As a 2019 NRCS Project Liaison with the Northeast and Southeast USDA Climate Hubs, Chris Miller will be leading a project to assess the impact of sea level rise, coastal flooding and saltwater inundation on agricultural producers in the Eastern and Gulf Coast states.
He will be developing alternative adaptive management strategies and protocols that producers can implement to reduce the amount of cropland and crop productivity lost by increased soil salt concentrations. In addition, various practices and methods will be assessed to potentially restore and/or improve the ecosystem services of these salt impacted, marginal lands.
Chris joins this detail position as a Conservation Agronomist with USDA-NRCS and Manager of the Cape May Plant Materials Center. This facility is focused primarily on collecting, testing and selecting plant materials for coastal stabilization applications. Previously, he served as a regional Field Plant Materials Specialist providing plant science consultation to NRCS State technical specialists and field offices in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states. This involved assisting with vegetative recommendations for many NRCS conservation practices and plant applications, including critical area stabilization, conservation cover, pollinator habitat creation, filter strips, riparian areas, and wetland restoration. He also provided guidance to other Federal, State and partner agencies on plant selection for stabilizing disturbed and eroding areas including dunes, tidal shorelines and streambanks, mined areas, Superfund sites and phytoremediation applications using native plant materials and innovative planting techniques.