Building Social and Ecological Resilience to Climate Change in Southwestern Colorado: Phase 2

Principal Investigator

Nina Burkardt

Start Date

2017-09-01

End Date

2018-08-31

Release Date

2017

In southwestern Colorado, land managers anticipate the impacts associated with climate change to include higher temperatures, more frequent and prolonged drought, accelerated snowmelt, larger and more intense fires, more extreme storms, and the spread of invasive species. These changes put livelihoods, ecosystems, and species at risk. To help communities in the San Juan and Gunnison basins cope, this project will expand opportunities for scientists, land managers, and affected residents to learn from each other and identify actions that each can take individually or collectively to reduce the negative impacts of climate change in their watersheds. This project is an extension of the project Building Social and Ecological Resilience to Climate Change in southwestern Colorado. The first phase developed integrated social-ecological science and adaptation strategies for four target landscapes: spruce-fir forests, pinyon-juniper woodlands, sagebrush scrublands, and seeps, springs and wetlands. These adaptation strategies and the process whereby they were created were documented by the science-stakeholder collaboratives to assist communities elsewhere. The second phase of this project will utilize the science resources developed previously to further advance adaptation strategy development and share the results with other communities, land managers, and decision makers. Ultimately, the project will result in landscape-scale conservation goals and actions that conserve key species, ecosystems, and resources, address the economic and social systems of local communities, and provide science resources for natural resource managers in the face of a changing climate.

ScienceBase WMS

• National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers
• North Central CASC