Engaging a Climate Ready Agency From Dave Cleaves, Forest Service Climate Change Advisor

IN THIS ISSUE:

Guest Essay……...…..….…...…………….1

From the field……………………….………3

Other events and opportunities……4

Climate Change Resource Center….6

Additional online tools………………….6

Recommended readings……………….6

Abbreviations……………………………….7

Submissions………………………………….9

WELCOME

Hubs…hubs…hubs. All the hubbub about USDA regional hubs. You may have heard about the launch of the regional climate change hubs across the country, but may not know about it’s goals, activities, and how it fits in with other regional networks. Fear not as this month’s climate update features a guest essay from Randy Johnson, Nation-al Leader USDA Climate Change Hubs, on the regional hubs for risk adaptation and miti-gation to climate change. The update is designed to inform you about Forest Service activities that are linked to our changing climate as we all work to bring climate change knowledge into our organi-zational expectations and actions. Please continue to share the details of your climate change related research, management activities, and communications. Submission de-tails are included in the last section of the update.

MESSAGE FROM RANDY JOHNSON

USDA Regional Climate Hubs 101 Randy Johnson, National Leader for Climate Hubs

In June 2013, USDA announced the launch of seven “Regional Hubs for Risk Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate change” and in February 2014, Secretary Vilsack announced the selection of the 7 Climate Hub locations and 3 Sub-Hubs. The mission of the Climate Hubs is to develop and deliver science-based, region-specific information and technologies to agricultural and natural resource managers that enable climate-smart decision-making and to provide assistance to enable land managers to implement those decisions. The main point of the effort is to get infor-mation, tools, and program assistance to working-land managers; it centers more on technology transfer than research. All three Forest Service (FS) deputy areas have a part in the mission of the Climate Hubs. The mission closely matches the State & Pri-vate Forestry mission, the National Forest System (NFS) will be a major benefactor and is also often the first point of contact with the public, and the information and tools from Research & Development (R&D) will have a greater impact as we work with the Climate Hubs. Key partners in the networks include the public and land grant universi-ties, the state Cooperative Extension Services, USDA researchers, the private sector, state, local and regional governments, NOAA, DOI regional climate change experts, and non-profits engaged in providing assistance to landowners. The FS leads three hubs (Pacific Northwest, Northeast and Southeast) and the Agricul-tural Research Service (ARS) leads the Midwest, Northern Plains, Southern Plains and the Southwest. Of the three Sub-Hubs, FS R&D leads the Caribbean and Northern For-est, and is a key partner in the third – the California Sub-Hub. USDA science and tech-nical support will come primarily from ARS, FS and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS); additional program delivery specialist on topics of relevance to the re-gion will come from Animal and Plant Health Service (APHIS), Farm Service Agency (FSA), Rural Development (RD), Risk Management Agency (RMA) and other USDA agencies.

(continued on page 2)

April 30, 2014

1

Stanislaus National Forest

Bitterroot National Forest

Hoosier National Forest

MESSAGE FROM RANDY JOHNSON

(continued from page 1) The Climate Hubs function as a catalyst to existing USDA programs by packaging science results (especially USDA research) so that our stakeholders receive more timely and useful information, tools and programs to support their management in light of the increased threats and pressures resulting from a changing climate. In addition to this “packaging” and translation, the Cli-mate Hubs work with existing extension and outreach organizations (Cooperative Extension System, USDA Service Centers, FS Threat Centers, and others) to improve coordination and access to technical and program information. The Climate Hubs also function as an information feedback channel to inform those doing the science and translation what tools are working and what agricultural and forestry issues need more research.

While much of the USDA’s research and extension efforts are associated with the mission of the Climate Hubs, the Hubs them-selves consist of a staff in each region or sub-region with the capability to:

Translate existing science into appropriate tools and products; Work with extension organizations to obtain feedback on Climate Hub products and determine what new products may be

needed; Engage existing extension and outreach efforts, by region, to

more efficiently utilize existing material and resources; Coordinate USDA research and outreach efforts in climate

change with those of other federal and non-federal provid-ers;

Provide feedback to science organizations to enable them to focus research on priority issues;

Maintain a web presence that will meet the data and tool needs of the agricultural and forestry sectors;

Work with appropriate groups to establish communities of practice for exchange of ideas among stakeholders.

Provide training opportunities for USDA personnel, outreach providers and stakeholders.

