PNW Tribal Climate Change Network

[NaepcA1]

Dear PNW Tribal Climate Change Network:

I've received a number of emails from Network participants asking that I forward information to all of you, so I've created a digest below of the information included in this email. Along with announcements for two upcoming webinars and the recently released report on the Washington State's Strategies for Responding to Climate Change, you'll see a request for sign-on to a letter aimed at demonstrating support for federal investment in conservation and rural economic development from the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (http://www.sustainablenorthwest.org/rvcc). I've also included all of the information on the North Pacific Landscape Conservation Coalition Request for Proposals. This is the same information I sent out last night.

1. Rural Voices for Conservation Action Alert: Sign-on letter to support federal investment in conservation
2. North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative - Request for Proposals
3. Webinar: New Models and Decision Support Tools for Improving Management of Stream Ecosystems Under a Changing Climate
4. Webinar: Safeguarding Wildlife from Climate Change Web Conference Series: Conservation in a Rapidly Changing Climate: Problems, Pitfalls, and Proactive Management
5. Report on Washington State’s Strategies For Responding To Climate Change

As a reminder, information on our next conference call is as follows:

Call-in Information:
Call Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Call Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 Pacific
Call-in #: 1-888-858-2144
Pass code: 5064716

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.

Regards,
Kathy

1. Rural Voices for Conservation Action Alert: Sign-on letter to support federal investment in conservation

Dear RVCC Participants and Partners:

We're writing to ask you to join us in demonstrating your support for Federal investment in conservation and rural economic development by signing the attached letter to the Obama Administration. As Congress and the Administration continue to seek opportunities to cut Federal spending, it is critical we remind them that conservation investments create jobs and build strong local economies in rural communities, especially here in the West. To read and sign the letter click here. Working together, the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition and the National Rural Assembly developed the attached letter urging the Administration to recognize the significant impact conservation funding has on the long-term ecological and economic health of rural America. As we have all witnessed, rural communities use conservation programs to restore and protect priority landscapes and resources, ensure the health of our land and water, transform local economies and create needed jobs. Our goal is to get at least 100 organizations and businesses from across the country, and particularly in the West, to sign-on to the attached support letter. Please consider adding your organization or business to this letter before April 25, 2012. To sign, please click here. Thank you for your support.

2. North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative - Request for Proposals
The North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NPLCC) is pleased to issue this request for proposals to find creative and effective ways to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of Tribes and First Nations into climate science work of the NPLCC. The NPLCC is committed to engaging Tribes and First Nations as it achieves its mission and goals. Part of this commitment is developing strategies to incorporate TEK into the NPLCC’s plans, priorities, and projects. The purpose of this Funding Opportunity is to demonstrate how TEK can be integrated with the work of the NPLCC and to identify un-met information needs of Tribes and First Nations regarding how natural and cultural resources may be affected by climate change. Attached is the Funding Opportunity Announcement. Please share this Announcement with individuals or organizations you know who may be interested in submitting a proposal. For more information about the NPLCC, visit our web site at www.fws.gov/NPLCC. Contacts: John Mankowski, NPLCC Coordinator, john_mankowski@fws.gov, 360 534-9330
and Mary Mahaffy, NPLCC Science Coordinator, mary_mahaffy@fws.gov, 360 753-7763.




3. Webinar Announcement: New Models and Decision Support Tools for Improving Management of Stream Ecosystems Under a Changing Climate.
Dan Isaak, US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 12:00–1:30 pm Mountain Time
Registration: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/262094206
Anthropogenic climate change may have profound effects on stream biotas, most of which are ectothermic and live in networks that are already heavily fragmented by human development. Concern over potential impacts is driving strong inter-agency collaborations and development of extensive monitoring networks and accurate models for downscaling broad climate patterns to key habitat variables. We provide examples of two such models that provide detailed predictions of stream temperature and hydrology under various climate scenarios across large portions of the Rocky Mountains. New decision support tools have been developed that integrate outputs from these models to provide information at spatial and temporal scales relevant to management. Even as the resolution, accuracy, and amount of data available to inform management decisions increases, however, key uncertainties remain. For aquatic biotas, these include documenting biological responses to long-term climate trends and estimating minimum habitat configurations below which population persistence is unlikely. Once biological responses are better understood, risk management through strategically targeted conservation actions will be able to proceed more efficiently than is presently the case.Flexibility in management responses will be required to bolster populations where it makes sense to do so, but managers will also have to accept the inevitable losses of some species from portions of historic ranges and expansion of new species into local aquatic communities.


4. Safeguarding Wildlife from Climate Change Web Conference Series: Conservation in a Rapidly Changing Climate: Problems, Pitfalls, and Proactive Management
Wednesday, April 18, 1:00-2:30 PM Eastern. Dr. Camille Parmesan, Professor in Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin and National Aquarium Chair in the Public Understanding of Oceans and Human Health, Plymouth University, UK.
Description: My talk will provide both an overview of the impacts of climate change and how we can use observed changes (e.g. range shifts) to inform us about conservation implications and point to possible management interventions. New climate models make it easier to explore different possible future scenarios for how the ranges of wild species might shift, contract or expand, but full utilization of these models requires intensive species' location data, with obvious implications for monitoring needs. There is increasing evidence that the impacts of climate change vary widely depending on other anthropogenic stressors. Interactions between climate change and other factors cause difficulties in teasing out their individual effects, but may also provide an opportunity for proactive adaptation to future changed climates. My talk will end with a discussion of management solutions, from the mundane to the extreme.To register, go to: https://doilearn.webex.com/doilearn/k2/ ... 3D%3D&FM=1
Once submitted, your name will be added to the registry for the webinar and you will receive an email with instructions on how to join the webinar via WebEx platform.
If you cannot attend the webinar it will be posted approximately 1-2 weeks after the presentation is given and posted on our Climate Change website:
http://training.fws.gov/CSP/Resources/c ... ng_bc.html
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Wildlife Federation have developed a series of web conferences to increase communication and transfer of technical information between conservation professionals regarding the increasing challenges from climate change. This program is being facilitated by the USFWS's National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) Applied Landscape Conservation Team (ALC).

5. Report on Washington State’s Strategies For Responding To Climate Change
The report, “Preparing for a Changing Climate: Washington State’s Integrated Climate Change Response Strategy,” was released this week.
It was prepared by the Washington Department of Ecology in collaboration with the state departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Fish and Wildlife, Health, Natural Resources, and Transportation.The Washington Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire had directed state agencies to develop this integrated climate change response strategy to enable state, tribal and local governments, and public and private organizations to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of changing climate conditions. The state agencies drew on the policy, management and scientific expertise of a broad range of stakeholders to develop the recommendations that are the basis of the report. The report outlines strategies for protecting human health, safeguarding infrastructure and transportation systems, improving water management, reducing losses to agriculture and forestry, protecting sensitive and vulnerable species, and supporting communities by involving the public. It lays out a framework that decision-makers can use to help protect Washington’s communities, natural resources and economy from the impacts of climate change. The strategy is available at http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/ipa ... rategy.htm





_____________________________
Kathy Lynn
Tribal Climate Change Project Coordinator
Adjunct Researcher, Environmental Studies Program
University of Oregon

Office: 541-346-5777
Cell: 541-206-3281
Email: kathy@uoregon.edu
http://tribalclimate.uoregon.edu