 Welcome everyone. Thank you so much for being here with us today. We really want to share with you our passion for exploring ways that climate change is impacting our understanding of cultural landscapes, but also show how preservation practice can mitigate the effects of climate change on landscape resources that we know and cherish. Collectively, we've specialized in the preservation and stewardship of cultural landscapes for many decades. There is now an emerging shift in our focus, however, as we not only think about how we can protect cultural resources from the effects of climate change, but how we more holistically develop preservation-minded solutions that can also help mitigate climate change itself. We work to increase the resiliency of these cultural landscapes while also encouraging the preservation of their historic character. From around the United States, we're going to share case studies with our Solutions for Historic Landscapes that are affected by the rapidly changing climate. We will also explain solving complicated climate change issues through a preservation approach. Let's be clear, the reality of climate change is no longer in doubt. This is not news, but it is not only about global warming, it is about global climate change. We now expect colder winters, hotter summers, some wetter and some drier seasons, as well as extended periods of uncertainty and climate confusion. With these changes come associated impacts on the resources we value, both slowly over time or through dramatic events. The historic trends that characterize defined areas of the globe can no longer be readily expected or relied upon. Tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires are more prevalent and not always predictable. This is not hyperbole, however, but is supported in the latest reports from the United Nations and other scientific organizations. Climate change brings special challenges to the preservation community and especially to the protection of significant and inherently dynamic cultural landscapes. These are landscapes that have always changed over time in one way or another, even within their periods of significance. But that change was understood and anticipated in a regional context of predictability. We now face a time when that predictability is in serious doubt. This requires the preservation community, all of us, to view and understand significant resources, especially significant cultural landscape resources with new filters and new perspectives. The three main effects of a change in climate that we will address in this presentation are wildfire, increased storm intensity and vegetation loss due to pests and diseases. Now how do we do this? MIG has undertaken a number of cultural landscape preservation projects in which the vegetation and plant communities play a major role in the landscape's character, significance and value. They clearly reveal the impact of climate change and require understanding these landscapes not only for their history, but for their future as well. Past and future perspectives are not uncommon in the start of preservation as we all know, but cultural landscape projects require that the consideration of known and anticipated impacts of climate change and climate impacts play a central role in treatment decisions. As with all cultural landscape projects, the first step in these case studies was to understand the landscape history, its historic condition and what it is like now. Why and how is it significant? What was it like during the period of significance and what characterizes it now? How has it changed, been modified or evolved? This step is founded in established tools developed and supported by the National Park Service and professional guidelines. With this base knowledge, the team seeks the best data on current and projected climate change, what has changed in the past 30 to 50 years, and what is projected to change. Let me be clear, these are projections not predictions, and that is an important distinction. Scientists anticipate what will change, but never know for sure what will occur. There will always be a level of uncertainty. It is also necessary to understand climate as a system, not as a single factor. For example, a warmer landscape may be associated with a drier one and often with more substantial, yet less frequent storms. As with the landscape itself, climate requires being understood comprehensively. Overlapping the understanding of the cultural landscape and climate projections, we develop a set of anticipated landscape hazards and impacts. For example, if it is drier, might this be filed by an erosion hazard when it storms, followed by an uprooting and loss of historic vegetation? Might a warmer and drier climate support a welcoming habitat for pests, such as the infestation of the Wulia del Gid in Shenandoah National Park and the northeast region of the country, as on the screen in front of you, leading to a major loss of hemlock trees throughout the area? Or will it result in a major drought, such as we now see in the western U.S., with the dramatic landscape loss, for example, in Lake Mead at Hoover Dam in Nevada? Might a wetter and longer rainy season result in dramatic flooding and loss of landscape resources and recently witnessed a Yellowstone National Park? The next step, prior to developing cultural landscape treatments, is to develop a cultural landscape feature and climate change matrix, indicating those character defining features that are most likely vulnerable to specific climate variables. This may be one variable or many, but provides critical insight into vulnerable features that need to be treated for projected climate impacts. As you can see, this is a very complicated process. We will share specific case studies and examples that illustrate how this method has had a direct effect on protecting significant cultural landscapes in the age of climate change. We will begin with general considerations from Eleanor Cox, move to detailed specifics from Rachel Edwards, and return to a broader view from Laurie Matthews. Illustrating in all cases how the climate change reality is causing us to modify our approach to cultural landscapes and to all aspects of our landscape preservation practice. Let's move now to Eleanor Cox. Thank you, Robert. I'll be taking the next five minutes to highlight two recent projects we've worked on where we framed some of our treatment recommendations within the context of the climate crisis. While one case is in East Texas and the other is in California's Central Valley, vernacular cultural landscapes like these are facing similar challenges