President’s Message

Dear fellow SWS’ers,

I hope all of you are healthy, happy, and able to apply yourselves effectively towards your goals (including wetlands!). I want to start my first message with a round of thanks to our Program Committee for an excellent Annual Meeting last month! With so many opportunities for innovation, sharing knowledge and learning to use Gregory B. Noe, Ph.D. new tools, I’m sure many of us Florence Bascom are a mixture of exhilarated, Geoscience Center, exhausted, and energized for U.S. Geological Survey SWS President whatever will come this year. It certainly won’t be a repeat of last year! Loretta Battaglia, our Immediate Past President, as well all of our leaders, have put an incredible energy and focus to ensure SWS weathered the worst of COVID impacts. We move now into a window of opportunity afforded by COVID-derived flexibility to reassess how our Society operates.

I see three focus areas that I can help SWS achieve in the next year: improved Ethics, Operations, and Building the Future. These represent ongoing needs we’ve identified and begun to address. The solutions will be complex, int twined, and prepare us to move forward. This will require engaging with all parts of our organization, from committees, sections, chapters, to all of the willing.

Like many of our long-standing institutions, it is clear that our Society needs to make substantive change on issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

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SOCIETY OF WETLAND SCIENTISTS 1818 Parmenter St., Ste 300, Middleton, WI 53562 (608) 310-7855 www.sws.org

Note to Readers: All State-of-the-Science reports are peer reviewed, with anonymity to reviewers.

&Wetland Science Practice

PRESIDENT / Gregory Noe, Ph.D. PRESIDENT-ELECT / William Kleindle, Ph.D. IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT / Loretta Battaglia, Ph.D. SECRETARY GENERAL / Leandra Cleveland, PWS TREASURER / Lori Sutter, Ph.D. EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATOR / Suzanna Hogendorn CONSULTING DIRECTOR / Michelle Czosek, CAE WETLAND SCIENCE & PRACTICE EDITOR / Ralph Tiner, PWS Emeritus

CHAPTERS ASIA / Wei-Ta Fang, Ph.D. CANADA / Susan Glasauer, Ph.D. CENTRAL / Tim Fobes, PWS CHINA / Xianguo Lyu EUROPE / Matthew Simpson, PWS INTERNATIONAL / Ian Bredlin, Msc; Pr.Sci.Nat and Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães, Ph.D., PWS MID-ATLANTIC / Jason Traband, PWS, PMP, CBLP NEW ENGLAND / Dwight Dunk, PWS NORTH CENTRAL / Casey Judge, WPIT OCEANIA / Phil Papas PACIFIC NORTHWEST / Josh Wozniak, PWS ROCKY MOUNTAIN / Rebecca Pierce SOUTH ATLANTIC / Brian Benscoter, Ph.D. SOUTH CENTRAL /Jodi Murray Burns, PWS, Med, MS WESTERN / Richard Beck, PWS, CPESC, CEP

SECTIONS BIOGEOCHEMISTRY / Beth Lawrence, Ph.D. EDUCATION / Darold Batzer, Ph.D. GLOBAL CHANGE ECOLOGY / Wei Wu, Ph.D. PEATLANDS / Bin Xu, Ph.D. PUBLIC POLICY AND REGULATION / John Lowenthal, PWS RAMSAR / Nicholas Davidson, Ph.D. STUDENT / David Riera WETLAND RESTORATION / Andy Herb WILDLIFE / Andy Nyman, Ph.D. WOMEN IN WETLANDS /Jennifer Karberg, Ph.D.

COMMITTEES AWARDS / Siobhan Fennessy, Ph.D. EDUCATION AND OUTREACH / Jeffrey Matthews, Ph.D. HUMAN DIVERSITY / Kwanza Johnson and Jacoby Carter, Ph.D. MEETINGS / Yvonne Vallette, PWS MEMBERSHIP / Leandra Cleveland, PWS PUBLICATIONS / Keith Edwards WAYS & MEANS / Lori Sutter, Ph.D. WETLANDS OF DISTINCTION / Roy Messaros, Ph.D. Bill Morgante, Steffanie Munguia and Jason Smith, PWS

REPRESENTATIVES PCP / Scott Jecker, PWS WETLANDS / Marinus Otte, Ph.D. WETLAND SCIENCE & PRACTICE / Ralph Tiner, PWS Emeritus ASWM / Jill Aspinwall AIBS / Dennis Whigham, Ph.D.

We can and will do better to ensure a vibrant, fair, and sustained SWS. Last year has taught us to be more aware of our own unintentional biases and societal barriers and injustice; this year we will make an intentional commitment to be better. With this comes a commitment to institutionalize a Code of Ethics and ensure a visible, clearly articulated approach to let it be known that we will not stand by misogyny, racism, inequity or intolerance in SWS. This is a long journey that we will start – one that each President that follows me will need to continue to update.

Operationally, the global pandemic has opened opportunities to discuss the best communication formats and schedules. Virtual meetings have benefits (easier global access, lower cost) and downsides (the social side is really hard to replicate, and video calls are tiring, but I did enjoy ‘bumping’ into folks at the student mixer). What should our Annual Meeting look like in the future? How do we keep the best aspects of virtual meetings? How do we ensure our newest members have the same access to networking and peers that I found invaluable as I was starting out?

And how do we best enhance the services we provide that help build our newest wetland professionals. In 2022 for an one year pilot program, we will offer joint student memberships with our partner the Association of State Wetland Managers, to increase knowledge sharing, networking opportunities, and cross-pollination. What I’d really like to see are more opportunities to build more mentoring opportunities for students and early career professionals with established wetland professionals.

But one of our first action items is to find a new association management company. We will be parting ways with our current SWS Business Office run by AMPED, on 1 September 2021. I’d like to thank those employees of AMPED that have contributed to SWS’ success over the years and wish them well with their new opportunities. They have been essential to handling the minutia to the big, splashy needs of our Society. The Board has already requested bids from other association management companies. The Ways and Means Committee will be evaluating proposals for services and negotiating a new contract with the selected company. We’re working to ensure a smooth transition, but please have patience with any hummocks in our path that might slow us down. As we start a new relationship with an association management company, we also have the opportunity to consider alternative models of leadership including employing an Executive Director.

In summary, forward together, but smarter, more intentional, and less bounded by the way we’ve always done it. Success on all these goals will require input, discussion, and dedicated effort by members and leaders in the Society. But our efforts will have direct and tangible benefits to both SWS and the members who choose to participate. I look forward to working with you towards these goals. Please reach out to me directly with any comments or suggestions for how to keep SWS impactful and making a real difference. n

EDITOR'S LETTER, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 126

meeting and a commentary on the concerns of some scientists on the EIS process and a copy of their letter to CEQ. Thanks to the contributors!

This issue also recognizes 2021 award winners on page 137. Congratulations to the awardees...well deserved!

Dr. Tatiana Lobato de Magalhães has been helping me pull together articles for a forthcoming issue dedicated to reporting on wetland research in Latin America. She’s doing a remarkable job! If someone is interested in coordinating articles on wetland research and activities in another region of the world, please contact me. WSP can serve as a vehicle to highlight wetland activities around the globe, so I invite your participation.

Meanwhile best wishes to all and Happy Swamping. n