U.S. Department of Interior (DOI)

The DOI mission is to protect the nation's natural resources and heritage, honor the cultures of America and the Department's responsibilities to tribal nations, and to supply the energy to power the future of the nation. DOI uses sound, cutting-edge science and management techniques to sustain America's lands, water, wildlife, and energy resources in its care to benefit Americans now and in the future. DOI manages one-fifth of the land in the country, 35,000 miles of coastline, and 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf. DOI also upholds the federal government's trust responsibilities to 562 Indian tribes; conserves fish, wildlife and their habitats; manages water supplies for more than 30 million people; and protects the icons of our national heritage.

Climate change poses one of the most significant challenges to resource stewardship in our nation's history. Climate change may dramatically affect water supplies in certain watersheds, impact coastal wetlands and barrier islands, cause relocation of and stress on wildlife, increase wildland fires, further spread invasive species, and more. Impacts of climate change are forcing a change in resource management, and DOI is a lead agency in protecting the nation's resources from these impacts and in managing our public lands to mitigate the effects of climate change.

DOI resource managers are developing adaptive-management strategies to respond to these new challenges and are building the scientific and organizational infrastructure to work with partners in the development of adaptation tools and the coordination of climate-change responses at the landscape level. DOI is taking the lead in synthesizing climate data from different partners and in producing climate impact projections that are downscaled to the ecosystem level and is working with federal, state, tribal and nonprofit partners to integrate existing science and climate change impact databases across these landscapes. Two new initiatives - DOI Climate Science Centers and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives - form the cornerstones of this integrated approach to climate-change science and adaptation. Each has a distinct science and resource-management role but also shares complementary capacities and capabilities. This strategy will serve the Department's land, fish, wildlife, water, marine, tribal, and cultural heritage managers, as well as for federal, state, local, Tribal, NGO, private landowner, and other stakeholder partners.

The following DOI bureaus are addressing climate change in their strategic planning and activities: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

 

> DOI Strategic Plan   

DOI Strategic Plan FY 2007-2012 sets out specific goals for Interior's four mission responsibilities: Resource Protection, Resource Use, Recreation, and Serving Communities. The Plan is used as a roadmap for the Department and a means of communicating its goals and specific commitments to the public, stakeholders, and employees. It establishes measurable performance targets in each area along with targets for Departmental management initiatives. With population growth and the continued expansion of our economy, the pressures on undeveloped lands, water resources, wildlife and other resources have never been greater and will continue to grow. This picture is further complicated by global economic, environmental, political and other factors. The DOI response to mounting pressures must be a constant focus on efficient use and careful management of diminishing resources. Only by effectively measuring the results can DOI adjust the tactics and strategies used to meet its goal of management excellence. DOI is in the process of revising and streamlining the current Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2011-2016. 

 

> DOI Strategic Response to Climate Change

As the nation's primary land, water and wildlife manager, DOI has an obligation to address the impacts that climate change is having on America's resources. The DOI response to climate change includes investing in scientific research to better understand climate-change impacts, designing science-based integrated adaptation strategies to protect people and resources from climate change, developing mitigation strategies that decrease greenhouse-gas emissions into the atmosphere, and finding solutions to address water shortage and water-use conflicts that will help ensure water supplies for future generations and our resources.

The chief climate change policy development of DOI was the issuance of Secretarial Order 3289 on September 14, 2009 by Secretary Ken Salazar addressing "the Impacts of Climate Change on America's Water, Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources." The order launched DOI's first-ever coordinated strategy to address current and future impacts of climate change on America's land, water, wildlife, cultural-heritage and tribal resources. It provides the strategic framework to coordinate efforts among DOI bureaus and to integrate science and management expertise of the Department with that of DOI partners. The order created the Energy and Climate Change Council, climate change planning requirements, eight regional DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs), a network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), and America's Great Outdoors initiative. The Council, CSCs, and LCCs comprise the framework through which DOI bureaus will coordinate climate-change science and resource-management strategies.

