The draft National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, available for public review and comment through March 5, 2012, can be found on the web at www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov.

The strategy represents a draft framework for unified action to safeguard fish, wildlife, and plants, as well as the important benefits and services the natural world provides the nation every day, including jobs, food, clean water, clean air, building materials, storm protection, and recreation.

“The impacts of climate change are already here and those who manage our landscapes are already dealing with them,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes. “The reality is that rising sea levels, warmer temperatures, loss of sea ice and changing precipitation patterns – trends scientists have definitively connected to climate change – are already affecting the species we care about, the services we value, and the places we call home. A national strategy will help us prepare and adapt.”

Congress called for a national, government-wide strategy in 2010, directing the President’s Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of the Interior to develop it. CEQ and Interior responded by assembling an unprecedented partnership of federal, state and tribal fish and wildlife conservation agencies to draft the strategy. More than 100 diverse researchers and managers from across the country participated in the drafting for the partnership.

The partnership is co-led by Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, representing state fish and wildlife agencies.

The strategy will guide the nation’s efforts during the next five years to respond to current and future climate change impacts such as changing species distributions and migration patterns, the spread of wildlife diseases and invasive species, the inundation of coastal habitats with rising sea levels, and changes in freshwater availability with shifting precipitation and habitat types. The strategy does not prescribe mandatory activities that agencies must take nor suggest regulatory actions; rather, it provides a roadmap for decision makers and resource managers to use in considering climate change implications to their ongoing wildlife and habitat management activities.

Elements of the draft strategy include:

• Descriptions of current and projected impacts of climate change on the eight major ecosystems of the United States, the fish, wildlife and plant species those ecosystems support and the vital ecosystem services they provide;

• Goals, strategies, and actions to reduce the vulnerability and increase the resilience of fish, wildlife, plants and the communities that depend on them in the face of climate change;

• Collaborative strategies and actions that agriculture, energy, transportation and other sectors can take to promote adaptation of fish, wildlife and plants, and utilize the adaptive benefits of natural resources in their climate adaptation efforts; and

• A framework for coordinated implementation of the strategy among government and non-governmental entities from national to local scales.

“For more than a century, state fish and wildlife agencies have been entrusted by the public to be good stewards of their natural resources. To do that, we constantly are called upon to address threats to our natural resources,” said Patricia Riexinger, Director of the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “Today’s pressures on fish and wildlife and their habitats are exacerbated by climate change and together they emphasize the need for increased conservation and science-based management. The strategy is our nation’s insurance for managing healthy and robust ecosystems in uncertain future conditions.”

“This strategy provides a framework for safeguarding America’s fish, wildlife and plant resources and the valuable services they provide over the long-term,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA is committed to working with federal, state, tribal and local government agencies, non-government organizations and the public in this process because we all have important roles to play in preparing all regions of our nation in a changing climate.”

Leading the development of the strategy is a Steering Committee that includes government representatives from 16 federal agencies, five state fish and wildlife agencies and two inter-tribal commissions. The Steering Committee includes representatives from the California, Washington, Wisconsin, New York and North Carolina fish and wildlife agencies to ensure that all 50 states’ fish and wildlife concerns are considered. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies is providing staff support for developing the strategy.

Public comments can be submitted online through the strategy website via a special link. Written comments may be submitted via the U.S. mail to the Office of the Science Advisor, Attn: National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive Suite 222, Arlington, VA 22203. In addition, there will be five public information sessions in various locations around the country and two webinars to provide details and encourage dialogue on the strategy and its development. To register for these meetings and for more information on the public comment process, visit http://www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov/public-comments.php.

An aquatic inventory team explored this dry wash in the Rincon Mountains during the BioBlitz (photo by Megan Kimble)

Standing under the sun on a 110-degree day in Tucson, it’s easy to assume the Sonoran Desert is a hostile, lifeless place. But, venture into the hills, and you’ll find a different story. Nestled among the giant Saguaro cacti is a brimming ecosystem, hosting the greatest diversity of vegetative growth of any desert worldwide, as well as an astonishing array of mammals, reptiles, birds, and aquatic invertebrates.

This weekend, the National Park Service and National Geographic teamed up to host the 5^th annual BioBlitz in Saguaro National Park to inventory the diversity of that ecosystem.

A BioBlitz is a 24-hour event to find and identify as many living species as possible in a national park. Scientists and experts lead inventory teams of students, teachers, and community members into Saguaro National Park East and West to explore the park’s mountains, valleys, cactus forests, washes, and tinajas in search of the desert’s wildlife.

