Climate Change and Rocky Mountain Ecosystems

Abstract

Climate Change and Rocky Mountain Ecosystems describes the results of a cutting-­edge effort to assess climate change vulnerabilities and develop adaptation options for ecosystems in the Northern Rocky Mountains region of the United States, focusing on national forests, grasslands, and parks in Northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Northern South Dakota, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Building on a framework developed in previous subregional climate change efforts, the Northern Rockies Adaptation Partnership (NRAP) was the first regional-scale, multi-resource climate change assessment in the United States. The NRAP was unprecedented in scale, scope, and breadth of the partnership, demonstrating the value of using a diverse science-management partnership and a consistent framework to assess climate change effects and identify on-the-ground adaptation options. This book provides concise descriptions of state-of-science climate change vulnerability assessments for water, fisheries, vegetation, disturbance, wildlife, recreation, ecosystem services, and cultural resources in the Northern Rockies. Adaptation strategies and tactics, including both familiar and novel ecosystem management approaches, are described for all resource areas. Lessons learned and next steps are also described in a concluding chapter. Chapter 1 provides an overview of ecosystems in the Northern Rockies region and outlines the NRAP vulnerability assessment and adaptation process. Chapter 2 describes historical climate and future climate projections for the Northern Rockies region and five subregions within. Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 provide detailed physical and ecological climate change vulnerability assessments for hydrology, fisheries, forest and rangeland vegetation, ecological disturbance, and wildlife. Chapters 9, 10 and 11 focus on climate change vulnerabilities for social values and resources including recreation, cultural heritage, and other ecosystem services. Far more than literature reviews, these assessments synthesize the best available science, evaluate the quality and relevance of the science for each application, and identify geographic locations where sensitivity is high. For several assessments, new climate impact model analyses were conducted. Related adaptation strategies and tactics are described in each chapter, except for disturbance and ecosystem services, for which adaptation options are integrated in other chapters. Finally, chapter 12 describes potential applications of the vulnerability assessment and opportunities for implementing adaptation options. We are optimistic that the vulnerability assessments and adaptation options developed through the NRAP will result in revised management approaches on the ground. Follow-up projects are already developing in the region, and information on potential climate change effects and adaptation is being integrated in national forest plan revisions, which will help national forests comply with the U.S. Forest Service 2012 Planning Rule. These projects and applications demonstrate the value of enduring relationships built during the course of the NRAP that have increased the capability of federal agencies to incorporate climate change in resource management and planning. Only five years ago, climate change readiness was barely visible in the western United States. Now, organizational capacity of federal land management is accelerating as a result of science-management partnerships such as the one described here. Addressing the effects of climate change on natural resources will be one of the great challenges for society in future decades. It is our hope that this book will help improve our understanding of how humans are affecting nature and motivate timely implementation of adaptation in the years ahead.

Citation

2018. Climate Change and Rocky Mountain Ecosystems. Advances in Global Change Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56928-4