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Browsing Publications by Subject "adaptation strategies"

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    Pinyon-juniper landscape: San Juan Basin, Colorado Social-Ecological Cimate Resilience Project
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Rondeau, R., author; Bidwell, M., author; Neely, B., author; Rangwala, I., author; Yung, L., author; Wyborn, C., author; Colorado Natural Heritage Program, publisher
    Climate change is already having impacts on nature, ecosystem services and people in southwestern Colorado and is likely to further alter our natural landscapes in the coming decades. Understanding the potential changes and developing adaptation strategies can help ensure that natural landscapes and human communities remain healthy in the face of a changing climate. An interdisciplinary team consisting of social, ecological and climate scientists developed an innovative climate planning framework and worked with the Social‐Ecological Climate Resilience Project (SECR) and other stakeholders in Colorado’s San Juan River watershed to develop adaptation strategies for two significant landscapes, pinyon juniper woodlands and seeps, springs, and wetland resources under three climate scenarios between 2035 and 2050. This report summarizes the planning framework and results for the pinyon‐juniper landscape (the seeps, springs and wetlands results will be provided separately). This framework can be utilized to develop strategies for other landscapes at local, state, and national scales. Diagrams, narrative scenarios, and maps that depict climate scenarios and the social‐ecological responses help us portray the climate impact in the face of an uncertain future. Interviews and focus group workshops with agency staff and stakeholders who are users of public lands identified several important opportunities to improve the adaptation planning process for developing strategies that meet both social and ecological needs. Planning techniques that include or directly relate to specific resources, such as water and forage, or to activities, such as recreation or grazing, provide avenues for engaging diverse stakeholders into the process. Utilizing the scenarios to understand the impacts to our social and ecological landscapes, three overarching landscape‐scale adaptation strategies were developed. Each of these strategies has a suite of potential actions required to reach a desired future condition. The three key strategies are: 1) identify and protect persistent ecosystems as refugia, 2) proactively manage for resilience, and 3) accept, assist, and allow for transformation in non‐climate refugia sites. If the framework and strategies from this project are adopted by the local community, including land managers, owners, and users, the climate change impacts can be reduced, allowing for a more sustainable human and natural landscape.