Preservation in a Changing Climate Conference 2024

The City of Salem and the Salem Preservation Partners held its fourth annual conference focusing on addressing climate impacts to the region’s historic resources on September 18th at the Peabody Essex Museum Morse Auditorium.

Building on past Preservation in a Changing Climate Conferences, this year’s event focused on mitigation and adaptation strategies that address the impacts of climate on historic buildings, landscapes and neighborhoods. The conference included a full day of in-person events including a keynote from Massachusetts State Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer, case studies, conversations and panel discussions, and closing remarks by National Park Service Superintendent Jennifer Hardin at the National Park Service Armory Visitor Center. Special tours of the PEM Ropes Mansion and The House of the Seven Gables were offered on Tuesday, September 17th for participants.

Click on the highlighted titles below for recordings of the keynote and session presentations

conference PROGRAM

Welcome & Overview of the Day

Opening remarks from Dominick Pangallo (Mayor, City of Salem), Lynda Roscoe Hartigan (PEM’s Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Executive Director and CEO) and Jane Winchell and Steven Mallory (PEM’s Salem Preservation Partners representatives).

KEYNOTE: Melissa Hoffer, MA Climate Chief

SESSION 1:  Planning for Change: Coastal Resilience and Adaptation

State, Regional and Local planning efforts 

Moderator: Barbara Warren, Executive Director, Salem Sound Coastwatch

Julia Knisel, Coastal Shoreline and Floodplain Manager, MA Office of Coastal Zone Management

Deanna Moran, Chief Coastal Resilience Officer, MA Office of Coastal Zone Management

Neal Duffy, Director of Sustainability and Resiliency, City of Salem

SESSION 2: Climate Adaptation & Managed Retreat Plan - The House of the Seven Gables Case Study

Hear from The House of the Seven Gables about the results of the CZM grant-funded assessment and resilience study and their plan for climate change adaptation

Moderator: Julia Knisel, Coastal Shoreline and Floodplain Manager, MA Office of Coastal Zone Management

Julia Knisel, Coastal Shoreline and Floodplain Manager, MA Office of Coastal Zone Management

Susan Baker, Collections Manager, The House of the Seven Gables

Paul Wright, Director of Preservation and Maintenance, The House of the Seven Gables

SESSION 3: Site & Building Strategies for Addressing Water Inundation

Learn how different historic resources are managing increasing volumes of water resulting from climate change

Moderator: Christina Pokwatka, Preservation Project Manager, Historic New England  

Historic Preservation and Groundwater Mitigation: Finding the Balance | Rodney Rowland, Director of Facilities and Environmental Sustainability, Strawbery Banke Museum

Staying Above Water |  Julie Larry, former Architectural Historian, Greater Portland Landmarks; Senior Architectural Historian, Black Diamond Consultants 

Stormwater Management in the Face of Climate Change | Ben Haavik, Team Leader, Property Care, Historic New England

SESSION 4: Climate Mitigation Solutions – Decarbonizing Historic Buildings Through Electrification

Learn about practical applications for electrifying, from city-wide blocks to single buildings

Moderator: Neal Duffy, Director of Sustainability and Resiliency, City of Salem

Geothermal 101 and How Networking Communities Can Enable a Just Energy Transition | Angie Alberto Escobar, Director, Community Gas-to-Geo, HEET

Lowell Networked Geothermal Pilot Project: Process, Planning, and Practicality | Ruairi O’Mahony, Executive Director, Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy, UMASS Lowell and Katherine Moses, Sustainability Director, City of Lowell

The Cabot House, Beverly: Lessons from an Air-Source Heat Pump Installation in a Historic Building | Sue Goganian, Director, Historic Beverly  

Closing Reception & Remarks 

Jennifer Hardin, Superintendent, Salem Maritime National Historic Site