Climate effects are not experienced in isolated; issues and stakeholders overlap and no one agency or sector can solve its chal-lenges alone. The NOAA Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment Programs (RISAs) and Regional Climate Centers, the DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs) and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) complement the hubs by providing data, find-ings, tools and forecasts for USDA agencies and the hubs to build into integrated services for the agricultural and forestry sec-tors. The different regional networks provide a different mix of skills and expertise to better serve their stakeholder needs, and when coordinated together, provides a more complete government platform to assist the Nation in dealing with the impacts of climate change.

Randy Johnson 2

FROM THE FIELD Blue Mountains Adaptation Partnership (BMAP) Workshop BMAP is a Forest Service science-management collaboration with goals of increasing climate change awareness; assessing vul-nerability of cultural and natural resources; and developing science-based adaptation strategies and incorporating them into management of federal lands in the Blue Mountains. On Tuesday, April 22nd, John Laurence, Wallowa-Whitman Forest Supervi-sor, kicked off a public session in La Grande, Oregon followed by a climate change and BMAP overview from Dave Peterson, PNW Research Scientist. Approximately, 25 locals attended the public session. On April 23 and 24, FS climate change coordina-tors, resource managers and scientists from the Blue Mountains region attended a workshop at Eastern Oregon University to discuss the vulnerability of resources - vegetation, hydrology and fisheries- on the Wallowa-Whitman, Malheur and Umatilla National Forests and accordingly, identified adaptation options. The vulnerability assessment and adaptation options will be described in a Forest Service general technical report. For more information, visit http://adaptationpartners.org/bmap/index.php or contact Dave Peterson. PSWRS: Scientists conduct international air pollution study PSW Ecologist Andrzej Bytnerowicz and Plant Pathologist Mark Fenn recently partnered with scientists from Canada, Mexico, and China to study the effects of air pollution on human and ecosystem health in the Pacific Rim. The scientists established the development of air pollution monitoring networks, evaluated risk to human and ecosystem health, and gained a better under-standing of air pollution mechanisms and atmospheric deposition effects. The study will help scientists understand the worsen-ing pollution in China and the long-range transport of Asian pollutants that affect air quality and climate in the western United States. Collaborative effort for endangered species yields successful in threatened California grasslands Research by PSW scientists Dr. Mark Fenn and Dr. Andrzej Bytnerowicz, cooperators from academia, other agencies and the private sector, has led to major scientific advances, the establishment of critical loads, and ecosystem protection and preserva-tion of threatened and endangered species. The Serpentine grasslands in central California had the problem of invasive grasses, which was worsened by chronic nitrogen deposition that fostered the growth of weedy exotic invaders; killing native plants that support endangered species, such as the Bay Checkerspot butterfly. Simulating Vegetation Response to Climate Change in the Blue Mountains of Oregon We used MC2 Dynamic General Vegetation Model to simulate long-term vegetation response to climate change in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, including Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman, Malheur and Ochoco National Forests. We collaborated closely with the Region 6 Blue Mountains Restoration Team to calibrate MC2 for the Blue Mountains. We simulated the future using four CMIP5 RCP8.5 climate projections downscaled to 800m resolution. MC2 outputs were linked with local state transition veg-etation models, allowing FS analysts to explore interactions of vegetation with climate change, disturbance and management actions. Model results are being used by the Blue Mountains Restoration Team to develop accelerated restoration strategies; and by the Blue Mountains Adaptation Partnership to conduct climate change vulnerability assessment. Contact John Kim, PNW & WWETAC, jbkim@fs.fed.us. New report describes climate change risks for northern Michigan forests The Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science is pleased to release the latest product from the Climate Change Response Framework, the Michigan Forest Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessment and Synthesis. This assessment is specifically designed to address forests in Michigan's eastern Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula, and it is one of a series of similar assess-ments within the Region 9 footprint. Over 40 managers and researchers contributed to the report, from a range of federal, state, tribal, non-profit, and private organizations. This collaborative effort will provide a valuable platform for foresters to in-corporate climate change considerations into management and planning. Contact Stephen Handler for details.