An un-inventoried rattlesnake (photo by Megan Kimble)

Each team had a focus—from Gila monsters to aquatic fungi—and they ventured into the national park for two- to four-hour shifts. School kids took over the inventory teams all day on Friday, Oct. 20, as part of a broader mission to get young people excited about science.

Two of the major events unique to Tucson included the saguaro census, which focused on counting the growth and preservation of the iconic saguaro forests, and the night sky inventory, which measured light pollution in and around Tucson, an important measurement for the many world-class observatories located outside the city.

Tucson’s BioBlitz was the fifth in a series of 10 annual BioBlitzes planned by National Geographic and the National Park Service, leading up to the Park Service’s centennial in 2016. The first BioBlitz was held at Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., in 2007; in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California in 2008; Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in 2009; and Biscayne National Park in Florida hosted last year’s BioBlitz.

While inventorying species is the stated mission of the BioBlitz, the event is as much about the park as the people—getting people into the park—which is why all BioBlitzes focus on national parks adjacent to major urban areas around the U.S.

John Francis, the Vice President of Research, Conservation and Exploration for National Geographic, explained why: “We’re trying to awaken people who don’t really understand their deep connection with nature,” he said in an interview on the National Geographic BioBlitz website. “Sometimes in the urban setting you don’t get out into nature. But there are parks around the country that are close to the city, and we want to get the schoolchildren and the families into the park, to get them to be with those who really know it and love it and get them bitten by the bug that’s so exciting about loving nature through these BioBlitz activities.”

The Tucson BioBlitz was the first large-scale species inventory of Saguaro National Park. Check out images and results from the BioBlitz on the National Geographic BioBlitz blog.

“I think we have to accept that in Arizona, particularly the White Mountains, fire is inevitable,” said Stephen Pyne, a fire historian and professor at Arizona State University, in an interview that aired on Arizona Week on August 26. “As long as we keep this as public land and we want to keep it in a quasi-wild state, fire is going to happen.”

Pyne said that prescribed burning would diminish the risk for the out-of-control fires, like the Wallow Fire, which burned a state record of 538,000 acres over five weeks this summer. “Right now, instead of tame fire, we’re relying on feral fire to do that ecological work.”

Arizona’s 2011 Wallow Fire (Photo: U.S. Forest Service)

In New Mexico, a historic practice of letting natural fires burn has helped current wildfires in the Gila National Forest burn with relatively low severity, said Molly Hunter, a professor of fire ecology at Northern Arizona University. But, she acknowledged, the practice works partly because of the region’s remoteness and lack of human habitation.

It’s an interesting conundrum — how to control the forest so that it can stay wild.

In August of 2009, the Station Fire burned 240 square miles of the San Gabriel Mountains, the biggest forest fire Los Angeles had seen in over a century. My family’s home was one of thousands to be evacuated, but luckily not one of the 80 homes that burned. I remember feeling at once terrified as I watched the flames crest the ridge behind our house, and simultaneously disconnected — told you so, nature seemed to be saying. The chaparral in the mountains is supposed to burn every decade. Fire regenerates the ecosystem. There hadn’t been a fire in over a century, so the unnatural magnitude of the blaze was due to our safekeeping and the layers of thick, dry brush spread over the hillsides. Thousands of homes were evacuated, eight burned, and two firefighters died fighting the blaze.

It was clear then, and it’s clear now, how much we have to have to push back nature in order to sustain and protect the settlements we’ve constructed. The question, then, is how much to push back.

“Fire is going to happen, and in many ways its essential. It’s part of the dynamic of the ecosystem. But we have a lot of choice in what kinds of fires we have — how big, how frequent,” said Pyne.

The kinds of fires we have reflect decisions in forestry management. We can turn fire over to nature, giving it room to run. We can burn the land ourselves. We can try to exclude fire, to suppress its presence. Or, we can try to change the landscape itself. Pyne thinks it’s a little of everything. Logging and other commercial uses won’t prevent forest fires, but neither will protection at all costs. “We will have to manage fire in the state something on the model that we manage water,” he said.

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Megan Kimble is noticeably more cheerful since she stopped commuting on the freeways of Los Angeles and started biking around Tucson, where she’s a student in University of Arizona’s MFA program for creative nonfiction (and a new contributor to the Terrain.org blog!). Find her at megankimble.com.

Least Tern. Photo by Tom Grey.