 

> Department-wide Initiatives

The Energy and Climate Change Council (Council)

Under the leadership of secretary, deputy secretary and counselor, the Council (formerly called the Climate Change Response Council in the original Secretarial Order) will coordinate the response to impacts of climate change within and among DOI bureaus and all energy and climate change initiatives within the Department. The Council is charged with developing and implementing "an integrated Department-wide strategy for responding to renewable energy efforts and climate change impacts involving the resources managed by the Department." This executed strategy will increase scientific understanding of and development of effective adaptive management tools to address the impacts of climate change on the nation's natural and cultural resources. To date (9/2010), no such strategy has been released to the public. The Council also will work to improve the sharing and communication of climate- change impact science, including through http://www.data.gov/. The five principle activities of the Council are 1) Climate change response planning requirements, 2) DOl regional Climate Science Centers (aka Climate Change Response Centers), 3) Landscape Conservation Cooperatives, 4) The DOl Carbon Storage Project, 5) The DOl Carbon Footprint Project.

Climate Change Planning Requirements

This requirement is retained from a similar Secretarial Order issued by Secretary Babbitt in 2000, which requires Interior agencies to "consider and analyze potential climate change impacts when undertaking long-range planning exercises, setting priorities for scientific research and investigations, developing multi-year management plans, and making major decisions regarding potential use of resources under the Department's purview." To date (9/2010), no Interior agency has released to the public any policy or guidance documents to implement this provision. Agencies seem to be implementing this ad hoc, generally under National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements associated with land management planning.

DOI Climate Science Centers (CSCs)

The National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC), located at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) headquarters in Reston, Virginia, was established by Congress in 2008 to deliver scientific and technical information to assist resource managers cope with a changing climate. It was designed to increase understanding of climate change impacts on wildlife and ecosystems and to help address management questions to ameliorate those impacts.

From the outset, the USGS understood the need for the Center to have national coverage. Because the needs of managers will vary across the landscape, the NCCWSC was conceived as a network comprising a central office linked to some number of regional CSCs or Hubs. In turn these Hubs would work with one or more collectives of natural resource partners that would include agencies, universities, tribes, NGOs, and other stakeholders engaged in on-the-ground resource management or other conservation-related activities in that region. CSCs, then, are regional entities that extend from NCCWSC and, with their partnership networks, will provide relevant science needed to understand which resources are most vulnerable to climate change and will assist resource managers in adapting to and planning for those changes. CSCs synthesize existing climate-change-impact data and management strategies, help resource managers put them into action on the ground, and engage the public through education initiatives.

Secretarial Order 3289 elevated the regional CSCs or Hubs planned for the NCCWSC within the USGS into a broader DOI climate science program. DOI Secretary Salazar proposed eight regional CSCs in total nationwide that will provide the basic climate change science associated with broad regions of the country. They will work closely with the LCCs, other climate scientists and partners to develop the fundamental science and decision support for the LCCs. They also will facilitate and fund new research to advance the science of climate impact and resource modeling. CSCs will be located at host institutions with available expertise and resources on climate change outside of the federal government.

Five CSCs were officially established in 2010 in the Alaska, Northwest, Southwest, North Central and Southeast regions. Three other CSCs are planned for 2011 in the Northeast, South Central and Pacific Island regions, but that will completely depend on additional appropriations. USGS is taking the lead on establishing the CSCs and providing initial staffing. Ultimately, funds and staff from multiple Interior bureaus will be pooled to support these centers and ensure collaborative sharing of research results and data. 

• http://nccwsc.usgs.gov/, for more information about the NCCWSC, regional CSCs, and LCCs
• http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/climate/strategy/CSC-Map.cfm, for description of function and services of CSCs and interactive map
• http://www.nature.nps.gov/climatechange/DOIinitiatives.cfm, for brief description of two DOI initiatives- LCCs and CSCs ; this site includes links to interactive maps and information on services provided by CSCs and LCCs. 
• http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Interior-Announces-Climate-Science-Centers-for-Southeast-and-Northwest-Regions.cfm, for more information on the role and function of CSCs (press release, 09/23/2010)
• http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases, go to press releases 10/20,21/2010 for information on new Southwest and North Central CSCs 
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-geological-survey-usgs-0/view.html, for TNC USGS page with more information on NCCWSC and CSCs

Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs)    

LCCs are management-science partnerships that inform integrated resource management actions addressing climate change and other stressors within and across landscapes. The conservation challenges of the 21^st century, climate change and land use change in particular, require conservation to operate at landscape scales, and LCCs engage federal agencies, local and state partners, and the public in crafting practical, landscape-level strategies for managing climate change and other impacts on natural resources.