across the country. This image shows a former pastor or field at Bassett Farms in Limestone County, Texas. The property served as an active family and tenant farm for generations first established during reconstruction and continuing until the mid-20th century. Farm activities cycled through grazing, cotton farming, and stock raising based on the economy of the era. This is a little context to show the location and scale of the property. The boundary of the property is delineated with the black dashed line and this aerial shows the character of the landscape very well. It's fairly flat and overwhelmingly under agricultural use. Here we see two barns that are associated with the Bacon Ranch Historic District, which is located within Pinnacles National Park in California. The Bacon family and their neighbors homesteaded this land and the surrounding valley floor during a period of time that is similar to Bassett Farms. Although the farm operations here were smaller and more diverse than is typical for homesteads. You can see the location on the left and on the right are historic aerials overlaid on a topographic map that illustrate the valley setting for this cluster of homesteads. Both properties are significant for their associations with the late 19th century settlement and agricultural patterns and both are remarkably intact given the changes both natural and cultural that have occurred in these regions over the last century. Our goal was to propose ecologically sound solutions that are compatible with the historic district and function of the farms while remaining flexible enough to adapt to rapidly changing climates that include more frequent storms, flood and drought events. In our view, compatible solutions for these properties respond to both the historic character of the site as well as the changing environment. We aim to plan for flexibility, whether it's flexibility in use or flexibility in temperature and precipitation. Our short term recommendations focused on collecting data so that site managers are able to monitor the impacts of climate change on historic resources and help with projections. This includes completing ecological surveys of the properties before developing a management strategy. Surveys that establish a baseline for vegetation, fauna, invertebrates, and soil and water quality will help track impacts over time and can then guide management decisions. Longer term recommendations include prioritizing restoration of the stream banks and the riparian corridors that wind their way through both properties to provide habitat and improve water quality as well as to protect the landscape from floods and erosion. We recommend inciting new construction and uses outside of the 100-year floodplain whenever possible. We also recommended opportunities to incorporate man-made stockponds at Bassett Farms used historically to provide water for cattle into new trail and recreation systems or fire suppression systems. And mitigation of invasive vegetation in the former pastures and fields through the integration of pollinator, forage, wildflower, and soil building species that are compatible with the historic crops that were grown in terms of visual texture and scale. This can be done in combination with re-establishing some of the historic crops grown at Bassett Farms or Bacon Ranch if desired, such as cotton, hay, and barley, but a wider diversity of species will allow for adaptation to unpredictable conditions. All of our recommendations focus on building changing climates into long-term planning strategies where the only consistency is change, which is in fact already characteristic of vernacular landscapes. As I mentioned earlier at Bassett Farms, the primary agricultural activity evolved with the market when the value of cotton bottomed out in the early 20th century, the Bassett family adapted by raising stock instead. And since the Bacon family were homesteaders who couldn't rely on large-scale irrigation or machinery, they were forced to adapt from season to season. Planning for designed landscapes within the context of changing climates presents a different set of challenges. And with that, I'm going to hand this over to my colleague, Rachel. Thanks, Eleanor. This case study of the South Park blocks is an example of how climate change consideration and resilience strategies are being factored in design and management of historic parks with mature tree canopies. This is a linear park comprised of 12 path blocks situated in downtown Portland, Oregon, shown here in this early panoramic illustration. In 2019-2021, MIG led a master planning effort for the South Park blocks in collaboration with consulting arborist, Morgan Hole and associates, and Portland Parks and Recreation. This park, like all landscapes, has continued to evolve and transform since it was first planted with the combination of Lombardi poplars and American Elms in 1877. Young trees were established under similar growing conditions, with equal access to sunlight, water, and air circulation. The park today, 141 years later, includes many mature trees, the most characteristic species being American Elms, Olmas Americana. There are also many young trees. Here you can see the characteristic soaring cathedral-like canopy that mature Elms provide the park blocks. Canopies of adjacent trees overlap, providing nearly continuous coverage, and shaded conditions at ground level. During the master plan process, feedback gathered from the public identified the tree canopy as the most important to the park experience, a characteristic underscored in its recent National Register nomination listing. The dense grid planting scheme originally fit up to 48 large trees and a typical 0.7 acre park block. Today's standards and best practices would not permit the style of dense planting. The bottom diagram depicts current conditions. On any block, there are awesome examples of mature Elms, but given their age, some trees have died and those replaced struggle to thrive. Many of the mature trees, those aged 100 years or more, are reaching the end of their lifespans. In 2018, the Parks and Recreation Bureau realized that a master plan was needed for this park. It had never had one before, which resulted in many decades of piecemeal decision making. They needed a plan to protect the aging cohort of trees while accounting for their future replacement. The master plan also addressed contemporary needs through a rehabilitation framework and equity lens. A tree succession plan was a major component of the master plan, necessary for sustainable stewardship of this iconic park resource. When trees