Advancing Landscape-Scale Conservation An Assessment of Climate Change-Related Challenges, Needs, and Opportunities for the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative Patricia Tillmann*and Dan Siemann† National Wildlife Federation Funded by the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative December 2012 *email: [email protected] †email: [email protected] Executive Summary This report provides an assessment of climate change-related challenges, needs, and opportunities to advance landscape-scale conservation, climate change adaptation, and sustainable resource management in the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NPLCC) region. The NPLCC funded this report to inform NPLCC members, specifically the Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (S- TEK) Subcommittee, as they assess priorities and develop their 2013-2016 Strategy for Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.1 The report identifies conservation delivery, applied science, and science and data provision opportunities the NPLCC could consider to support resource managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers in their efforts to conserve and manage ecosystems, habitats, and species in light of climate change effects.2 Information for this assessment was collected from 195 natural and cultural resource managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers working at the nexus of climate change and ecosystem response in the NPLCC region. Data was Box 1. Landscape Conservation Cooperatives gathered through a survey, thirteen web-based focus groups, and three in-person workshops Twenty-two Landscape Conservation Cooperatives between September 2011 and June 2012. (LCCs) are planned for North America. As member- Participants were asked to identify challenges directed conservation partnerships among State and they faced addressing climate change in their Federal agencies, Tribes, nongovernmental work, approaches they use to overcome those organizations, universities, existing partnership efforts, challenges, and suggestions for how the and other conservation entities, LCCs identify and NPLCC could support improved landscape- address the landscape-scale conservation needs of scale conservation and sustainable resource their members and stakeholders. LCCs generate management in an era of climate change. applied science to inform conservation actions related Data were analyzed using the grounded to climate change, habitat fragmentation, and other theory approach to qualitative data analysis, landscape-scale stressors and resource issues, thereby which is an iterative process of data linking science with conservation delivery. By working collection and analysis through which within and across institutional and geographic participants‟ input is collected, assessed, and boundaries, LCCs provide platforms for synthesized to generate research results.3 The communication, relationship building, and stakeholder University of Washington Climate Impacts engagement from which barriers to landscape-scale Group and Insight Decisions, LLC guided the collaboration and governance can be overcome. development of this report and the associated Sources: U.S. FWS (2010a), Jacobsen & Robertson project methodology. (2012) 1 While the primary function of the assessment is to inform the NPLCC and S-TEK, the results are also pertinent for those interested in a better understanding of the challenges, needs, and opportunities germane to project participants. 2 There are several regional and subregional assessments of physical and ecological climate change impacts in the NPLCC region (e.g., BC MOE 2006, Biodiversity BC 2009, CA NRA 2009, CIG 2009, Nelitz et al. 2007, OCCRI 2010, Pike et al. 2010, Tillmann & Siemann 2011a & 2011b), but far fewer assessments of what resource managers and conservation practitioners will need in order to respond effectively to climate change effects. Available assessments focus on practitioners‟ needs in marine and coastal ecosystems; none focus on the NPLCC specifically (Finzi Hart et al. 2012, NOAA 2011). This assessment focuses on practitioner needs in the NPLCC region. 3 See Chapter II. Methodology and Appendix 3. Technical Supplement for additional information. i The geographic focus of the assessment is the NPLCC region, which extends from Kenai Peninsula in southcentral Alaska to Bodega Bay in northwest California, west of the Cascade Mountain Range and Coast Mountains (Figure 1, p. 5). The NPLCC region ranges over 1500 miles (~2400 km) from north to south, up to 150 miles (~240 km) inland, and includes approximately 38,200 miles (~61,500 km) of coastline.4 The landscape is dominated by forests and some of North America‟s longest rivers, while the seascape is characterized by highly productive coastal waters, estuaries, and rocky shorelines. Strong linkages among the region‟s marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems are evident in the species that link these ecosystems, such as salmon, and the strong cultures that depend upon healthy, resilient habitats. As noted by project participants and cited in the scientific literature, climate change is already affecting the NPLCC region‟s ecosystems and wide-ranging changes are projected to continue.5 These changes include habitat loss and transition, increasing biological stress on salmon and other key species, and the possibility of novel assemblages of habitats and species as species shift their range, phenological relationships change or are disrupted, and interactions with invasive and non-native species are altered.6 These impacts present a number of challenges and opportunities for resource managers, conservation practitioners, and researchers and highlight the potential role the NPLCC can play in supporting efforts to address climate change impacts on ecosystems, habitats, species, and indigenous resources in the region. Qualitative analysis of participant input suggests six categories of challenges, four core needs, and seventeen activity areas particular to ecosystems, habitats, species, and indigenous resources. Table 1 (p. xv) lists the core needs and activity areas from the most- to least-frequently cited by project participants. Challenges Project participants described a number of specific challenges in response to questions about managing ecosystems, habitats, species, and indigenous resources in light of current and projected climate change effects. Through the analysis of survey responses, web-based focus group input, and in-person workshop results, these challenges were grouped into six themes, summarized below, that emerged as representative categories for the specific challenges described by participants in this assessment: It is difficult to identify, understand, and use climate change science, data, tools, and/or information: Information on climate change effects is difficult to find, not available at an appropriate scale, or is not available in a format accessible, comprehensible, and useful in project participants‟ diverse areas of expertise. Insufficient capacity inhibits addressing climate change: Despite significant interest in addressing climate change, insufficient human, financial, technical, political, and institutional capacity prevents planning, action, or acquisition of knowledge to adequately address climate change issues. Several non-scientific barriers inhibit efforts to collaborate on and communicate climate change: Among climate change professionals, international boundaries and institutional silos and culture are the primary impediment to collaboration.7 Political, cultural, and social barriers most 4 USFWS (2010b) 5 See, for example, Tillmann & Siemann (2011a, 2011b) 6 See, for example, Tillmann & Siemann (2011a, 2011b) 7 For information on the role of LCCs, in general, in overcoming these barriers, see Jacobson and Robertson (2012). ii hinder communication between climate change professionals and policy makers, educators, and the public. There is inadequate coordination, collaboration, and communication among people, projects, institutions, and funding: With the NPLCC‟s extended north-south gradient, many similar projects are taking place across institutional and international boundaries yet it is difficult to coordinate with peers and colleagues working in similar fields and to leverage opportunities to collaborate on projects.8 It is difficult to incorporate or address uncertainty: Project participants find it difficult to address uncertainty in climate projections or in the response of ecosystems to current and projected climate change effects. The effectiveness of conservation and management actions in a changing climate and the ability of institutions to respond to climate change are additional sources of uncertainty. Climate-related uncertainties are in some cases novel or are unfamiliar in an area of expertise. Climate-related priorities compete with other priorities and climate change has not been mainstreamed sufficiently into current environmental priorities: Climate change issues compete with other environmental, economic, or social issues for the time, attention, and funding of people and institutions. In many cases, climate change is still not being considered in planning, regulatory decision-making, and other venues, yet climate change effects will have important implications for the effectiveness of these decisions and the overall health and resilience9 of ecosystems, habitats, species, and resources. Core Needs and Opportunities As a cross-jurisdictional partnership organization, the NPLCC may be well-suited to address many