Perspectives on Responding to Climate Change in Rocky Mountain National Park

Bobowski, Ben; Ashton, Isabel W.; Monahan, William B.

doi:10.5822/978-1-61091-713-1_14

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…A critical need for parks and other protected areas in an era of climate change is the timely synthesis of existing science into working hypotheses that inform action (Bobowski et al. ). Climate change adaptation will help parks moderate harm and exploit beneficial opportunities, such as those arising from phenological responses to climate change (Enquist et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change is advancing spring onset across the U.S. national park system

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Many U.S. national parks are already at the extreme warm end of their historical temperature distributions. With rapidly warming conditions, park resource management will be enhanced by information on seasonality of climate that supports adjustments in the timing of activities such as treating invasive species, operating visitor facilities, and scheduling climate-related events (e.g., flower festivals and fall leaf-viewing). Seasonal changes in vegetation, such as pollen, seed, and fruit production, are important drivers of ecological processes in parks, and phenology has thus been identified as a key indicator for park monitoring. Phenology is also one of the most proximate biological responses to climate change. Here, we use estimates of start of spring based on climatically modeled dates of first leaf and first bloom derived from indicator plant species to evaluate the recent timing of spring onset (past 10-30 yr) in each U.S. natural resource park relative to its historical range of variability across the past 112 yr . Of the 276 high latitude to subtropical parks examined, spring is advancing in approximately three-quarters of parks (76%), and 53% of parks are experiencing "extreme" early springs that exceed 95% of historical conditions. Our results demonstrate how changes in climate seasonality are important for understanding ecological responses to climate change, and further how spatial variability in effects of climate change necessitates different approaches to management. We discuss how our results inform climate change adaptation challenges and opportunities facing parks, with implications for other protected areas, by exploring consequences for resource management and planning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change is advancing spring onset across the U.S. national park system

et al. 2016

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“…In its simplest form, "scale in space" offers a means to scan the planet to see if other sites of conservation have similar problems (i.e., space for time substitution). Or "scale in time" can be used to explore history to assess the roots of a problem or to grasp origin stories and their implications more thoroughly (Bobowski et al 2016). In its more complex forms, scale adds richness to models of origin stories and the potential for their enlargement into future possibilities.…”

Section: Scale In Space and Timementioning

confidence: 99%

Elegant conservation: reimagining protected area stewardship in the 21st century

Bobowski¹,

Fiege²

2023

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We present an approach to the conservation of protected areas that aligns cultural truths with scientific truths to increase community capacity for conservation. This alignment, which we call elegant conservation, asks protected area managers to reimagine how conservation can be inclusive of cultures and subcultures whose members value protected areas, but not in the same way. Reimagining how protected area managers approach conservation requires them to observe closely and holistically, with fresh eyes, human consciousness and behavior as well as relationships between people and between people and nature. Our approach connects the humanities, Western sciences, and other forms of knowledge, including Indigenous knowledge, in a manner that more sustainably builds social support for conservation. We first offer a heuristic of seven conditions that protected area managers can analyze when sizing up conservation issues and the people involved. We then propose a heuristic of five human tendencies-elements of human consciousness-that can help protected area managers and their partners organize constructive responses to any conservation issue. Our model of elegant conservation offers a pragmatic, holistic, inclusive alternative to top-down, reductive management approaches and is an outgrowth of modern American intellectual history, especially since the end of the Cold War, ca. 1989War, ca. -1990. Elegant conservation presents an opportunity to help people find common ground and move protected area management beyond its origins in settler colonialism at a time of national and planetary crisis.

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Perspectives on Responding to Climate Change in Rocky Mountain National Park

Cited by 2 publications

References 29 publications

Climate change is advancing spring onset across the U.S. national park system

Climate change is advancing spring onset across the U.S. national park system

Elegant conservation: reimagining protected area stewardship in the 21st century

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