Climate, the Boreal Forest, and Moose: A Pilot Project for Scenario Planning to Inform Land and Wildlife Management
Using Scenario Planning to Inform Land and Wildlife Management: A Pilot Project for Boreal Forests in the Northeastern United States
Dates
Start Date
2014-09-17
End Date
2016-09-16
Release Date
2014
Summary
Scenario planning is one decision support method that can help natural resource managers incorporate information about uncertain future changes in climate into management decisions. To provide a proof of concept of the value of scenario planning in helping managers prepare for climate change, we conducted a pilot scenario planning effort aimed at helping state agencies in the northeastern United States develop climate-informed moose management goals and actions. To encourage participation by wildlife managers, we provided several opportunities for them to learn about scenario planning and examples of its application in natural resource management. We shared this information via guidance documents on incorporating climate change into [...]
Summary
Scenario planning is one decision support method that can help natural resource managers incorporate information about uncertain future changes in climate into management decisions. To provide a proof of concept of the value of scenario planning in helping managers prepare for climate change, we conducted a pilot scenario planning effort aimed at helping state agencies in the northeastern United States develop climate-informed moose management goals and actions.
To encourage participation by wildlife managers, we provided several opportunities for them to learn about scenario planning and examples of its application in natural resource management. We shared this information via guidance documents on incorporating climate change into State Wildlife Action Plans, organized sessions at professional conferences, on-line presentations, periodic project newsletters, and small group meetings with state wildlife managers. These educational efforts reached well over 50 managers across the northeast and other parts of the country, and were successful in building interest in scenario planning. In September 2016, we partnered with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NY-DEC) to lead a 1-day scenario planning exercise focused on setting goals and objectives for a state-wide moose management plan. WCS then worked closely with scientists at the Northeast Climate Science Center to develop a set of future climate scenarios that are directly relevant to examining how the draft moose populations goals and objectives developed during the first workshop might hold up under different scenarios of climate change. These scenarios will be used by NY-DEC in Spring 2017 when they take their next steps to prepare a moose management plan for the state.
Results from this pilot project are being incorporated into a manuscript that will describe several recent uses of scenario planning by natural resource managers, and how lessons learned can help refine future uses of scenario planning for climate-informed wildlife management
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Moose (David Wattles).JPG “Moose - Credit: David Wattles”
2.67 MB
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Moose photo permission.pdf “Photo Permission David Wattles”
556.31 KB
application/pdf
Purpose
Scenario planning is one decision support method that can help managers incorporate information about future changes in climate and other drivers into their management decisions. The development of future scenarios (of climate change, socioeconomic conditions, land use changes, and ecological responses) can help state and federal managers understand plausible ecological futures, vulnerabilities, and opportunities as a result of climate change and related stressors. While scenario planning is increasingly being proposed as a useful method for addressing climate change uncertainties in land and wildlife management, there is a need for additional models that show proof of concept of how management plans and decisions can be informed by scenario planning. We therefore propose to conduct a pilot scenario-planning project aimed at informing land and wildlife management, with a specific focus on moose in the north woods of the United States. Outputs from the project will be designed to inform State Wildlife Action Plans and/or other relevant wildlife and land management plans in the region, while also providing a model for how scenario planning might be useful for other systems and geographies. The goal of the proposed project is to design and implement a pilot scenario planning effort over the next 18 months that provides (a) information on climate change impacts and adaptation options that can be incorporated into State Wildlife Action Plans and/or other relevant management plans affecting moose and their habitats in the Northeast; and (b) proof of concept and a learning opportunity on how scenario planning can be used to bring existing research and analyses to bear on timely management decision-making and planning by state agencies.