The Compendium of Adaptation Approaches tool features a wide range of ideas about how managers and landowners can help natural systems cope with climate change. Many natural resource topics are covered, including forested ecosystems, water resources, urban forests, infrastructure, fisheries and fish habitat, grasslands and shrublands, wildlife, riparian and wetland ecosystems, recreation, and agriculture. The collection is organized by adaptation approach, but can also be browsed by geographical region, by climate change impact, or by specific terms. The U.S. Forest Service is committed to working with a variety of partners across the landscape, recognizing the needs of particular regions and locations. The Adaptation Approaches have been developed through two Forest Service-led efforts. The Climate Change Response Framework (associated with the Northern Forests Climate Hub) provides an integrated set of tools, partnerships, and actions to support climate-informed conservation and forest management, including “menus” of Adaptation Strategies and Approaches. The Adaptation Partners (associated with the Northwest Climate Hub) use an all-lands approach to adaptation and have created a Climate Change Adaptation Library of actions developed from workshops held across the western US. All of the ideas compiled in this tool have been developed through science-management partnerships and represent the input of hundreds of scientists and natural resource specialists.
Using the Adaptation Strategies and Approaches
One of the challenges of adapting ecosystems to climate change is translating big-picture adaptation concepts into specific, tangible actions. This tool provides a tiered structure that organizes diverse ideas into strategies, approaches, and tactics. The adaptation approaches can provide:
- A full spectrum of possible adaptation actions that can help sustain healthy ecosystems and achieve management goals in the face of climate change.
- A menu of adaptation actions from which managers select actions best suited to their specific management goals and objectives.
- A platform for discussing climate change-related topics and adaptation methods.
- Examples of tactics that could potentially be used to implement an approach, recognizing that specific tactics will be designed by the land manager.
The adaptation approaches do not:
- Make recommendations or set guidelines for management decisions. It is up to the land manager to decide how this information is used.
- Express preference for any strategies or approaches within an ecosystem type, location, or situation. Rather, a combination of location-specific factors and manager expertise is needed to inform the selection of any strategy or approach.
It is helpful to use a structured process to selecting specific adaptation approaches for management planning or project development. Examples include the Adaptation Workbook that was developed through the Climate Change Response Framework for use in project-level planning and the regional planning the process described by Adaptation Partners. Careful and intentional consideration of management goals and anticipated climate change impacts for a project area will help projects and plans be robust in their inclusion of climate change. Users can then select actions that make sense for their situation and help support what they are trying to accomplish on the landscape.