Adapting to climate change at Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park

Abstract

Climate change presents a major challenge to natural resource managers both because of the magnitude of potential effects of climate change on ecosystem structure, processes, and function, and because of the uncertainty associated with those potential ecological effects.Concrete ways to adapt to climate change are needed to help natural resource managers take the first steps to incorporate climate change into management and take advantage of opportunities to counteract the negative effects of climate change. We began a climate change adaptation case study at Olympic National Forest (ONF) in partnership with Olympic National Park (ONP) to determine how to adapt management of federal lands on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, to climate change. The case study began in the summer of 2008 and continued for 1½ years. The case study process involved science-based sensitivity assessments, review of management activities and constraints, and adaptation workshops in each of four focus areas (hydrology and roads, fish, vegetation, and wildlife). The process produced adaptation options for ONF and ONP, and illustrated the utility of place-based vulnerability assessment and science-management workshops in adapting to climate change. The case study process provides an example for other national forests, national parks, and natural resource agencies of how federal land management units can collaborate in the initial stages of climate change adaptation. Many of the ideas generated through this process can potentially be applied in other locations and in other agencies.Keywords: Adaptation, climate change, fish habitat management, hydrology, road management, science-management partnerships, vegetation management, wildlife habitat management.iv SummaryIn this report, we describe results of the Olympic Climate Change Case Study, a sciencemanagement collaboration initiated to develop climate change adaptation strategies and actions for Olympic National Forest (ONF) and Olympic National Park (ONP). The case study was one of three parallel climate change adaptation case studies on national forests and adjacent national parks in the Western United States as a part of a larger effort, the WestWide Climate Initiative. This initiative was created by scientists of the U.S. Forest Service to address the urgent need to communicate climate change information to land managers and work with them to develop adaptation options.For the Olympic Climate Change Case Study, we conducted a vulnerability assessment to facilitate development of adaptation strategies and actions for ONF and ONP. The first step in the vulnerability assessment process involved a review of available climate model projections to determine likely levels of exposure to climate change (degree of deviation in temperature and precipitation) on the Olympic Peninsula (chapter 3). In the next step, we reviewed relevant literature on effects of climate change and available projections to identify likely climate change sensitivities in each of four focus areas on the Olympic Peninsu...

The North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership: A Science-Management Collaboration for Responding to Climate Change

“…These resource sectors were selected based on their importance in the region and current management challenges. They are similar to the resources that were the focus of a previous partnership for the Olympic Peninsula, Washington [7], but differ in two ways, reflecting differences in the ecology and predominant use of public lands in the North Cascades. USFS and NPS managers in the NCAP emphasized concerns about changes in ecological disturbances (fire and insects) and challenges associated with maintaining road and trail access for the large numbers of recreational users that visit the area.…”

“…Furthermore, the science-management partnership can potentially be implemented by any organization. Similar to past adaptation efforts [7], a strong science-management connection was critical to the success of the NCAP, and we encourage others to emulate this approach as a foundation for increasing climate change awareness, assessing vulnerability, and developing adaptation plans.…”

“…Examples include coordinating adaptation of vegetation management with that of wildlife habitat, and coordinating adaptation of infrastructure design with management of fish habitat. Adaptation options that provide benefits to more than one resource are likely to have the greatest effect and are thus more likely to be implemented [7]. Conversely, some adaptation options involve tradeoffs (e.g., some actions may facilitate adaptation for one resource at the expense of another) that could be explored in greater detail to prevent unintended consequences.…”

“…The USFS and NPS are in transition from viewing climate as unchanging to viewing climate as dynamic and mediating changes in the environment [3,7,21]. Evolving science and climate policy, combined with near-term changes in ecosystems will necessitate iterative evaluation of adaptation options for land management.…”

“…Agency strategies focus on increasing climate change awareness, assessing the vulnerability of natural, social, and cultural systems, and developing adaptation strategies to reduce vulnerabilities and increase resilience. Several tools and process have been developed to achieve these goals [3][4][5], and one that has been shown to be successful is science-management partnerships [6,7]. Although effective collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries has been a significant challenge for federal agencies, science-management partnerships have been valuable in achieving cross-boundary coordination in climate change adaptation.…”