Secretarial Order 3289 elevated LCCs from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) initiative to a Department-wide initiative. Efforts will focus on impacts that typically extend beyond traditional jurisdictional boundaries, such as the effects of climate change on wildlife migration patterns, wildfire risk, drought, or invasive species. Guided by DOI's newly created Energy and Climate Change Council (formerly the Climate Change Response Council), LCCs will be the primary vehicle for providing new science capacity for FWS and partners to inform fish and wildlife management decisions and actions and will complement the USGS CSCs from a FWS mission and partner-based perspective. Together, the CSCs and LCCs will assess the impacts of climate change and identify strategies to ensure that resources across landscapes are resilient.

Twenty-one LCCs are planned across the nation through FY 2012. Eight LCCs received funding in FY10 through FWS, and additional LCCs are being established with support from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Department is investing an enormous of amount of resources (funding and staff time) into LCCs and they are a core part of its climate change program. FWS is a primary lead on LCCs and has invested the most resources into establishing and staffing them.

It should be noted that LCCs were originally designed, and in practice are forming, to be broader than focusing solely on climate change issues in a region. Each LCC self-identifies the most important and urgent conservation challenges or issues it faces at the landscape scale.

• http://www.doi.gov/lcc/index.cfm, for interactive map and link to each LCC with information on participating bureaus, points of contact, resource management challenges and other; also includes brief description of function and services of LCCs
• http://www.fws.gov/science/SHC/lcc.html, for FWS national Landscape Conservation Cooperatives page for information about all LCCs and Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC)
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/landscape-conservation-cooperatives-lccs-0/view.html, for TNC LCC page with more information on SHC and LCCs, including links to USFWS presentations and overviews and a table identifying the national LCCs          
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-fish-and-wildlife-service-usfws-or-fws/view.html, for TNC USFWS page with more information on SHC and LCCs and FWS climate change response strategy

America 's Great Outdoors (AGO)

AGO is a pan-federal initiative with DOI, EPA, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) as leading agencies in coordination with other federal agencies. It will "promote and support community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces" and will promote "a national dialogue about conservation and reconnecting Americans with the outdoors." The conservation community is hoping that a central component of the initiative, which is still forming, will include increased land protection efforts. Addressing the impacts of climate change has been a theme in many of statements and documents promoting the initiative. The initiative is an evolution of DOI Secretary Salazar's experience developing "Great Outdoors Colorado", or GoCo, when he was with the state, and the Department's earlier "Treasured Landscapes" initiative launched the first year of the Obama administration.

• http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/index.cfm, for more information on AGO
• http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/youth/index.cfm, for Youth in Great Outdoors page and links to educating/engaging youth and the next generation of conservationists and community leaders

 

> Department Activities, Resources, Products

Scientific Research and Data Integration

Management decisions made in response to climate change must be based on the best science and coordinated on a landscape scale. DOI is taking the lead in producing climate impact projections that are downscaled to the ecosystem level and in synthesizing climate data produced by different partners across these landscapes. DOI is working with partners to integrate existing science and climate change impact databases across these landscapes and to identify data gaps that must be filled in order for resource managers to make good decisions in response to climate change.

• http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/climate/science.cfm, for the Scientific Research and Data Integration page and links to related programs/activities of DOI agencies and bureaus

Adaptation and Decision Support Tools

DOI resource managers are developing adaptive-management strategies to respond to challenges of climate change. DOI is building the scientific and organizational infrastructure to work with partners in the development of adaptation tools and the coordination of climate-change responses at the landscape level. Interior is partnering to develop state-of-the-art strategies to translate science into adaptive management and to develop robust ecological-forecasting models. Scenario-planning and structured decision-making tools to facilitate a dialogue between scientists and resource managers are being developed and applied throughout the adaptive-management process.

• http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/climate/adaptation.cfm, for the Adaptation and Decision Support Tools page and links to related activities of DOI agencies and bureaus

Carbon Sequestration

DOI is mandated to complete national assessments of the potential of geological and biological carbon sequestration to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change. DOI will use this assessment to develop strategies to enhance carbon storage in geologic formation and in plants and soil on its lands in a manner that supports the DOI stewardship mission.