Synthesis of wildland fire emissions, carbon, and climate research A team of 17 scientists and associates, 12 of whom are from five FS Research Stations, share credit for the Forest Ecology and Management (FORECO) Journal’s recently published special issue: Wildland Fire Emissions, Carbon, and Climate: Science Over-view and Knowledge Needs. The Research Deputy Director/Assistant Director Group chartered the project to produce a syn-thesized report of published information on greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions from wildland fires. The series of nine arti-cles begins with consideration of fire and terrestrial carbon cycle processes and concludes with how emissions resulting from those processes affect climate. RMRS Program Manager Colin Hardy served as journal guest editor and logistics lead, and nego-tiated the publication of the entire special issue with FORECO.

3

FROM THE FIELD (continued) EcoAdapt and Region 5 Release Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Strategy Report On February 27th, 2014, USFS partner EcoAdapt released a set of products and tools for assessing the vulnerability of focal re-sources to climate change in the Sierra Nevada. This collaborative project, coordinated by EcoAdapt and funded primarily by the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative, involved over 30 partner organizations and 10 National Forests. The project identifies management strategies to help regionally important ecosystems and species adapt to changing climate condi-tions. These products will directly support Forest Plan Revision and Climate Change Performance Scorecard efforts. Results can be accessed at: http://ecoadapt.org/programs/adaptation-consultations/calcc. Dixie National Forest 2014 Earth Day Booth in Springdale, Utah The Dixie National Forest provided a booth for Earth Day in Springdale, Utah on April 19, 2014 and presented the Enviroscape Watershed/Non-Point Source Table Model which mimics non-point source pollution. We all live in a watershed with water pol-lution that comes from many sources. Non-point sources contribute a great deal to the pollution in our water bodies. The com-bined effect of pollution from many small sources can have a real impact on the quality of our shared water resources. Storm-water pollution and runoff are visually apparent when rain falling over the Enviroscape landscape top carries soil (cocoa), chem-icals (colored drink mixes) and oil (cocoa and water mixture) through a watershed to a body of water. Storm-water runoff and storm drain function are also addressed. This is an interactive presentation where volunteers can help. We also hand out Storm-water Activity Booklets for children and a flyer to adults which relate directly to the presentation.

A climate-informed Forest Stewardship Program Northeastern Area (NA), the State & Private Forestry branch of the US Forest Service in our region, is interested to use the For-est Stewardship program as a mechanism to help private landowners prepare for a changing climate. NA and NIACS are helping to fund two examples of climate-informed Forest Stewardship planning and implementation in Minnesota. One example is be-ing planned with Rajala Companies on their Sugar Hills property south of Grand Rapids, to implement adaptive forestry practic-es within the scope of their current Stewardship Plan. The other example with the Nelson family near Hinckley, MN, will involve preparing a new Stewardship Plan that accounts for climate change. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Ra-jala Companies are both providing matching funds for the project. For more information, please contact Stephen.

Region 4 Earth Week Challenge Last week (April 21 thru 25), employees in the Region 4 office participated in the Earth Week Challenge that consisted of alter-native ways of getting to work such as biking, using public transportation, carpooling, teleworking or walking. Contact Fred No-ack for details on participation and results.

4

OTHER EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES First Friday All Climate Change Talks May 2 , 11 am ET. Marla Emery, PhD, Northern Research Station research geographer and national coordinator for the Forest Service R&D tribes and climate change research, will present, “Tribes, Forests, and Climate Change.” More details on the FFACCTs website. Scenario Planning, National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) Class May 6th-8th. Scenario planning is a valuable decision support method for integrating irreducible and uncontrollable uncertainties into climate change adaptation and other planning in natural resource management. This course will provide participants with the skills needed to assess the appropriateness of scenario planning for their needs, and identify the resources and expertise needed to conduct a scenario planning exercise that will meet established objectives. Learn more and register here. Climate Change Adaptation Planning Training May 12. ITEP will be offering a 1-day Climate Change Adaptation Planning training on Monday, May 12, in conjunction with the National Tribal Forum on Air Quality (NTF) in Anacortes, WA. This training provides an introduction to planning for climate change impacts and is intended for tribal environmental and natural resource professionals who expect to be involved in cli-mate change adaptation planning. Registration for the training will be through the NTF web page. For more information about the training, please contact susan.wotkyns@nau.edu .

