You’re invited to the virtual April Twin Ports Freshwater Folk event on April 2, 2025, from noon to 1:00 p.m CT. This month's speaker is Meghan R. Klasic, Ph.D., a research social scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development, Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division (GLTED).
This month’s TPFF will be virtual only. TPFF will return to a hybrid event in May.
This event is free and open to the public.
Registration:
Event schedule:
- 12:00 p.m. Attendee announcements
- 12:05 p.m. Seminar(s)
- 12:45 p.m. Moderated question and answer session
- Adjourning by 1 p.m. at latest.
Presenter Bio:
Meghan R. Klasic, Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary environmental geographer working in U.S. EPA’s Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division (GLTED). Klasic’s research focuses on developing adaptive governance processes that result in improved social-ecological outcomes. In her current role, Klasic examines and measures community impacts of environmental remediation and restoration across the Great Lakes. Prior to working at the EPA, Klasic completed a postdoctoral stint with the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities as part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Long-Term Ecology Research (LTER) program studying the community benefits and impacts of urban nature decision-making. Klasic has a Ph.D. in Geography with a designated emphasis in Computational Social Science from the University of California—Davis, a MSc in Environmental Planning and Management from Johns Hopkins University, and a BSc in Environmental Science from Dickinson College.
Presentation Abstract for "Great Lakes Restoration Initiative: Examining governance structures across remediation, restoration, and revitalization efforts":
More than $3 billion dollars have been poured into remediating and restoring contaminated waters and sediments across the Great Lakes region, including across the Area of Concern (AOC) program. In the United States, this is implemented as a phased approach of variable technicality—remediation, restoration, and revitalization (R2R2R). For more than 30 years, a complex system of partners across multiple levels of governance, representing diverse perspectives, priorities, and resources, worked to remediate and restore AOCs. While restoration research often focuses on the importance of either the technical nature of decisions—or the need for collaborative governance, questions remain on what drives multi-phased systems like AOCs that have seemingly clear delineations between remediation (technical), and restoration and revitalization (less technical)—yet were designed to consider collaborative governance through citizen advisory committees and coordinating agencies. This talk leverages planning and policy documents, along with project webpages, to construct governance networks to understand how specific projects contribute to AOC goals. In doing so, I examine how governance networks vary across projects and phases, as well as how the technical level of project implementation shapes these networks. Preliminary analyses show the importance of local context in shaping Great Lakes remediation and restoration work, perhaps even more so than more traditional thinking on the role of the technical nature of decisions and/or the role of collaborative governance processes. Future work will examine how these governance networks adapt and change over time as partners navigate AOC work.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or the policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
About TPFF:
Twin Ports Freshwater Folk (TPFF) is an informal gathering of people from the Twin Ports who are engaged in freshwater research, policy, or regulation issues. Meetings take place on the first Wednesday of every month and include networking, informal discussion, and a seminar.
Event sponsors:
- Minnesota Sea Grant
- Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
- Large Lakes Observatory at the University of Minnesota Duluth
- Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth
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Contact:
Alex Frie, research and fellowship coordinator, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Duluth.
Image credit: Meghan Klasic/U.S. EPA.