. south Atlantic.

Alex Clayton Moya Officer

Alex Clayton Moya works to incorporate conservation and restoration of coastal blue carbon and peatland habitats in state and national climate policies for Pew’s U.S. conservation project. She leads efforts to engage primarily with state agencies as they seek to incorporate wetlands into their climate change planning, helping to connect science and research to the policy choices of decision-makers.

Jazmin Dagostino Associate 1

Jazmin Dagostino works to advance state and federal natural climate solutions. She focuses primarily on state efforts to incorporate coastal blue carbon and peatland management strategies into climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Before joining Pew, Dagostino coordinated Our Project in Hawaii’s Intertidal, a citizen science program dedicated to promoting stewardship through the intersection of science, community, and cultural knowledge. Earlier in her career, she worked on marine algal research and studied host-bacterial interactions in Hawaiian bobtail squid. Dagostino earned a bachelor’s degree in marine science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Dagostino is based in Portland, Oregon.

Justin Grubich Officer

Justin Grubich leads Pew’s work to develop and implement science-based policy and management goals that promote resilience of coastal and freshwater habitats in the Southeast United States. Previously, Grubich led efforts to improve management of Florida forage fish and protect the Gulf of Mexico’s largest seagrass meadow. Before joining Pew, he was an assistant professor of marine biology at the American University in Cairo; an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow; and a National Geographic explorer who led Nile and Amazon river documentary expeditions. Grubich holds two International Game Fish Association world records and earned a bachelor’s degree in marine biology from the University of Miami and a doctorate in fish ecomorphology and biomechanics from Florida State University. He is based in Stuart, Florida.

Sylvia Troost Project Director

Sylvia Troost works on natural climate solutions, with an emphasis on coastal blue carbon and other wetland habitats, resiliency planning, and federal coastal policy, for Pew’s U.S. conservation project. Her portfolio includes advancing nature-based approaches to climate mitigation. She previously supported Pew’s coastal habitat and oceans conservation work through strategic planning, operations and budgets, and campaign management.