OTHER EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES (continued) Webinar: Ungulates and climate change – an examination of the potential impacts May 15, 2 pm ET. The influence of climate change on migratory ungulates of the Rocky Mountains remains uncertain. As cli-mate change leads to advancing phenology, trophic mismatches can occur when migratory individuals arrive on summer range behind the optimal phenological stage of their food resources. In addition, warming during spring and summer can reduce the temporal availability of high quality forage. In this talk, Dr. Kauffman will discuss the potential influence of climate change on ungulates via three case studies involving migratory moose, mule deer, and elk in Wyoming. In moose, he will describe factors that influence the timing of spring migration for GPS-collared individuals, results which strongly influence the likelihood of trophic mismatches in this species. In mule deer, he will describe how migrating animals make use of stopover sites to stay in pace with plant phenology as it advances from low elevation winter ranges to high elevation summer ranges. In the elk study, he will describe changes in climate and plant phenology in northwest Wyoming over the last 20 years that appear to be influ-encing pregnancy and calf recruitment of migrants, but not residents. Finally, Dr. Kauffman will discuss some recent work that connects recent regional warming to regional declines in moose calf production in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. Register here.

Forest Guild National Meeting 2014 June 19 – 21, 2014. The Forest Guild National Meeting is making a long-awaited return to New England in June of 2014. Join fellow members, colleagues, and future friends in this three-day gathering. Prepare for an exciting program of engaging speak-ers, stimulating field workshops, and lively discussions on the theme of adapting forests to the changing climate. Also, in keep-ing with Guild tradition, the National Meeting is an excellent opportunity to gather with friends and rekindle the spark that in-spires the forest stewardship of our members across the landscape. Registration details found here. United Indigenous Voices Address Sustainability: Climate Change and Traditional Places Symposium: First Stewards Symposium July 21-23, Washington, DC. First Stewards will hold their 2nd annual symposium at the National Museum of the American Indian. This year's theme is "United Indigenous Voices Address Sustainability: Climate Change and Traditional Places". This annual event aims to bring together coastal indigenous tribal elders, leaders, scientists, witnesses, and other scientists and policy leaders from around the nation to discuss traditional ecological knowledge and what it can teach us about past, present, and future adaptation to climate change. Regional panels of tribal leaders and tribal and Western scien-tists will examine how native people and their cultures have adapted to climate change for hundreds to thousands of years, and what their future — and that of the nation — may hold as the impacts of climate change continue. www.firststewards.org/ PNW Climate Change Adaptation Workshop September 2-3, 2014. Portland, OR. This training will provide an introduction to the process of planning for climate change im-pacts, from getting started to impact and vulnerability assessment to developing adaptation strategies. It is intended for tribal environmental and natural resource professionals who expect to be involved in climate change adaptation planning. Course materials and the Tribal Climate Change Adaptation Planning Toolkit will be available for download (please bring a USB flash drive). The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission has generously offered to host this workshop at their offices in Port-land. Instructional team: Laura Gephart, CRITFC; Cristina Gonzalez-Maddux, ITEP; Oliver Grah, Nooksack Indian Tribe; Linda Kru-ger, USFS; Kathy Lynn, PNW Tribal Climate Change Project; Mary Mahaffy, North Pacific LCC; Susan Wotkyns, ITEP. Tribal Climate Change Webinar Series A series of four webinars will discuss impacts of climate change in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and implica-tions of these impacts for tribes. The topic areas include marine issues, fisheries, forests, and invasive species and pests. The webinars are being offered by the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP) at Northern Arizona University with support from the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station (RMRS), and in collaboration with the PNW Tribal Cli-mate Change Project at the University of Oregon, the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative, and RMRS. More in-formation about the webinars, including how to register will be available soon. Connect with the American Society of Adaptation Professionals The American Society of Adaptation Professionals connects leading professionals from a variety of sectors working to increase climate resilience across the United States. Initially created in 2011, and formally launched in 2013, ASAP provides a platform and forum for climate adaptation leaders to interact, participate in cutting edge research, develop guidance for adaptation, and collaborate with their colleagues across the country. The society builds off the strengths of its members and focuses on con-necting adaptation professionals across the United States. Membership is free for 2014. To learn more, visit: http://adaptationprofessionals.org/.

