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In the U.S. Southwest, global climate change, acting in concert with extant stressors such as urbanization and over-allocation of water resources, is changing ecosystems in measureable and sometimes dramatic ways. Twentyfirst century projections indicate accelerating climate change and cascading ecological consequences. Our experience suggests that adaptation efforts can be effective if they are focused at the local scale; employ learning networks; and engage in ecosystem-based adaptation: the sustainable management, conservation and restoration of ecosystems so that they continue to provide the services that allow people to thrive in changing environments.
Report on the Southwest Climate Change Initiative’s Flagstaff Climate Change Adaptation Workshop of April 2010 in Flagstaff, Arizona. 77 pp., including executive summary and appendices.
This regional assessment examines the impacts of temperature change from 1951-2006 on natural resources in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. It documents that warming has already affected habitats, watersheds, and species in the Southwest, by influencing the timing of seasonal events or amplifying the impacts of natural disturbances such as wildfire and drought. The report concludes that to begin adapting to climate change, natural resource managers should reevaluate the effectiveness of current restoration tools, modify resource objectives, learn from climate-smart adaptive management and monitoring, and share information across boundaries.
Agenda, climate change scenarios, climate change adaptation framework description, background information about climate change in the Great Basin, and other materials that were distributed in a notebook to all participants at the Bear River Climate Adaptation Workshop of May 2010.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) convened a two-day workshop entitled Climate Change Adaptation Workshop for Natural Resource Managers in the Bear River Basin on May 26-27, 2010, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The goal of the workshop was to identify management strategies that will help native plants, animals and ecosystems adapt to a changing climate and lay the groundwork for their implementation in the Bear River Basin. Thrity-nine representatives of 20 state and federal agencies, local governments, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations participated.
Presentations by speakers at the Bear River Climate Adaptation Workshop of May 2010, including Patrick McCarthy (The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico), Dr. Gregg Garfin (University of Arizona), Dr. Linda O. Mearns (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Dr. Joe Barsugli (University of Colorado), Dr. Frederic H. Wagner (Utah State University), and Dr. Molly Cross (Wildlife Conservation Society).
Presentations by speakers at the Flagstaff Climate Adaptation Workshop of April 2010, including Dr. Gregg Garfin (University of Arizona), Dr. Linda O. Mearns (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Dr. Seshadri Rajagopal (University of Arizona), Dr. Kenneth Cole (US Geological Survey), Dr. Kirsten E. Ironside (Northern Arizona University), Dr. Peter Fule (Northern Arizona University), Megan M. Friggins (USFS – Rocky Mtn Research Station), Dr. Joseph L. Ganey (USFS – Rocky Mtn Research Station), and Dr. Molly Cross (Wildlife Conservation Society).
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) convened a two-day workshop entitled Climate Change Adaptation Workshop for Natural Resource Managers in the Gunnison Basin on December 2-3, 2009, in Gunnison, Colorado. The goal of the workshop was to identify management strategies that will help native plants, animals and ecosystems adapt to a changing climate and lay the groundwork for their implementation in the Gunnison Basin. Fifty-seven representatives of 20 state and federal agencies, local governments, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations participated.
Report on the Southwest Climate Change Initiative’s Jemez Mountains Climate Change Adaptation Workshop of April 2009 in Los Alamos, New Mexico. 41 pp., including executive summary and appendices.
Presentations by speakers at the Jemez Mountains Climate Adaptation Workshop of April 2009, including Todd Ringler (Los Alamos National Lab), Bob Parmenter (Valles Caldera National Preserve), Molly Cross (Wildlife Conservation Society) and Carolyn Enquist (The Nature Conservancy)
Presentations by speakers at the Gunnison Basin Climate Adaptation Workshop of December 2009, including Gregg Garfin (University of Arizona), Linda Mearns (National Center for Atmospheric Research), Joe Barsugli (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Molly Cross (Wildlife Conservation Society) and Patrick McCarthy (The Nature Conservancy).
Agenda, climate change scenarios, speaker biographies, climate change adaptation framework description, background information, participant list and other materials distributed in the participant notebook for the Gunnison Basin Climate Adaptation Workshop of December 2010.
The second of three reports assesses the conservation implications of recent climate change on New Mexico’s watersheds and hydrology. Analyzing recent trends (1970-2006) in a water balance variable—climate water deficit—that indicates biological moisture stress or drying, this study identifies watersheds of high conservation importance in New Mexico that are most and least vulnerable to ongoing climate change.
Summaries and presentations from a climate change workshop that reviewed climate change science, articulated management concerns, shared management strategies and identified opportunities to address climate change adaptation challenges.
There is now strong scientific evidence that human-induced climate change is affecting the earth's species and ecological systems. The Nature Conservancy's state-wide assessment of recent climate change enables practitioners and managers to make better informed decisions and to take action in the near-term by identifying the potential vulnerability of habitat types, priority conservation sites and species to climate change.
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