died in the South Park box, they were typically replanted in the same location under deep shade next to other mature trees, denying them access to sunlight that is critical to establish a healthy structural form. These trees lean and developed unbalanced crowns. Our consulting arborists predicted that many of the park's juvenile trees would fail to become long term park amenities down the road, presenting a sobering outlook for how the next generation of Portlanders might experience the South Park box. Historic parks with mature tree canopies and crowded growing conditions are particularly vulnerable to the spread of pests and diseases, like Dutch-owned disease, and impacts of climate change. In recent years, Portland has experienced increasingly volatile weather conditions and events, such as late season ice storms, prolonged rain surges, and fallout from statewide fire events. It is not uncommon for mature trees to fail under these stressful conditions, which seemingly happens with more frequency and intensity than before. The approach to both the tree succession strategy and the master plan design went hand in hand. Notting to contemporary best practices, the team advocated for a succession strategy that would retain the characteristic tree canopy and grid layout, but do it with fewer trees, a change that will provide each tree more growing space and access to sunlight needed for healthy structural development. This was highly controversial and very difficult for the public to grasp, but reasoning for it was strongly grounded in science, best agricultural practices, and common sense. Shown here in plan is the tree succession strategy for six of the 12 park blocks. On top are the existing tree locations. Below is how each block is envisioned to transform with fewer trees over a span of what will likely be many decades. As you can see, some blocks have fewer trees, but together provide similar canopy coverage. What's more, and key to the sustainability of this endeavor, considering climate change, is the proposed diversified composition of the park's tree species. Elms are still retained in key planting locations to ensure their characteristic form and presence, and their locations reinforce other aspects of the design. A key challenge for landscape architects and designers in identifying the expanded tree species palette was the unique and rare characteristics of American Elms. These trees, which many cities would prefer not to use given their risk of disease, really have no co-equals in terms of their form, height, rate of growth, their strength, their urban resilience, and canopy characteristics. It was really quite a challenge to identify non-elm species that really fit the bill in terms of their capacity to preserve the park's character. This final slide highlights the range of tree species that share some of the qualities of characteristic South Park block elms, but also meet the city of Portland's urban forestry standards and sustainability goals. A wider range of species, a mix of native and non-natives, provides the park with more resilience against disease and die-off. Some Dutch elm disease-resistant elm varieties were also included. As the park continues to evolve and adapt to impacts of climate change in the region, it will do so with trees that have stronger structural form, more room to grow and thrive, and be able to ward off disease and other threats that will inevitably present themselves. I'm now going to hand it over to Lori Matthews. Thanks Rachel. Another devastating effect of a rapidly changing climate is wildfires. I think we've all thought they could only happen in the western United States or similar climates, and the two examples that I'm going to share are really from that part of the world. But this summer, as temperatures rose above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first time in England, a country known for its damp and temperate summers, they had to address wildfires that erupted in both urban and rural areas, such as this one just east of London. What this shows us is that our planning efforts need to be aware of all the effects of climate change and not just those that seem most likely at the present moment. At Point Reyes National Seashore in California, warmer and drier climate conditions have persisted for years. And combined with aging electric infrastructure, wildfires have sparked and grassy and woody vegetation. Due to the devastation of these events, coupled with the urgency of addressing them, applying narrow focus solutions is common and has led to compounded disasters like this, where utility company butchered a historic Cyprus windbreak at one of the park's historic ranches. While this is problematic from a resource protection and integrity perspective, ironically, it also removes a landscape feature that can help mitigate another effect of climate change that occurs frequently in this region, namely higher winds associated with more frequent and intense storms coming off the Pacific Ocean. Applying a myopic solution focused only on the buildings leaves historic places like this less resilient and protected from climate change impacts. Applying a more holistic approach involving the cultural landscape and cultural landscape preservation principles can provide a more effective solution, especially since that focuses on retaining the feature in a way that preserves its character and buffers it from the hazard. Burying the electric lines is one solution, but we found that's not always feasible. So another option involves replanting the next generation of trees offset from the original to separate it from the hazard of the utility lines while retaining the windbreak's form and function. This should be combined with more sensitive pruning of the mature trees, reducing the dead woody mass while also increasing access to light for the new plantings. As the windbreaks die or deteriorate, many of which are reaching the end of their life at Point Reyes, this new planting will regenerate the feature and continue to provide climate protection to the ranch's domestic cores. Another example at Hearst Castle further south along the California coast shows how taking a cultural landscape approach can help mitigate wildfire risk at the same time it restores one of the site's historic features, namely its iconic views. For many years, water from the Neptune pool was leaking down the hillside and fostering the expansion of eucalyptus groves around the base of the hilltop. As one wildfire expert graphically described one of our planning meetings, these trees are like firecrackers given the highly volatile oils