The Climate Adaptation Workbook: A planning tool for ecosystem management

Background/Question/Methods

Ecosystem managers already face an overwhelming array of often competing demands, leaving many with the sense that coping with the complex issue of climate change is simply beyond their current capacity. This is exacerbated by a frequent perception that the academic discussion of climate adaptation strategies is often disconnected from day-to-day realities of ecosystem management. Acknowledging these issues, the Forest Service joined with partners in 2009 to launch a comprehensive effort called the Climate Change Response Framework (www.forestadaptation.org). Broadly, the Framework was designed to create and gather credible scientific information relevant to forest management and climate, foster close collaboration between scientists and managers, build useful tools that support diverse management goals, and finally seek to deliver products of these efforts to managers in a timely and useful manner. More specifically, the Framework is intended to help managers integrate climate considerations into forest management plans and then implement adaptation actions on the ground. This distinct integration takes place through the use of a planning tool, the Adaptation Workbook, which is used in conjunction with vulnerability assessment and a diverse “menu” of adaptation approaches to generate site-specific adaptation actions that meet explicit management objectives. Additionally, a training course, designed around the Adaptation Workbook, leads management organizations through this process of designing on-the-ground adaptation tactics for their management projects.

Results/Conclusions

The Framework is being actively pursued in 20 states in the Northwoods, Central Hardwoods, Central Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, and New England. The Framework community includes over 100 science and management groups, dozens of whom have worked together to complete six ecoregional vulnerability assessments covering nearly 135 million acres. More than 75 forest and urban forest adaptation strategies and approaches were synthesized from peer-reviewed and gray literature, expert solicitation, and on-the-ground adaptation projects. These are being linked through the Adaptation Workbook process to on-the-ground adaptation tactics being planned and employed in more than 50 adaptation “demonstrations”. This presentation will touch on the broader Framework and assessments, but focus on the Adaptation Workbook planning tool by showcasing efforts where adaptation actions are currently being implemented in forests. We will also discuss challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned that can be applied at different scales and in different sectors.