Partnerships to Inform Climate Adaptation and Natural Resource Management in the Northwest and North Central U.S.

The Northwest and North Central Climate Adaptation Science Centers (NW and NC CASCs) work in partnership with regional natural resource management communities to provide high priority science information and products needed for climate adaptation. In parallel with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Region 6, the NW and NC CASCs prioritize science to inform sagebrush steppe and grassland ecosystem conservation, emphasizing the application of climate adaptation strategies that support at-risk populations and human-ecological communities within these ecosystems. To improve their ability to deliver effective and actionable science, the NW and NC CASCs must continually engage with regional partners and stakeholders to understand their natural resource management priorities.  

Through this project, the NW and NC CASCs are working closely with USFWS staff to help achieve CASC and USFWS objectives for delivering actionable science. The project team is working on a range of efforts, including: 

• Identifying ways to fill climate information needs for Endangered Species Act (ESA) Species Status Assessments for at-risk species, including sagebrush- and grassland-associated species, by engaging closely with USFWS Endangered Species Coordinators and biologists in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Kansas, Nebraska and North and South Dakota, 

• Developing and disseminating resource management-relevant scientific products generated through projects funded by the NW and NC CASCs and the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (Great Northern, Southern Rockies, Plains and Prairie Potholes), 

• Gauging the climate adaptation training needs of tribal, federal, state, and local natural resources managers, especially in sagebrush steppe and grassland ecosystems with the goal of creating a Western Climate Adaptation Training Center, and 

• Expanding the range of regional partners that the NW and NC CASCs work with. 

This work will facilitate the NW and NC CASCs’ ability to inform climate adaptation management approaches through applied science and targeted adaptation training.