inherent in the trees. Some of the eucalyptus groves had also started obstructing historic views from each of the cottages for which they were sited. Therefore, the cultural landscape reports recommendation to remove eucalyptus trees restored historic views at the same time it mitigated a threat heightened by climate change. What we've shared today are just a few examples of how utilizing a cultural landscape preservation framework provides benefits when addressing the effects of a rapidly changing climate and historic properties. It encourages a holistic approach that inherently understands the role of change and how to manage that change. A cultural landscape-centered approach broadens the conversation beyond just protection of historic fabric to retention of a property's historic character. One resource our practice references is this document authored by the University of Oregon's cultural landscape research group which is led by Robert. While preservation is often perceived as a past focus profession, we've shown how it can also be used as a future focused tool to expand our approach to not just protecting but mitigating climate change impacts. As we conclude our proportion of the presentation with some final thoughts, we've written down some guiding principles that we bring to every project. The philosophical and methodological foundation of cultural landscape preservation embraces change as part of the resource. So when we need to think about climate change, namely rapidly accelerating impacts, what better framework to use than one which is already grappled with and set forth best practices and guidelines for historic and cultural resources that inherently change. The key is flexibility within certain parameters as some historic fabric can change if the overall character is retained. Our practice often looks to ecological approaches for solutions given that cultural landscapes are as steeped in our culture as our natural world. In our experience, that encourages a broader and deeper understanding of the effects themselves, since it pushes us to see the bigger picture in both scale and time, promoting flexibility in our approaches. In essence, it gives us more tools in our toolbox, and that is something we believe will be incredibly valuable moving forward. Thank you. Hello everyone. We're so excited to be presenting as part of Pass Forward 2022 to talk about historic preservation and a changing climate and to explore how we as preservationists can work together to preserve the past while planning for the future. I'm Patti Kelleher, Historic Preservation Planner for the City of Salem, Massachusetts. I'm here today with Barbara Warren, the Executive Director of Salem Sound Coastwatch, a science-based not-for-profit, and Susan Baker, Collections Manager for the House of the Seven Gables, an historic museum complex on Salem Harbor. Next, today we will be presenting a case study on Salem, Massachusetts, a microcosm of an historic coastal community confronted with the realities of an ever-changing climate. We will explore Salem's approach to historic preservation at the local level as we work to address impacts on historic resources from sea-level rise, storm surge, and other climate impacts. We will explore the science of climate change in Salem and highlight a unique collaboration between the City of Salem and the Salem Preservation Partners, a group of local preservation and environmental organizations who are working together to raise awareness of climate change impacts to historic resources and to develop strategies for mitigation and adaptation. We will then dive deeper into what one historic site in Salem, the House of the Seven Gables, is doing to adapt to these climate change challenges. As Salem prepares to celebrate its past in 2026 in honor of its 400th anniversary, it also needs to look to its future, one of great opportunity, but one of great environmental change. We hope that at the end of our session you will leave with ideas, approaches, examples, and resources around preservation planning for climate change realities. I will now turn it over to Barbara who will talk more about Salem's changing climate. Thank you Patty. Our changing climate is already bringing challenges to Salem as we can be seen from these photos and the news article. More frequent and intense storms along with higher tides are resulting in damaged sea walls, flooded streets, and buildings. People in Salem are experiencing the changing climate and watching as our coastline changes. Next, as an environmental organization, we know the importance of examining historical maps and documents to understand that what happened on the land and the water still affects what happens today. The influence of history and human actions remains with us. As soon as colonists arrived in New England, they began changing the coastline, clearing the land that led to coastal erosion and filling the shoreline to build roads, wars, and buildings. Forests were cut down for fuel, buildings, and ships, resulting in erosion. William Bentley wrote in his diary that, I quote, a piece of land which contained about five acres was washed away into the cove and was filled up all the channels. This National Park Service map shows that the early in what the land looked like in the early 1800s. And you can see that it had already been altered from the 2016. There were 19 wars in Salem Harbor, the South River, and the Mill Pond were still running with water. But filling continued at a fast pace and by the late 1800s until we arrive at today's modern shoreline. So you see the red arrows are indicating the current shoreline of Salem. Next, here is a graph of the sea level rise from 1880 to 2008, 128 years in total. The average global sea level rise increased with eight inches globally, but Boston experienced 13 inches. Around 1880, Thai lands were converted to land for railroad tracks and that sort of ended. So what I want you to think about is how much were the low lands and the Thai lands raised? Think about the effort it took to fill land. The fill had to be dug by hand and had to be carted to the area. So if you were filling Thai lands, marsh and mudflats using manual labor and bringing the fill in by mule or horse and cart, how high would you have raised the land? Probably only as high as needed at the time. Then remember we've had at least 13 inches of sea level rise since these Thai lands were filled. Next, now let's look at the sea level rise predictions based on climate change modeling that Massachusetts has done to provide its communities with estimates for planning purposes. The blue colors in