Event Description: This session will be dedicated to the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which is under development and due for release in 2023, and the National Nature Assessment, which was recently announced by the Biden administration: (1) Dr. Dennis Ojima, ESA President, will highlight the importance of ecologists in assessment and the value of assessment for decision making. (2)Allison Crimmins, Director of the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) will provide an overview of the report, progress to date, and upcoming opportunities to engage in the process. Authors of different chapters within the NCA5 will present their chapter key messages and public participation and review process.(3)The National Nature Assessment: Dr. Heather Tallis, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Assistant Director for Biodiversity and Conservation Science will introduce the planned National Nature Assessment and discuss the process and timelines.Open discussion: The session will conclude with a moderated discussion with all speakers and the ESA community. The discussion will be facilitated and include student and early career scientist voices.The Town Hall will be a forum to welcomes feedback on how the ecological research community can be engaged in the assessment process and other ideas for how to make this work even more useful/useable including engaging future scientists and diverse audiences. Lastly, the author teams held a National Youth Dialogue session to encourage the engagement of youth in the process for the zero order draft. Strategies to engage youth in the overall NCA process will be discussed.Group Name: Office of Science and Technology Policy, US Global Change Research Program, and authors of the Fifth National Climate Assessment.