• http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/climate/carbonsequestration.cfm, for the Carbon Sequestration page and links to related activities of DOI agencies
• http://dirt.asla.org/2009/10/28/a-new-response-to-climate-change-landscape-conservation-cooperatives/, for article in which DOI Secretary Salazar calls for expanded LCCs that can protect critical carbon sinks in addition to wildlife habitats/migration corridors. LCCs can serve a major part of a U.S. C02 bio-sequestration strategy.
• http://www.doi.gov/news/speeches/2009_12_10_speech.cfm, for DOI Secretary Salazar keynote address on role of public lands in clean energy production and carbon capture, the role of LCCs, and more at UN Conference on Climate Change
• http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/newsroom/2009/june/nr_0507_2009.html, for DOI Secretary Salazar on national geological carbon capture program
• http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Interior-Announces-New-Method-to-Measure-Potential-for-Carbon-Storage-in-US-Lands-and-Reduce-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions-to-the-Atmosphere.cfm, for DOI announcement on new method to assess potential to store carbon in U.S. wetlands, forests and rangelands
• http://www.doi.gov/news/Carbon-Storage-Potential.cfm, for the first phase of a groundbreaking national assessment estimates that U.S. forests and soils could remove additional quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere as a means to mitigate climate change. America's forests and soils are currently insufficient in soaking up the nation's accelerating pace of emissions (news release, 12/10/09).
  

Reducing DOI's Carbon Footprint

President Obama has directed all the agencies of the federal government to lead by example in the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions. DOI is developing a baseline of existing greenhouse-gas emissions from its activities and will be setting aggressive targets for reductions. Interior bureaus currently are taking action to reduce the carbon footprint of their activities through a number of ways.

• http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/climate/carbonfootprint.cfm, for the Reducing DOI's Carbon Footprint page and links to actions to reduce carbon footprint

 

> Department Response to Water Challenges

Population growth, development, and climate change are creating growing challenges for America's water supplies. Dwindling water supplies, lengthening droughts, and rising demand for water in many areas of the country are forcing communities, stakeholders, and governments to find solutions that will help ensure stable, secure water supplies for future generations and our resources. DOI provides leadership and assistance to states, tribes and local communities to address competing demands for water. The Department helps communities improve conservation and increase water availability, restore watersheds, and resolve longstanding water conflicts.

• http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/water/index.cfm, for Water Challenges page, links to DOI activities addressing challenges, and summary of work of DOI bureaus with link to each bureau
• http://water.usgs.gov/wsi/, for USGS National Water Census page with links assessing the use, availability and trends of the nation's water supply

DOI WaterSMART Program

Water shortage and water-use conflicts have become more commonplace in many areas of the United States, even in normal water years. In February 2010, DOI Secretary Ken Salazar issued Secretarial Order 3297 launching the WaterSMART Program, which stands for "Sustain and Manage America's Resources for Tomorrow". Purpose of the program is identifying strategies to "secure and stretch water supplies for use by existing and future generations to benefit people, the economy, and the environment, and identify adaptive measures needed to address climate change and future demands." The DOI U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are the lead agencies for the WaterSMART Program, and a key aspect is USBR's Basin Study Program.

DOI will maximize the effectiveness of the water sustainability efforts and programs of DOI agencies, including USBR Title XVI Basin Study Program, WaterSMART Grants, and USGS WaterSMART National Water Availability and Use Assessment Program (proposed for FY 2011), by coordinating among them and with ongoing water conservation and sustainability programs of other federal and state agencies.

WaterSMART will coordinate with DOI's Task Force on Energy and Climate Change and the ECC (formerly Climate Change Response) Council, working with DOI's regional Climate Science Centers and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives to obtain the best available science and ensure sustainable water strategies in the field offices of bureaus and agencies. The program will make recommendations for enhancements to information collection, analysis and delivery where needed. Each DOI bureau and office will exercise its discretion within the scope of its mission to carry out the purpose of this Order to sustain and manage water resources.

• http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/2010_02_22_release.cfm/index.cfm, for WaterSMART initiative highlights, including components of the Secretarial order (press release, 02/22/2010)
• http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/upload/WaterSMARTOrder.pdf, for Secretarial Order 3297
• http://www.usbr.gov/WaterSMART/index.html, for WaterSMART national water-conservation initiative, program components, and other information
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-bureau-of-reclamation-usbr-or-reclamation-0, for TNC USBR page and more information on WaterSMART Program

The Basin Study Program, West-Wide Climate Risk Assessments, and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives

These three complementary activities are within the WaterSMART Initiative, in accordance with Secretarial Order 3289, and meet the authorizations of the Secure Water Act. Secretarial Order 3289, issued by DOI Secretary Ken Salazar in September 2009, details Interior's coordinated strategy to address the current and future impacts of climate change on America's diverse natural resources, including water. As a whole, these three activities represent a continuum of activities within the context of climate change adaptation and a comprehensive approach to incorporate the best available science into climate change adaptation planning. 