the bar chart are based on different greenhouse emissions scenarios with the light blue intermediate to dark blue, the extreme case where we do little. So you can see that the sea level rise projections in 2050 go from 1.4 feet up to 3.1 feet. And then in extreme cases, 2070 or maybe sooner, it could be even 5.4 feet with 2100 potentially up to 10.2 feet. So these were used for planning purposes. Next, to promote the preservation and changing climate conference, we got together and created the Salem climate change exhibit. This is just one of the panels illustrating the potential impact of sea level rise. On the right, you see the map from 1875. It's the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map that shows the South River and downtown Salem where ships used to sail right up to the Old Town Hall. On the right is the modern day map. It shows the channelized South River and downtown and the Derby Wharf, which is the Salem Maritime National Park on the right. The area, and you can see that the South River has been buried and the mill pond. The area in yellow on the map on the right shows the tide flooding in 2070. So twice a day at high tide, that whole, all the yellow area will be covered. And this is often referred to as sunny day or blue sky flooding. It doesn't happen with a storm. It just happens twice a day because our tides have gotten that high. Next, we probably all know about storm surge now after Hurricane Ion wrecked Havoc in Florida and South Carolina. It is an abnormal rise of water from being pushed by a storm. And it comes particularly bad if it takes place at high tide. So you can see at the top one what storm surge would have looked like with the 1880 floodplain, how far it would have gone towards the land or the buildings. 2010, it's already reaching the bottom of your building. By 2050, with sea level rise, our storm should be going through those coastal buildings and it will just continue to increase. Happening more often, flooding a larger area and more inland areas and threatening resources that traditionally have not been flooded. Next, 2018 was a wake-up call for Massachusetts. Here is the picture at the top is the Derby Wharf. It's taken from the National Park, from their cupola of the Salem Maritime Customs House. And you can see that white line out in the water and that was where the beach was. The Derby Wharf is completely covered. So are the other wharfs to the right. Next, present day to flood risk of flooding from storms. So this was another exhibit from the climate exhibit we put together. These maps are from the Massachusetts Coast Flood Risk Model Inundation maps. And they were created by Woods Hole Group commissioned by the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management for all coastal communities in Massachusetts. These maps detail coastal flood modeling and mapping under changing climatic conditions. This panel illustrates the probability of Derby Wharf and the downtown south river area being flooded from coastal storms from present through 2017. The percent chance or risk increases over time as sea level rises and storm intensities increase. So the pink is a 0.1 percent chance of flooding. So you can see that in the present day that rarely is this area flooded. But then in 2030 we start to see green. So the probability raises to 2 to 5 percent. The purple in 2050 is now we're at a 20 percent probability. When you get up to the Dark Navy, that's 100 percent probability of being flooded in 2017. Of course, all this implies the community has not made any adaptations or taken no action to prevent the sea level rise from entering the downtown next. Climate change is not uniform across the earth in the northeast Gulf of Maine. We are experiencing greater ocean warming already nine times faster than that global average sea level rise is three to four times faster than the global average. And we're seeing more chaotic weather between heat and droughts and extreme precipitation events. This infographic first was produced by the Union of Concerned Scientists in 2006 and then adapted by the Massachusetts for Massachusetts by Mass Audubon. And it shows how Massachusetts climate is changing. Our temperatures are projected to rise, rise faster than the global average and our winters have already warmed three times faster than the summers. So you can see the summer heat index from 1960 to 1999. It's the Massachusetts climate that we're used to. And currently we're already experiencing a warmer summer and just north of New Jersey's weather. And if the with the lower projections of the climate emissions between 2070 and 2090, we may, we will continue to be warmer but slow it down. But if we continue as business as usual in by 2070, Massachusetts could be experiencing a weather temperature similar to the south. You will hear from our next two speakers how not only is flooding an issue for Massachusetts and our historical preservation, but wind, extreme precipitation, heat and humidity are also impacting our historic structures. To continue our story, Patti Kelleher, Salem's preservation planner since 2016 will share how the city, its historical commission and the Salem's preservation partners are working together to mitigate and adapt to these climate challenges. Patti. Thank you, Barbara. As Barbara mentioned, Salem's waterways and coastlines have informed, have informed life in Salem for more than four centuries from the first arrival of European settlers in 1626 to the native people who call this land home for 1000 of years before. Today, Salem is a small city with a diverse population of 43,000 people. It is blessed with an abundance of historic cultural and natural resources and dedicated residents and organizations who work tirelessly to preserve the community's unique character and sense of place. Next please. For those not familiar with Salem or who only know Salem as the witch city famous for its month long Halloween celebrations, Salem is so much more. As one walks around the city, 400 years of Salem's history is visually represented in the built environment. From first period houses of Salem 17th century past to Georgian houses along the historic waterfront to its nationally renowned collection of federal era mansions and architecture to Victorian era homes and cottages, as well as monumental public architecture. Next. Today, Salem has four local historic districts protecting over 600 historic resources, as well as 10 national historic landmarks and 20 national registered districts. The Salem Historical Commission, a municipal board that serves a dual role of historical commission and historic