5

ADDITIONAL ONLINE TOOLS Science You Can Use Bulletin The Bulletin is a regular electronic publication of the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) that synthesiz-es current scientific research on hot topics in the Intermountain West. Each issue delivers key science findings and management implications to people who make and influence decisions about managing land and natural resources. Find the latest Bulletin, read the archives and sign up to receive future Bulletins, at: www.fs.fed.us/rm/science-application-integration/publications/ Ecosystem Services News Digest Brought to you by the U.S. Forest Service Washington Office State & Private Forestry, the Ecosystem Services Update is a monthly digest of news, reports, journal articles and events related to forest-based ecosystem services and markets. Please email ecosystemservices@fs.fed.us to opt in/out. NIACS Carbon and Climate Update An update brought to you from the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. To subscribe, email Kristen Schmitt. Science Findings Science Findings is a monthly publication by the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. It provides scientific in-formation to who people who make and influence decisions about managing land. To read the current issue or to sign up to receive e-notifications or hard-copy delivery, please visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/scifi.shtml CompassLive CompassLive is the online science magazine of the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS). Sign up here - http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/compass/. New Eastern Threat Center Videos The Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center’s website features several new videos, highlighting the USDA Southeast Regional Climate Hub, the Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options (TACCIMO), and Impacts of Forest Management Practices on Soil Carbon.

SAVS: A system for assessing vulnerability of species RMRS has developed a System for Assessing Vulnerability of Species (SAVS) (view the research project) that quantifies the rela-tive impact of expected climate change effects for terrestrial vertebrate species. The SAVS uses 22 criteria related to expected response or vulnerability of species in a questionnaire to provide a framework for assessing vulnerability to climate change. The questionnaire is completed using information gathered from published materials, personal knowledge, or expert consultation. The SAVS Climate Change Tool focuses solely on the effects of climate change for terrestrial vertebrate species. This tool aids managers by identifying specific traits and issues related to individual species vulnerabilities. Scores generated by completing a questionnaire are meant to be used to inform management planning. Details here.

NorWeST Stream Temp Modeling Update The stream temperature climate scenarios for the Mid-Columbia basin developed from data the local aquatics community con-tributed are now available on the NorWeST website .The NorWeST project is funded by the Great Northern and North Pacific LCC’s and the goal is to develop an accurate, high-resolution set of climate scenarios to aid in more efficient climate vulnerabil-ity assessments, temperature monitoring & interagency coordination. The temperature database was compiled from hundreds of biologists and hydrologists working for dozens of resource agencies. These temperature data are being used with spatial sta-tistical stream network models to develop an accurate and consistent set of climate scenarios for all streams. Contact Dan Isaak for more information. 6

CLIMATE CHANGE RESOURCE CENTER Yellow-cedar research points to climate change Are you interested in reading short articles about climate change impacts and current Forest Service research? The Featured Stories section of the CCRC has a new article on yellow-cedar research. Researchers in the Pacific Northwest Research Station have been studying the yellow-cedar decline of the last few decades, growing this investigation into a large program with multi-disciplinary perspectives. Find out more about climate change and yellow-cedar decline, including the new conservation and adaptive management strategies that have resulted from this research, on the CCRC.

RECOMMENDED READINGS Wildland fire emissions, carbon, and climate: science over-view and knowledge needs Sommers, W., Loehman, R., & Hardy, C. Wildland fires have influenced the global carbon cycle for ∼420 million years of Earth history, interacting with climate to define vegetation characteristics and distributions, trigger ab-rupt ecosystem shifts, and move carbon among terrestrial and atmospheric pools. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the dominant driv-er of ongoing climate change and the principal emissions com-ponent of wildland fires, while black carbon and other aerosols found in fire emissions contribute to uncertainties in climate projections. Fire emissions research to date has been focused on developing knowledge for air pollution regulatory needs and for assessing global climate impacts. Quantifying wildland fire emissions is difficult because their amount and chemical composition vary greatly among fires depending on the amount and type of combusted fuel, its structure, arrange-ment, chemistry, and condition, and meteorological conditions during the fire. Prediction of potential future wildland fire emissions requires integration of complex interactions of cli-mate, fire, and vegetation; e.g., inference about the direct effects of climate changes on vegetation (fuel) distribution, amount, and condition; direct effects on fire occurrence, be-havior, and effects; and feedbacks of altered fire regimes to vegetation and the climate system. Proposed climate change mitigation strategies include management of forests for in-creased carbon sequestration, and because wildland fires are a key component of the carbon cycle, fire ecology, behavior, and fire effects must be accounted for in these strategies. An un-derstanding of the complex relationships and feedbacks among climate, fire regimes, and fire emissions is needed to account for the importance of fire in the carbon cycle and wild-fire and carbon feedbacks to the global climate system. Fire ecology and fire emissions science is thus a necessary compo-nent for adaptively managing landscapes and for accurately assessing the long-term effectiveness of carbon sequestration projects. This overview for a special issue on wildland fire emissions, carbon, and climate summarizes eight companion papers that describe the current state of knowledge, critical knowledge gaps, and importance of fire emissions for global climate and terrestrial carbon cycling. The goal is to foster un-derstanding of complex fire emission system dynamics and feedbacks. Read more here. LANDIS PRO: a landscape model that predicts forest composi-tion and structure changes at regional scales Wang, W., He, H., Fraser, J., Thompson III, F., Shifley, S. & Spetich, M. LANDIS PRO predicts forest composition and structure changes incorporating species-, stand-, and landscape-scales processes at regional scales. Species-scale processes include tree growth, establishment, and mortality. Stand-scale processes contain density- and size-related resource competition that regulates self-thinning and seedling establishment. Landscape-scale pro-cesses include seed dispersal and disturbances. LANDIS PRO is