(Washington, D.C., April 22, 2011) One year after the start of the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) announced it will launch a five-state, Gulf Coast conservation effort that will identify and implement protective measures for vulnerable beach-nesting birds such as Least Terns, Black Skimmers, Sandwich Terns, and Royal Terns.

The project will bring expertise not only from ABC, but from partners throughout the Gulf region, including the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program; National Audubon, the Pascagoula River Audubon Center (and their Audubon Junior Naturalist and “Chick Shelter” programs), and the Mississippi Coast Audubon Society; and the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory. The project, which is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, will focus on beach-nesting bird habitat in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

“This project will reduce impacts on key beach-nesting bird colonies, many of which are currently vulnerable to accidental disturbance by members of the public, dogs, and ATVs which can cause adult birds to abandon a nest or lead to crushed eggs and injured chicks,” said Mike Parr, Vice President of ABC and one of the leaders of the project. “Nesting birds occupy a tiny portion of the region’s beaches, usually well back from the shoreline, so there won’t be a conflict with beach goers, but the areas they do use are absolutely vital to their breeding success” he added.

“All of us love the beaches of the Gulf – they are economically vital to our coastal communities – thus our project goal is not to restrict public access, but instead we hope to engage the public in helping us with beach bird recovery by sharing this beautiful shoreline during nesting season,” said Cecilia Riley, Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory.

“Audubon is excited to bring our volunteers, Audubon chapters, and over 100 years of experience protecting beach-nesting birds along the Gulf coast to this exciting initiative by ABC”, said Melanie Driscoll, Audubon’s Director of Bird Conservation for the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Flyway.

“Beaches are among the most limited and threatened of all bird habitats in the U.S. They provide only a tiny sliver of nesting opportunity for birds, and are often heavily used by humans, squeezed by development, and frequented by colonies of feral cats. Consequently, birds that require this habitat face considerable survival challenges. Much of their plight is caused by anthropogenic impacts, so it is only fitting that we take steps to fend off some of those challenges and give them a fighting chance,” Parr said.

Habitat to be targeted by the project was directly impacted by the oil spill, both from the oil itself and also as a result of the cleanup effort, which caused damage along much of the Gulf Coast through disturbance and nest destruction by cleanup crews on foot and in vehicles, and through the removal of sand from nesting areas to construct protective berms along the tideline.

Specifically, the project partners, with the help of volunteers, will implement conservation measures such as signage and fencing at critical, unprotected or insufficiently protected colony sites for beach-nesting birds, to reduce accidental nest destruction and abandonment. These direct protection measures will be supported by a public awareness campaign designed to encourage beach-goers to respect and avoid sensitive nesting areas.

Both the Least Tern and the Black Skimmer are on the U.S. WatchList, which identifies birds that need conservation attention to survive a convergence of environmental challenges, including habitat loss, invasive species, and climate change.

American Bird Conservancy (www.abcbirds.org) conserves native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas by safeguarding the rarest species, conserving and restoring habitats, and reducing threats, while building capacity in the bird conservation movement. ABC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership organization that is consistently awarded a high rating by the independent group, Charity Navigator.

Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard.

The Center for American Progress released two reports on the one-year anniversary of the BP blowout: “The Gulf One Year Later: Beyond Rhetoric?” by Michael Conathan, which discusses the Congressional response to the economic and environmental catastrophe, and “One Year Later BP Still Not ‘Making It Right’” by Jorge Madrid and Kiley Kroh, outlining the lack of accountability and responsibility on the part of BP to restore the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

In “The Gulf One Year Later: Beyond Rhetoric?,” Michael Conathan discusses the congressional response to the BP spill, which claimed the lives of 11 men and set off an 87-day environmental nightmare. The explosion also triggered an equally ferocious barrage of rhetoric in the nation’s capital. A frantic burst of congressional hearings emerged as the immediate oversight response. As usual, they were full of sound and fury—sadly but not surprisingly—signifying nothing. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that 101 oil-spill-related bills were introduced in the 111th Congress, which came to a close in 2010. Exactly zero were enacted into law. Another 15 have been introduced so far this year—none of which has been acted upon by their committee of jurisdiction. This article explores past efforts and current efforts within the legislature and the administration and why this legislation has not been promulgated a year later.

Members of Congress should work toward passing legislation that would:

• Mandate that 80 percent of BP’s Clean Water Act fines be sent directly to the Gulf Coast to repair environmental and economic damage
• Strengthen provisions ensuring local stakeholders have a voice in prioritizing the use of the funds

For the full article, click here.