district commission oversees a local districts and advocates for historic preservation citywide. As you can see by the maps on the screen, while only one of the city's local historic districts is located on the coastline, several of our national registered districts are positioned directly on the water. Next. As Robert described this waterfront location, which has long been critical to Salem's identity and economy is now threatening our heritage. Historic buildings structures and landscapes on the city's coastline are increasingly subject to flooding from rising sea level and storm surge. The image on the screen shows the impact to the historic Victorian era willows national registered district from one of the series of Nor'easters that hit the city in 2018. Next. It is not just coastal resources that are impacted by climate change in Salem, though inland historic buildings are threatened by ever increasing storm intensity with extreme wind and precipitation. In addition, excessive moisture, intense heat fluctuation and rising groundwater are also damaging Salem's historic building fabric. During my seven years as Salem's preservation planner, the city has witnessed unprecedented changes in the way climate is affecting our historic resources. Wind damage, overflowing gutters, leaky basement, spreading mold and flooding are quickly becoming the new normal for our historic buildings. What is perhaps most alarming is how quickly these changes are accelerating. As a preservationist, I admit that it is difficult to accept accept change sometimes. But after witnessing the irreparable damage caused by climate impacts, it is apparent that we need to change a conversation. We can no longer say no to resiliency and adaptation strategies for our historic buildings. We need to be willing to consider these changes and guide them in an historically appropriate manner. Next slide please. The Salem Historical Commission is accepting this challenge, working with property owners to find creative solutions that preserve Salem's architectural heritage while planning for the future. These solutions include the use of non-wood replacement gutters instead of traditional wood gutters to ensure longevity and to provide increased capacity, as shown in the image on the screen that was provided by the Cambridge Historical Commission. The commission is also allowing new gutters were non-existent before and adding diverters to existing gutters to capture extreme rainfall before it damages building facades. In addition, the commission is willing to accept alternative materials in some instances in place of traditional wood slate and masonry such as the use of composite railing systems brush painted to replicate the look of wood as shown in this image on the screen. Next, the commission is also balancing historic appropriateness with climate change mitigation by allowing sustainability options such as solar panels and electric heat pumps on historic buildings. The commission works with property owners to ensure that these changes have minimal impacts on the architectural character of the historic building and the district and meet the Secretary of the Interior standards. The image on the left shows solar panels placed on the upper slope of a gambrel roof with a low profile rectangular arrangement with black framing and panels. The slate on the lower portion of the gambrel roof was preserved intact. The other image shows a placement of a mini-split system with a condenser hidden by a lattice screen and exterior docks placed in the corner and painted out to match the underlying building color. Next slide please. This changing attitude is codified in the commission's recently updated design guidelines, which includes resiliency, sustainability, and adaptation strategies. Within the guidelines, call out boxes as shown on the screen, alert readers to sustainability notes indicating where a building owner can make their projects more environmentally friendly. In addition, the guidelines include information on sustainable practices in building and construction as well as sustainable material and reuse options. These guidelines serve not just the historic district. We've shared them with other municipal staff and development review boards as well as to the building department, neighborhood groups, owners of historic buildings citywide, and local contractors and architects. The link to the guidelines are shown on the screen and will be included in resources for our session. Next. The commission is not undertaking this planning effort alone. Salem is fortunate to have a diverse and passionate group of preservation-based organizations and individuals who serve as caretakers of the city's historic assets. In 2016, the Salem Preservation Partners was formed to gather these groups together to provide a forum for collaborating and sharing resources. The informal group meets quarterly and is open to anyone with an interest in the city's heritage. Today, the group is 25 plus members strong and includes traditional historic and preservation-based organizations, as well as neighborhood and friends groups, the local university and public library, and members involved with tourism and economic development. In addition to sharing resources and preservation strategies, the partners have collaborated on walking and bike tours, educational workshops, and a preservation month breakfast to engage with local and state officials on preservation interests. Next. During the partners meetings, a recurring topic of discussion was the need to address climate change impacts on historic buildings. Whether the building is owned by a private homeowner or a nonprofit organization, climate change is affecting historic buildings citywide. The group formed a committee of partners with immediate concerns relating to building adaptation, including those with buildings and structures on the shoreline. It quickly became apparent to us that understanding the science of climate change was critical to addressing current conditions as well as future predictions. The committee reached out to Barbara and Salem Sound Coast Watch to help with our effort. In 2021, the partners held the region's first annual preservation and the changing climate conference to raise awareness of and begin planning for climate change impacts on historic resources. We worked with the Keeping History Above Water Initiative and invited preservationists from other coastal communities to present their experiences with climate change planning. In addition, the partners hosted the exhibit that Barbara spoke of before that we hosted at City Hall in the lobby. So much