Office of the Climate Change Advisor

Our Changing Climate ... A Clear and Present Reason for Restoration

September 20th, 2012

Scientists are accumulating evidence that shows that the warming of the climate is changing the odds of extreme events like floods, droughts, heat waves, and downpours. Longer and more intense heat waves and less intense cold temperatures are being observed and the vast majority of scientific models project that these patterns will intensify throughout the 21st century. We also know that these patterns are altering the frequency, intensity, and timing of events such as fires, heavy precipitation, and insect infestations – disturbances that influence the structure, composition, and function of the forest and grassland ecosystems that we manage.

Getting Straight to the Good Stuff

March 1st, 2012

In honor of leap year, we are leaping over Dave’s essay section and getting right to all of the details of climate change related research, management activities, and communications in the Forest Service. We're learning from each other as we all work to bring climate change knowledge into our organizational expectations and actions.

Going to Extremes

December 29th, 2011

The owner of a woodlot, rattled by an ice storm, faces an expensive clean up job, with few markets for the damaged timber. A city faces the cost of dredging silt from its reservoir after intense rainfall erodes a severely burned watershed. Managers of a tribal forest, recently burned over, struggle through an extended drought and shortages of seedlings suited to a drier future. These and similar situations that result from extreme weather events are likely to increase.

Results of the Scorecard 2011 Baseline Assessment

October 31st, 2011

The National Forests and Grasslands recently completed their 2011 baseline assessment using the Climate Change Performance Scorecard. The responses provide us with a rich source of information about how climate change considerations have already been incorporated into our programs and initiatives. Over the next few months, we will be reviewing the results and producing a number of reports in order to share the stories told in the narratives. Totaling up the yes and no answers is quite a bit easier so we've got those numbers to share with you already.

Managing Risk: Key to Climate Change Adaptation

September 13th, 2011

We face multiple risks every day as resource managers. We are pretty good at intuitively understanding the likelihoods of different hazards, the uncertainties around them, and their potential impacts on the resources we value, and we use this understanding in our resource management decisions. But the risks we manage are rapidly changing with the climate. Sustainability can no longer presume stationarity. To sustain the benefits of our forests and grasslands, our risk management approach itself must adapt to changing means and extremes. We may have to become even better at the techniques and principles of risk management. Our experience and intuition will only take us so far in a rapidly changing world.