Ildiko C. Pechmann, PhD, of MRRI presented a comprehensive assessment of wetlands in the Lower Hackensack Estuary at the Restore America’s Estuaries 2026 Summit in San Francisco on September 24, 2026. The conference convened practitioners, scientists, and representatives from state and federal agencies to discuss strategies to restore and protect coastal wetlands. Sessions highlighted emerging advances in environmental modeling, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and large language models—tools that can support coastal and estuarine restoration efforts and improve data analysis.
Dr. Pechmann’s presentation integrated LiDAR-derived elevation data with hyperspectral imagery to evaluate how resilient the Meadowlands estuary marshes may be to sea-level rise under multiple future SLR scenarios. Her talk prompted discussion on the long-term sustainability of current wetland management practices in urban estuaries and opened opportunities for future collaboration.
The study presented at the conference was funded by EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grants: CD – 96247300 & CD – 96228500 and NJDEP’s New Jersey Tidal Wetland Monitoring Network.
