Northwest Climate Science Center-Linking Climate Science to Wildlife Management and Conservation

Abstract

In 2009, Secretarial Order 3289 (Interior) established eight regional Climate Science Centers (CSC) to “work with other federal, state, tribal, and local governments and private landowner partners to develop landscape level strategies for understanding and responding to climate change impacts.”  This Order acknowledged that climate-driven changes would likely affect ecosystem function, structure and composition, wildlife populations, and biodiversity in ways that no single management entity could effectively address alone. On-going and emerging ecological changes such as hydrologic regime shifts, invasive species, changes in fire regimes, and land use changes are occurring at spatial and temporal scales that demand a coordinated, inter-jurisdictional approach if we are to mitigate for and adapt to these stressors.  The Northwest (NW) CSC has developed approaches to coordinate with regional partners, strategize to identify needed science and capacity, and identify resources to fund applied research and implement coordinated application to management needs in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana.  In addition, the NW CSC has developed collaborative partnerships with Federal and state agencies, tribal and intertribal organizations, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), USDA Climate Hubs, and others to provide needed scientific information and tools. This presentation will outline the goals and operational framework of the NW CSC, present case studies of NW CSC climate research used to inform decision-making relevant to wildlife management and conservation across the region, and provide guidance to scientists and managers for identifying actionable science projects that the NW CSC could support for addressing climate-driven changes in ecological systems.