has changed in the past two years since we started this effort. The recognition of climate change and the need for adaptation strategies is widespread now. We no longer have to talk about why we need to adapt, but how. In September, the partners held its 2022 conference with a focus on tools and strategies. The National Park Service presented the new Secretary of the Interior Standards for Flood Adaptation, which will become increasingly necessary here in Salem. We advertised the conference beyond traditional preservationists and we reached out to planners, environmentalists, sustainability managers, educators and municipal and state officials. Recordings from both the 2021 and 2022 conferences can be found on the preservingsalem.com website with a link shown on the screen. The preservation and the changing climate effort has also provided us with an opportunity to engage with local and state officials and staff who are working on sustainability and resiliency initiatives to ensure that preservation is part of the conversation. Next. Moving forward, the city and the partners will seek to gain a better understanding of the specific historic resources most at risk from climate change and to provide guidelines for adaptation, such as raising buildings above flood predictions. We're working with local GIS specialists to help overlay the flood risk model maps that Barbara showed earlier with historic resource maps. The map shown on the screen is an initial draft visually depicting sea level rise on historic properties. While moving buildings in Salem was once common practice, efforts to raise the buildings above flood levels is still rare here in Salem. The National Register listed Victorian cottage shown in these images is one example of a building elevated on a new raised foundation in Salem. This building is sighted directly on the coast with an area identified on the map for future sea level rise. In fact, this area has already witnessed repeated flooding from storm surge. Fortunately, despite a lack of design guidelines and jurisdictional oversight by the historical commission at the time this project happened, the owners of this house chose to replicate much of the original Victorian detailing such as a decorative porch in the elevated design. With rising sea levels and increased storm surge, raising historic buildings will become much more in common, much more common in Salem, and it will be critical to ensure that historic buildings are elevated in a manner that preserves their architectural character and that of the surrounding streetscape. We will continue to engage with preservationists and other coastal communities who are further ahead in their planning efforts and who have generously shared their preservation experiences and strategies at our preservation and changing climate conferences. Now we will hear from Susan who will provide a case study of one property in Salem, the House of the Seven Gables. Thank you Patty. For those of you not familiar with the House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association as we are formerly known, we are a two acre museum complex set directly on Salem Harbor and located within the city's historic Derby Street neighborhood. Next, our seaside campus of seven buildings, gardens and lawns is a national historic landmark district that includes among other historic buildings, three important first period houses. American first period houses were largely built between 1626 and 1725. There are only around 400 first period buildings left in the country today, so the historic and architectural importance of these buildings really can't be overstated. And the photograph on the left with the tree is our flagship building, the Turner-Ever Soul Mansion, commonly referred to as the House of the Seven Gables, built in 1668 and still on its original and architecturally important foundation. The photo on the right shows the other two first period buildings, the Hooper Halfway House, built in 1682 to the left, and to the right the retired Becket House, circa 1687. The red building you see peeking out of the back of the photo is Nathaniel Hawthorne's Birthplace, built in 1750. All three of these buildings were moved to the site over the course of about 50 years during the early 20th century to save them from demolition. Next, the Gables is a heavily visited historic site with over 110,000 visitors per year. We offer a constant stream of history and literary tours, educational offerings, public programs, function rentals, and our grounds and gardens play a key role in the kinds of programs we're able to offer the public. Our beautiful seaside site is one of our great assets, but it also makes us ground zero for dealing with climate change issues. Next, the effects of climate change are upon us and the Gables is particularly susceptible given our waterfront location, but rising seawater is not our only concern. I'm going to walk you through some of the challenges we've begun to face with increased frequency and higher level of impact, beginning with challenges to our seawall. We really aren't quite sure when it was built or added to, but do know that the area was first filled and walled in somewhere in the very early 1700s and continuously added to and adjusted over time. With increased storm frequency and strength and rising tide levels, we're now experiencing breaches, overwashes, and damage to the wall that had not occurred in the past. The picture on the left shows wave action on the seawall near one of our building's accounting house and that's not at extremely high tide either. In addition to seawall breaches, equally concerning now is seawater intrusion beyond the wall. Next, these photos show sinkholes that are now developing behind the seawall, something that hasn't happened before in our collective memory. The roped off section shown in the photo to the right is where a very unfortunate visitor fell up to earth high and undermined ground. This seawater intrusion and undermining is happening all along the seawall, as you can see from the pictures. Next, we're also experiencing an increased pace and humidity and moisture damage to our historic structures. The cells, clavours, and underlying historical structural elements are rotting and deteriorating at a much faster pace than in the past, requiring more frequent and expansive maintenance and repairs. And it's not just the structures themselves that are being impacted. Next, mold blooms inside of the buildings are becoming more frequent and more widely spread. All of our buildings do have HVAC and humidity is constantly monitored, but the systems in these