• http://www.usbr.gov/WaterSMART/docs/so3289A1.pdf, for Secretarial Order 3289
• http://www.usbr.gov/WaterSMART/wwcra.html, for a summary of the three complementary activities within WaterSMART and flowchart depicting the relationship
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-bureau-of-reclamation-usbr-or-reclamation-0, for TNC USBR page and more information on Basin Study Program, Secure Water Act, West-Wide Climate Risk Assessments, and LCCs

Climate Change and Western Water Group

The USGS, USBR and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have formed the Climate Change and Western Water Group, a federal research and development group. Their goal is an interagency, coordinated research and development plan that is steered by user needs, incorporates expert review, delivers research and development products to users, and assimilates user feedback to steer the next research steps.

• http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1331/Circ1331.pdf, for 2009 report "Climate Change and Water Resources Management: A Federal Perspective"
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-bureau-of-reclamation-usbr-or-reclamation-0, for TNC USBR page and more information on Climate Change and Western Water Group

 

> Other Programs, Products, Tools

U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and Synthesis and Assessment Products (SAPs)

DOI conducts and sponsors a broad range of research that supports the U.S. Global Change Research Program. USGCRP is a Congressionally-authorized consortium of 13 federal agencies responsible for various aspects of global change research, including coordinating climate change research activities of the agencies. It has produced important products related to climate adaptation for wildlife and ecosystems and maintains a comprehensive website with a variety of climate change science resources and publications. Research aims to provide science-based applications and tools for sustainable natural resource management. USGCRP is steered by the Subcommittee on Global Change Research and was known as the U.S. Climate Change Science Program from 2002 through 2008.

• http://www.globalchange.gov/, for the USGCRP homepage; with links to Federal Agencies and their roles in climate research and to news, publications and resources; also links to Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation Options, Extreme Weather and other pages; includes October 2010 ICCATF progress report to President Obama
• http://www.globalchange.gov/resources/educators/toolkit, for the USGCRP resources page and "Climate Change Wildlife and Wildlands, A Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators" 

USGCRP released a series of 21 Synthesis and Assessment Products (SAPs) from 2006 to 2009. The SAPs aimed at providing current assessments of climate change science to inform public debate, policy, and operational decisions. These reports also are intended to help USGCRP develop future program research priorities.

USGCRP's guiding vision is to provide the nation and global community with the science-based knowledge needed to manage the risks and capture the opportunities associated with climate and related environmental changes. The SAPs are important steps toward achieving that vision and help to translate USGCRP's extensive observational and research database into informational tools that directly address key questions being asked of the research community.

Of particular interest for wildlife and ecosystem adaptation are SAP 4.3 The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversityin the United States and SAP 4.4 Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources. Also of interest is the June 2009 USGCRP report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, mostly based on the 21 SAPs and providing an extensive evaluation of climate change impacts at the regional level. It was (and largely still is) the most comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of climate change information on a range of scientific topics for the nation at the time.

The U.S. Global Change Research Act of 1990 requires USGCRP to report and interpret the findings of research conducted by the agencies every four years as National Climate Assessment reports. In 1997 the program began a national assessment of the impacts of climate variability and change on the Nation's resources, and in 2000 the first National Assessment report was released. USGCRP has not regularly produced these assessments (2000 was the last formal assessment); however, a new report is planned for release in 2013. National climate assessments "act as a status report on climate change science and impacts" and "will help evaluate the effectiveness of our mitigation and adaptation activities and identify economic opportunities that arise as the climate changes."

