Mae Davenport, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
Mae's research on the project
Local perceptions of climate change on the North Shore
Mae's work involves the collection and analysis of a series of "community climate narratives" that will provide a better understanding of how residents and resource managers feel about climate change and its impacts to the North Shore.
About Mae
Mae is an Associate Professor in the Department of Forest Resources at the University of Minnesota and Director of the University’s Center for Changing Landscapes. A native Minnesotan, Mae is the lead PI on the North Shore Community Climate Readiness project. In addition to overseeing the project’s various tasks and activities, Mae and her students have been collecting and analyzing a series of “community climate narratives” from North Shore residents and resource managers. The narratives provide local insight and historical knowledge about how the North Shore’s communities have been able to cope with, and respond to, environmental change in the past. Understanding how the region has responded to change in the past can provide valuable insight into how it can best prepare for change in the future.
In addition to leading the North Shore Community Climate Readiness project, Mae has a variety of other research projects focused on the human dimensions of natural resource management, specifically sustainable land use planning, community-based ecosystem management and recreation planning. Much of the work that Mae and her students do is interdisciplinary, integrating the biophysical and social sciences to better understand and address natural resource management problems.