porous old buildings cannot keep up with the increased and prolonged levels of moisture in the air. The photo at the left shows furniture brought out to be in the sun as the last step in a mold mitigation effort done last summer. All of the pieces you see in the photo were once owned by Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family. And we're on exhibit in the Hawthorne birthplace during a huge mold bloom caused by basement flooding and sustained high relative humidity levels. We also have an extensive book and archival collection that's being impacted with more frequency. You can see the mold bloom on the books, the book on the top of the pile is a rare Hawthorne first edition. Next, relative humidity levels have increased and so have rainfall and groundwater levels. Our drain and gutter systems are inadequate and overflow frequently. There's literally nowhere for the water to go. Water always seeks the lowest points, which means basements in our case. Sustained foundation seeping and rain related flooding, sometimes happening for the first time in memory, are causing rotting and mold and abundance as well as threatening the utilities located in the basements. Next, we've taken a number of steps to deal with the effects of climate change. These include an accelerated maintenance schedule and adding more staff to the preservation and maintenance team, installing sump pumps and industrial strength dehumidifiers in the basements, raising bulkheads where possible to avoid water overflow, clearing drains frequently and expanding the capacity of the gutters, increasing monitoring using among other things our integrated pest management system, which is a great trigger for identifying some types of problems. Sparing you a disgusting picture of the carpenter ants we collected in our Trapsis spring, but those collections of bugs told us that we had a moisture and rot problem in certain parts of the building that we were then able to repair. We're also working to improve the performance of our HVAC systems so the levels of humidity can be more consistently maintained even within a porous historic house. And importantly, all of the work we do has to follow the City of Salem's preservation guidelines and the Secretary of the Interior guidelines for historic preservation. Of course, all of this costs money, of which, like most museum nonprofits, we have very little. Funding these efforts also takes away from funding other mission-driven educational programs, so we are very dependent on a long, uncertain cycle of grant funding. We know our efforts are just a drop in the bucket compared to what will need to be done for the gables to survive the coming storm of climate change. Next, our list of things we need to do sounds straightforward, but nothing is ever simple or easy. We know we need to rebuild our seawall, for instance, but that will be a complex project given the inclusion of state environmental regulations and city and privately owned property budding the wall, and in the case of the city, actually running through portions of the gable seawall. In essence, we don't want to do something that will make flooding worse for our neighbors down the road and whatever is done needs to be done in an environmentally sound way and at the same time provide us with adequate protection. We know we need to move the utilities currently located in flooding basements to higher ground, but just relocating them to attic spaces, which is an obvious option, is complicated because we store our collections in many of the attics, and in the case of the term Angersaw Mansion, visitors are actually brought to the attic to explore the architectural history of the house. Although we have many buildings on the campus, storage is extremely limited and there's no obvious place on-site to put collections and off-site collection storage is prohibitively expensive. Two of our swallower buildings, the County House and the Prim House, are already experiencing storm seawater flooding and will need to be raised or moved in the near future. If it's decided to move them, where will they go and how will that impact other areas of the site? Again, it feels like we are just reacting to problems rather than anticipating them. It's become very clear the museum needs to know what our options are and come up with a comprehensive climate change adaptation plan for the site that can inform decision making and funding allocations within the near and the long term. Next, our involvement with the preservation partners and preservation and changing climate committee that Patty mentioned earlier has proved to be very fruitful when considering how the Gables can plan for adaptation to climate change. In collaboration partnership with Salem Sound Coast Watch, we've applied for and recently been awarded a two-year grant with the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management to conduct a full assessment of the site and make recommendations for immediate, medium and long-term adaptations to climate change challenges. Various engineering companies will assess groundwater and underground water flow, the underground infrastructure on the site, the basement utilities configurations, and the efficacy of the seawall. The data collected and analyzed during this assessment will provide the underpinning for a far-reaching adaptation plan for the site that will be developed by an historic preservation architectural firm. This is a groundbreaking grant in that it will allow us to serve as a prototype for the kinds of adaptations that could be considered by other historic property owners. With the models developed at the Gables, we hope other nonprofits and individual historic property owners will be inspired to plan for their own properties while working with an historic preservation guidelines. Next, Patty mentioned that the preservation partners just held a two-day conference devoted to the topic of historic preservation and adaptations to climate change. As she mentioned, you can watch the recorded portions of the preservation and changing climate conference just held by following the link you see here to view the recorded sessions. And please plan to attend our next preservation and changing climate conference in September of 2023, where you can hear about some of the Gables Coastal Zone Management grant outcomes and learn what other historic property owners are doing to adapt to climate change. On behalf of the City of Salem preservation partners, Salem Sound Coast Watch and the House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association, thank you for listening to our presentation.