“One Year Later BP Still Not ‘Making It Right’” by Jorge Madrid and Kiley Kroh outlines the lack of responsibility and accountability by BP to fully compensate for the damage done to individuals, businesses, and the fragile ecosystem of the Gulf region. Despite the administration’s insistence that BP bear the entire cost of the unprecedented cleanup, it looks like taxpayers will be picking up half the bill. The galling payouts don’t end there, either. Transocean gave its top executives safety bonuses in December 2010 and Ken Feinberg and his firm, Feinberg Rozen, which was hired by BP to manage the claims process, negotiated themselves a raise, now receiving pay of $1.25 million a month. BP has made clear that it will be ending compensation proceedings for individuals and businesses by 2013 and is exploring a loophole in the wording of the Clean Water Act that could dramatically reduce its liability for significant penalties under both the Clean Water Act and NRDA.

To provide proper oversight and strategic spending, the following steps should be taken:

• Establish an independent citizens’ advisory council to ensure the money goes to appropriate projects
• BP and other responsible parties should be required to make an immediate down payment on the NRDA process
• Responsible parties should be prevented from using the court system to further delay payment while legal challenges are pending

For the full article, click here.

To speak with CAP experts on this topic, please contact Christina DiPasquale at 202.481.8181 or cdipasquale@americanprogress.org.

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The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

New Report Reveals Bird Conservation Efforts Are Critical in the Face of Climate Change

Dr. David Pashley, Vice President of American Bird Conservancy – one of the nation’s leading bird conservation organizations – cautioned last week that as climate change impacts are increasingly felt throughout the United States and beyond, conservation efforts affecting birds will take on a doubly important role in protecting not only birds that are already threatened, but also more common birds as well.

Dr. Pashley made his comments in connection with the release of State of the Birds 2010, the first comprehensive vulnerability assessment of bird species to climate change across the United States. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the report’s release at a press conference in Texas, along with several environmental organizations including American Bird Conservancy that had collaborated on the publication.  Dr. Pashley was one of the authors of the report.

“Our findings tell us that birds of conservation concern today will be in even greater peril in the future as a result of climate change, and many bird species that are now doing well may soon become conservation priorities as global warming progresses,” Dr. Pashley said.

Conservation efforts that will take on special importance include: reduction of carbon emissions; conservation of bird habitat; protection of bird prey bases and food supplies; and removal of threats, including invasive plant and animal species.

“The birds that will be the hardest hit by climate change will be ocean and island birds, whose habitat and food base are most tied to both a climate-dependent ocean biology and sea level. Hawaiian birds in particular, are already in deep trouble and may be looking at even more difficult circumstances,” Dr. Pashley said.

All 67 oceanic bird species are considered vulnerable due to low reproductive rates, use of islands for nesting, and reliance on rapidly changing oceans.  Ninety-three percent of Hawaiian birds and 62% of all U.S. Pacific Island birds have a medium to high vulnerability to climate change. Hawaiian forest birds are also threatened by the spread of avian malaria; warming will increase the rate of transmission and reduce the size of the birds’ current malaria-free safe area.

“For land-based birds, the key will be in establishing, implementing, or enforcing land management policies that recognize the increasing threat that birds are facing,” he said.

How lands are managed can help both mitigate global warming, and help birds adapt to changing climate and habitat conditions.  For example, conserving carbon-rich forests and wetlands, and creating incentives to avoid deforestation can keep already stored carbon from dissipating into the atmosphere, while also providing invaluable wildlife habitat. Market-based mechanisms that provide resources to conserve biodiversity and to store carbon should also be encouraged.

The report identified common bird species such as the American oystercatcher, common nighthawk, and northern pintail that are likely to become species of conservation concern as a result of climate change.

Dr. Pashley also said that in order to address the challenges identified in State of the Birds 2010, the Joint Venture partnerships will need to be further strengthened to identify new or changing bird conservation needs and to carry out projects to help species adapt.  Joint Ventures (JVs) are regional, collaborative partnerships involving federal, state, and local government agencies, corporations, tribes, individuals, and a wide range of non-governmental organizations working to advance conservation efforts and help identify local land use priorities. JVs provide coordination for conservation planning and implementation that benefit birds and other species. JVs also develop science-based goals and strategies, and a non-regulatory approach for achieving conservation.

The State of the Birds 2010 report is a collaborative effort, as part of the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative, involving federal and state wildlife agencies, and scientific and conservation organizations. Partners include American Bird Conservancy, Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Klamath Bird Observatory, National Audubon Society, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Geological Survey.

The report is available at www.stateofthebirds.org.