designed to be compatible with forest inventory data, thus extensive inventory data can be directly utilized to initialize and calibrate model parameters before predicting future for-est changes. LANDIS PRO allows for exploring the effects of disturbances, management, climate change, and modeling the spread of invasive species. We demonstrate that LANDIS PRO successfully predicts forest successional trajectories and stand development patterns in the Central Hardwood Forest region in U.S. Read more here.

Adaptive responses reveal contemporary and future ecotypes in a desert shrub Richardson, B., Kitchen, S., Pendleton, R., Pendleton, B., Ger-mino, M., Rehfeldt, G. & Meyer, S. Interacting threats to ecosystem function, including climate change, wildfire, and invasive species necessitate native plant restoration in desert ecosystems. However, native plant resto-ration efforts often remain unguided by ecological genetic in-formation. Given that many ecosystems are in flux from cli-mate change, restoration plans need to account for both con-temporary and future climates when choosing seed sources. In this study the authors from the Rocky Mountain Research Sta-tion and US Geological Survey analyze vegetative responses, including mortality, growth, and carbon isotope ratios in two blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) common gardens that included 26 populations from a range-wide collection. The mapped ecological genetic pattern showed that genetic varia-tion could be classified into cool-adapted and warm-adapted ecotypes, with populations often separated by steep clines. While under contemporary conditions the warm-adapted eco-type occupies the majority of climate space, climate projec-tions predict that the cool-adapted ecotype could prevail as the dominant ecotype as the climate space of blackbrush ex-pands into higher elevations and latitudes. This study provides the framework for delineating climate change-responsive seed transfer guidelines, which are needed to inform restoration and management planning. The authors propose four transfer zones in blackbrush that correspond to areas currently domi-nated by cool-adapted and warm-adapted ecotypes in each of the two ecoregions. Read it here. Engaging Diverse Audiences with Climate Change Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Matching the right message frame to the right audience is one of the challenges in interpreting climate change, or any com-plex, often controversial issue. A new paper from the Center for Climate Change Communication presents some research-based strategies for accomplishing this task. Based on the Cen-ter's Global Warming: Six Americas concept, the paper is a pre-view of a chapter in a forthcoming book Handbook of Environ-ment and Communication, edited by Anders Hanson and Rob-bie Cox (Routledge, December 2014). More here.

7

RECOMMENDED READINGS (continued) Green Resilience: Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Syner-gies Center for Clean Air Policy Center for Clean Air Policy’s Weathering Climate Risks program recently released the report, Green Resilience: Climate Adap-tation + Mitigation Synergies. This report captures best practic-es and lessons learned from experts in the field who are con-tributing to an integrated approach to climate adaptation + mitigation (A+M) to cut carbon pollution (mitigation) and pre-pare the nation for climate change impacts (adaptation). The following best practices and lessons learned were distilled from a recent symposium and workshop hosted by the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) and the National Climate Assess-ment’s network (NCAnet) Adaptation + Mitigation Nexus (AMNex) affinity group as part of the NCSE's Building Climate Solutions Conference

Does Carbon in Wetland Soils Go With the Flow? Wetlands store carbon that would otherwise enter the atmos-phere as carbon dioxide (CO2), a climate-warming greenhouse gas. What happens to this carbon when wetlands dry out be-cause of seasonal water level fluxuations, climate variability, or land use changes related to human development? A team of researchers from North Carolina State University and the East-ern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center may have the answer. Read more in CompassLive.

