Conservation Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation

Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences is helping the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW) adapt to the fast-approaching impacts of climate change on the state's diverse wildlife and ecosystems.

Manomet is partnering with state wildlife agencies to ensure that Massachusetts' investments in wildlife management and conservation, as outlined in its 2005 Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (CWCS), also known as the State Wildlife Action Plan, address the likely impacts of climate change. Manomet is facilitating the adoption of these climate-adapted strategies by the state agency's implementation partners.

"This project comes at a pivotal moment for Massachusetts as the state legislature is considering Governor Patrick's record new bond initiative for habitat acquisition," said Mary Griffin, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game. It is critical that we look carefully at the impacts of climate change when we are making decisions about how to spend the open space protection funds to best protect all kinds of habitat and wildlife.

Based on the research, new refuges could be created or management actions taken for species that have moved northward or disappeared entirely from the state in 50 years due to climate change. This project will ensure that public and private conservation funds are spent with climate change impacts in mind – so that investments are made in the state's natural resources of today, as well as of tomorrow.

Manomet's main goal in this project is to assist state conservation agencies, particularly the DFW, to identify some of the most iconic and important wildlife resources in the state, assess their vulnerabilities to climate change, evaluate and improve climate adaptation of wildlife management strategies, and ensure the climate adapted strategies are adopted by the agencies and their implementation partners.

Virtually all scientists recognize that we are in an era of rapid climate change that will adversely affect ecological resources, and that those conservation strategies for wildlife and ecosystem management that fail to accommodate climate change may be ineffective. The Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy is one of the few state wildlife plans that mention climate change and its likely effects on wildlife habitat.

The main outcomes of Conservation Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation include:

• A companion publication to the state plan that updates its conservation strategies in the face of climate change;
• Cutting-edge scientific reports on vulnerabilities of Massachusetts wildlife and wildlife habitat to climate change;
• A widely applicable methodology for rapid assessment of climate change vulnerabilities of wildlife and wildlife habitat; and,
• A tried and tested process that can be used more widely to identify and evaluate adaptive climate change conservation strategies.

This effort places Massachusetts at the vanguard of an issue that other states are just beginning to address. With Manomet's help, the state's environmental agencies and organizations will produce a model that other states will adopt to ensure that the nation's vital natural resources remain rich, diverse, and healthy in a rapidly changing world.

This project involves many key habitat protection and stewardship partners, including Massachusetts DFW, The Nature Conservancy, land trusts of the state (e.g., The Trustees of Reservations), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The number of collaborators involved in implementing the results of the project is anticipated to grow.

For more information about this project please contact:

Hector Galbraith, Ph.D.
Phone: 802-258-4836
Email

A whitetail deer buck walks through a lake that has been protected in managed lands. Manomet is assisting state agencies in improving climate adaptation strategies that will benefit wildlife and their natural habitats.