• http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/sap_2007_FinalReport.htm, for SAP 4.3
• http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahomecontentidonly=true&contentid=2008/05/0136.xml    (news release no. 0136.08, 05/27/2008, on SAP 4.3 with a summary of major findings)
• http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/saps, for all SAPs
• http://globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts, for the June 2009 global climate change impacts report and key findings
• http://www.conservationclimatechangeclearinghouse.net/, for the June 2009 global climate change impacts report, key messages and a concise summary review; on previous highlights page type ‘US Global' in ‘edit/find' window and go to ‘New US climate change report looks at ecosystems' article
• http://globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment, for USGCRP and overview of national climate assessments and links to earlier reports and other information
• http://esp.cr.usgs.gov/info/assessment/, for overview of the National Assessment, role of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the study, and report summaries and link to reports; USGS has been participating in USGCRP since 1990.
• http://www.doi.gov/news/doinews/US-Launches-Initiatives-to-Share-Climate-Science-Data.cfm, for message from Deputy Secretary of the Interior on U.S. initiatives to share climate science data with the world

 

Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force (Task Force): meetings, reports

The Task Force is a pan-federal and pan-sectoral group co-chaired by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and NOAA. It is comprised of over 200 federal agency staff, broken into various workgroups that conducted public listening sessions throughout the country during summer 2010. By executive order the CEQ Chair, following consultation with the agencies and Task Force, provided a progress report in October 2010 to President Obama on agency actions in support of the national adaptation strategy and outlining recommendations for how Federal Agency policies and programs can better prepare the United States to respond to the impacts of climate change.

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/initiatives/adaptation, for the October 2010 adaptation strategy progress report and list of recommendations
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/blog/ceq-report-release-eba-one-of-8-guiding-principles/view.html, for the adaptation strategy progress report, a summary of important report elements, and other information

U.S. Fire Learning Network (USFLN)

The USFLN is a joint effort of several DOI agencies, the  U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and The Nature Conservancy with a goal of accelerating the implementation of ecologically appropriate and culturally acceptable fuels reduction and fire regime restoration in high-priority habitats and landscapes. It fosters innovation and transfers knowledge acquired from numerous multi-agency, community-based projects to other landscape projects, scientists and decision makers.

• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/fire-learning-network/view.html, for TNC Global Fire Initiative page and information on the USFLN

Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network

The CESU national network has been established with an overarching goal of improving the scientific base for managing federal lands by providing high-quality scientific research, technical assistance, and education to resource and environmental managers. It is a nationwide consortium of federal agencies, universities, conservation organizations, and other partners working together to support agency missions and informed public trust resource stewardship. One objective is to build capacity and enhance coordination of climate change management and adaptation efforts among management agencies.

CESUs are based at host universities and focused on biogeographic regions of the country. To date the nation had been divided into 17 biogeographic regions, each served by a distinct CESU that is structured as a working collaboration among partners. Each regional unit operates independently and in association with one national network and is directed by specific mission, vision, goals and objectives and a strategic plan.

• http://www.cesu.psu.edu/, for CESU homepage with national network map and regional CESU networks

Technical Report, "The State of the Birds: 2010 Report on Climate Change"

The U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) has released a systematic analysis (3/2010) of the effects of climate change on bird populations of the United States. USFWS was the lead agency in creating the report through a partnership with other organizations and government agencies, including The Nature Conservancy, USFS, and USGS. This report is the nation's first comprehensive assessment of the vulnerability of nearly 800 bird species to climate change. In coordination with the report, DOI has initiated a network of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives to pool climate research and to promote conservation strategies for threatened birds. This collaboration "takes bird conservation to a new level" said Ken Rosenberg, director of conservation science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, an organization involved in producing the report.

• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-fish-and-wildlife-service-usfws-or-fws/view.html, for TNC USFWS page and more information on the 2010 report
• http://www.conservationclimatechangeclearinghouse.net/, for 2010 report, report highlights, and selected coverage  (Select ‘Previous Highlights' at page bottom; then ‘edit', ‘find' and enter ‘birds' in ‘find' window; scroll down page to highlighted words)
• http://www.stateofthebirds.org/, for 2010 report

 

> DOI Agency Links 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are DOI bureaus addressing climate change in land management planning and activities. The following pages have related information on these six bureaus:

• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-bureau-of-land-management-blm-0/view.html, for TNC BLM page
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-bureau-of-indian-affairs-bia-0/view.html, for TNC BIA page
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-bureau-of-reclamation-usbr-or-reclamation-0/view.html, for TNC USBR page
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-national-park-service-nps-0/view.html, for TNC NPS page
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-fish-and-wildlife-service-usfws-or-fws/view.html, for TNC USFWS page
• http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/climateadaptation/documents/doi-u.s.-geological-survey-usgs-0/view.html, for TNC USGS page