Climate-Aquatics Blog #55: Managing with climate change, Part 2: Streams in channels & fish in streams Isaak, D. “Whiskey is fer drinkin, water is fer fightin” Or so goes the say-ing from spaghetti westerns about the importance of water in the semi-arid West. Water’s always been a touchy subject where it’s dry, and will become even more so as human popu-lations continue to grow. Since fish have a certain proclivity for the substance too, our use of it sometimes puts them in a bit of a bind. A simple and highly effective management strategy, therefore, is keeping water in streams and fish in those same streams. That’s a lot trickier than it sounds given the forces at play, but there are ways to do both…Read it here.

The trophic role of a forest salamander: impacts on inverte-brates, leaf litter retention and the humification process Best, M. & Welsh, H. Woodland (Plethodontid) salamanders are the most abundant vertebrates in North American forests, functioning as preda-tors on invertebrates and prey for higher trophic levels. We investigated the role of Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii) in reg-ulating invertebrate numbers and leaf litter retention in a northern California forest. Our objective was to examine how salamander predation on invertebrates affects leaf litter reten-tion and the amount available for soil-building and carbon cap-ture at the litter-soil interface. We used field enclosures to quantify the effects of Ensatina on invertebrates and litter re-

tention over two wet seasons, using moisture as a covariate. In the first year Ensatina reduced Coleoptera (beetles) and Dip-tera (flies) larvae >2 mm, adult Coleoptera, Collembola (springtails), and Formicidae (ants), and increased Oribatid mites, larvae <2 mm (Diptera and Coleoptera), Diplopoda (millipedes), and Aranaea (spiders) <2 mm by reducing their competitors and predators. A single Ensatina in a 1.5m2 enclo-sure increased litter retention by 13.3% ± 3.6% (mean ± SE) compared to controls, facilitating the capture of 200 kg/ha of carbon. At a similar density range-wide this would equate to 72.3 metric tons/yr of carbon in one season potentially seques-tered in forest soil rather than entering the atmosphere. In the second year invertebrate densities doubled in response to ear-ly rains such that while salamanders reduced the numbers of the same taxa, effect sizes were lower compared to year one, producing biological effects that failed to achieve statistical significance. However, three taxa did significantly increase in year two (Annelida [worms], Psocoptera [barklice], and Chelo-nethida [pseudoscorpions]). Litter retention in year two was greater on treatment plots by 5.6% ± 4.6%; however, high vari-ability across plots precluded statistical significance. Ensatina suppressed some invertebrate taxa, released others, increased leaf litter retention, and facilitated greater carbon capture in both years; however, the strength of the effects were modu-lated by the bottom-up effects of the timing and amount of precipitation in year two. Read More: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/ES13-00302.1

Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability IPCC Working Group II. The 10th Session of Working Group II (WGII-10) was held from 25 to 29 March 2014 in Yokohama, Japan. At the Session, the Summary for Policymakers (SPM) of the Working Group II con-tribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (WGII AR5) was approved and the underlying scientific and technical assess-ment accepted. Read the summary for policymakers here.

8

9

ABBREVIATIONS BMAP = Blue Mountains Adaptation Partnership CCRC = Climate Change Resource Center FFACCTs = First Friday All Climate Change Talks FS = Forest Service ITEP = Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals NA = Northeastern Area NCTC = National Conservation Training Center NIACS = Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science NTF = National Tribal Forum PNW = Pacific Northwest PSWRS = Pacific Southwest Research Station RMRS = Rocky Mountain Research Station SAVS = System for Assessing Vulnerability of Species SRS = Southern Research Station TACCIMO = Template for Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Management Options WWETAC = Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assess-ment Center

SUBMISSIONS Please send your submissions on Forest Service climate change related activities to Karen Dante: skdante@fs.fed.us by COB May 26th. It’s most helpful to have a short description with a web link to more information. Share your great work by contributing your PowerPoint presentations to our O drive - O:\OfficeOfTheChief\ClimateChange\Project\CCPresentations. If you have a climate change related presentation or slides that you want to contribute, but don’t have write access, please send to Karen Dante.

Contact information for the Climate Change Advisor’s Office is on our Intranet and our Internet site. Here you will also find materials like the National Roadmap for Responding to Climate Change, the Performance Scorecard, and Scorecard guidance.