The Intermountain Adaptation Partnership (IAP) recently completed a climate change vulnerability assessment for national forest lands in Utah, Nevada, southern Idaho, an area where a warmer climate is expected to significantly affect natural resources. The biggest near-term effects are projected for water resources and fisheries, which are responsive to declining snowpack and altered stream thermal habitat, respectively. Effects on vegetation and terrestrial wildlife are less certain and will probably be driven by increasing frequency and extent of disturbances. Increasing area burned will have a significant impact on mature sagebrush systems, reducing critical habitat for greater sage-grouse and other species. Some grassland systems may experience increased productivity, depending on local soils and precipitation trends, providing benefits for grazing by livestock and native ungulates. The IAP developed a wide range of strategic and on-the-ground adaptation options that can be implemented by federal land managers to minimize the negative effects of climate change and transition ecosystems to the new conditions expected in future decades.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.