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Abstract
Climate-driven changes in environmental conditions and disturbance patterns have informed predictive models with expected distributional shifts of forest habitat types (Fornwalt et al. 2024) and myriad changes for vulnerable biophysical resources across ecosystems of the Front Range of Colorado (e.g., Colorado Parks and Wildlife 2015; Smith 2024; White 2024). Strategies for managing these forests adaptively in a changing climate are more likely to realize desired outcomes when decisions are based on relevant and current data (see Moir and Block 2001). Although natural resource monitoring programs generating data often require substantial investments of time and labor (Lovett et al. 2007), community science and crowd-sourcing data collection can expand monitoring capacity for climate-sensitive biophysical resources (McKinley et al. 2017). Limited agency staff and funding for routine monitoring and field data collection justifies engagement of interested public groups who can make valuable contributions to resource management (i.e., community science). Community science projects can permit monitoring of critical resources that otherwise would not be possible or extend the spatial and temporal scale of monitoring (McKinley et al. 2017). Managers may find employing community science particularly useful for examining sensitive biophysical resources that may change under altered climate conditions (e.g., Chandler et al. 2017). In addition to increasing capacity to collect data, by recruiting volunteers, managers can better deliver information to the public, connect greater numbers of the public with the mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and increase the public value of national forests, which will likely be crucial to managing forests adaptively in the face of climate change.
Parent Publication
Keywords
adaptation,
Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests,
disturbances,
ecosystem services,
fire,
flooding,
forest planning,
forest resources,
infrastructure,
insects,
Pike-San Isabel National Forests,
socioeconomic,
resource management,
water resources,
wildfire,
wildlife
Citation
Fairchild, Matthew; Hanberry, Brice B. 2024. Community involvement to increase monitoring capacity for climate-sensitive resources (Chapter 7). In: Hanberry, Brice B., ed. Colorado Front Range climate change vulnerability assessment for National Forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-438. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 281-291.
