Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: Adaptations to climate change: Colville and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests

Author: Gaines, William L.; Peterson, David W.; Thomas, Cameron A.; Harrod, Richy J.

Date: 2012

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-862. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 34 p

Station ID: GTR-PNW-862

Description: Forest managers are seeking practical guidance on how to adapt their current practices and, if necessary, their management goals, in response to climate change. Science-management collaboration was initiated on national forests in eastern Washington where resource managers showed a keen interest in science-based options for adapting to climate change at a 2-day workshop. Scientists and managers reviewed current climate change science and identified resources vulnerable to expected climate change. Vulnerabilities related to vegetation and habitat management included potential reductions in forest biodiversity and low forest resilience to changing disturbance regimes. The vulnerabilities related to aquatic and infrastructure resources included changing water quality and quantity, the risk to roads and other facilities from changes to hydrologic regimes, and the potential loss of at-risk aquatic species and habitats. Managers then worked in facilitated groups to identify adaptations that could be implemented through management and planning to reduce the vulnerability of key resources to climate change. The identified adaptations were grouped under two major headings: Increasing Ecological Resiliency to Climate Change, and Increasing Social and Economic Resiliency to Climate Change. The information generated from the science-management collaborative represents an initial and important step in identifying and prioritizing tangible steps to address climate change in forest management. Next would be the development of detailed implementation strategies that address the identified management adaptations.

Keywords: Science-management collaborative, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Colville National Forest, climate change, resource vulnerability, adaptations, resiliency

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Citation

Gaines, William L.; Peterson, David W.; Thomas, Cameron A.; Harrod, Richy J.  2012.  Adaptations to climate change: Colville and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests.   Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-862. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 34 p.