Collaborating on Climate Adaptation

RAMPS expands drought adaptation project with national parks in the 4-Corners area. National parks across the desert Southwest are experiencing ecological impacts due to climate change. Since late 2018, USGS RAMPS scientists have been working with Southeast Utah Group of national parks to better understand climate change impacts and build a suite of science-driven management strategies to increase ecological resiliency in the parks. The group received funding from the USGS Natural Resource Protection Program to focus efforts in grasslands ecosystems, and has recently expanded to begin work in pinyon-juniper woodlands. With the expansion into woodlands, they added a number of national park staff in the 4-Corners area of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The collective of park resource staff and scientists is seeking additional funding to develop a drought early warning system and associated management options that can better prepare the parks to mitigate and adapt to drought in the near and long-term.