Pinchot Institute for Conservation

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Outlook Forum 2008

Outlook Session 2008: Forum on Climate Change Effects on Federal Lands

Climate change, whether based on long-term climate cycles or anthropogenic causes, is expected to have significant effects throughout the continental US and Alaska during the next 75-100 years, regardless of near-term efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Within a range of plausible scenarios, these changes in average temperature, precipitation patterns, etc. are projected to significantly alter the environment in which federal land management agencies carry out their respective missions to conserve and sustainably manage various natural resources that serve the public interest by providing a variety of goods, services and values.

These likely changes were summarized in a report issued by the Government Accountability Office in August 2007 at the request of Congress. GAO's findings were base on information presented in a 2006 conference at the National Academy of Sciences, and on case studies conducted by GAO staff on several federal land management units administered by several different agencies. GAO's recommendations were focused on the need for agencies to develop improved processes for understanding the likely effects of climate change on lands under their stewardship, and determining actions needed.

In this forum, agency leaders will report on the strategies they are now developing for adaptation to climate change, in order to sustain the purposes and values for which national forests, parks, wildlife refuges, and public domain lands were established.

Session Summary: Climate Change Effects on Natural Resources: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable on America's Federal Public Lands V. Alaric Sample, President, Pinchot Institute for Conservation. Download pdf

Presentations:

Avoiding the unmanageable and managing the unavoidable on federal public lands. Ross Gorte, Congressional Research Service.
Challenges in adapting to climate change: are federal resource management agencies prepared? Anne Johnson, Natural Resources & Environment, US Government Accountability Office [PowerPoint ]
No easy answers: Alternative approaches to climate change strategy among agencies
- Integrating science, management and policy across agencies: Interior's emerging strategy for climate change adaptation. Abe Haspel, Office of the Secretary, Department of the Interior.
- Adaptive management on a continental scale: making the nation's forest ecosystems resilient to a range of possible climate impacts. Ann Bartuska, USDA Forest Service. [PowerPoint ]
Adapting the institutional, legal and policy framework for Federal land management
- Do we know what to look for, and will we know it when we see it? Prioritizing ecological indicators and expediting essential information to policymakers. Robin O'Malley, Heinz Center for Science Economics and the Environment. [ Presentation ]
- Environmental analysis under increased uncertainty: NEPA and Federal land management decisions in the context of large-scale adaptive management. Jim McElfish, Environmental Law Institute. [PowerPoint ]