U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Priority Actions for 2010-2011
Climate Change Strategic Plan
The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service has
developed a Climate
Change Strategic Plan
that establishes a vision
and direction for the
agency’s future response
to accelerated climate
change. But we are acting
now to lay the foundation
for this strategy.
September 2010
Choctaw National Wildlife Refuge by J and K Hollingsworth
Actions specified in
the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service
Strategic Plan build
on the Service’s
commitment
to implement
partnership-driven,
results-oriented
landscape
conservation
to address the
unprecedented
challenges posed by
accelerating climate
change. The Service
is focusing on the
following priority
areas:
Building regional
and field technical
capacity for climate change adaptation
Working with our partners, the Service
is creating and enhancing technical
capacity to provide cutting-edge science
and information that will help land
and wildlife managers make decisions
related to changing climate. This
capacity is being housed in regionally
based partnerships called Landscape
Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs),
which provide landscape-scale biological
planning and conservation design
expertise. A nationwide network of
21 LCCs is envisioned. Nine LCCs
have already been established and the
additional 12 LCCs will be established in
the next few years.
Developing a National Fish and Wildlife
Climate Adaptation Strategy
The Service is working with federal
and state agencies, conservation
organizations and other partners to
address accelerating climate change
more effectively by ensuring actions
are coordinated across landscapes and
political boundaries. Work has begun to
support the development of a national fish
and wildlife climate adaptation strategy
that will provide a shared blueprint to
guide wildlife adaptation partnerships
over the coming decades.
Building climate change leadership
and management capacities
During the next few years, policy
and political decisions of enormous
consequence will be made at national,
regional, and state levels. The Service
has begun to build capacity to help
shape and respond to these decisions,
while capitalizing on the talents of its
employees, by establishing several key
professional positions, a national climate
team and regional climate teams.
Reviewing legal, regulatory and
policy issues
The Service has begun a review of the
legal, regulatory and policy frameworks
within which we operate to identify
necessary and recommended changes in
these frameworks that will encourage and
support effective responses to climate
change.
Identifying, prioritizing, and adjusting
Service activities to consider the effects
of climate change
The Service has begun reviewing all
aspects of its work in order to identify
areas where anticipated climate change
impacts can and should inform Service
and state wildlife agency planning and
implementation activities.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge by Tupper Ansel Blake
Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge by Virginia Heitman
Developing expertise in and conducting
climate change adaptation planning
New tools will be needed to develop
successful climate change adaptation
plans, including species and habitat
vulnerability assessments, and planning
and decision-support tools such as
scenario planning and risk assessments.
The Service is working with partners to
develop these new tools.
Developing a national inventory and
monitoring program
The National Wildlife Refuge System has
initiated work on a national inventory
and monitoring program that will provide
data for a long-term understanding of the
effects of changing climate on fish and
wildlife and for assessing the success of
conservation actions taken on the ground
to help fish and wildlife adapt to climate
change.
Identifying priority freshwater needs
The Service is working to identify and
assess priority issues related to changes
in freshwater quality and quantity, which
includes anticipating impacts to fish and
wildlife species and habitats and using the
best available climate change modeling to
inform management decisions.
Addressing habitat fragmentation
The Service is working to provide
recommendations and assess progress
toward promoting habitat connectivity
to support species population objectives.
As habitats alter and species’ ranges
shift as a result of climate change,
habitat corridors will become even more
crucial to species’ migration and ultimate
survival.
Facilitating international leadership on
climate change and wildlife
The Service has begun to develop a
strategy for engaging key countries
in a partnership to share and acquire
knowledge on climate change adaptation,
mitigation and public engagement.
Expanding biological carbon
sequestration to create habitat for wildlife
The Service is working with conservation
partners to expand biological carbon
sequestration techniques, restore
habitat, and conserve wildlife. We will
use landscape conservation planning
approaches to determine where, when,
how much and what habitat types should
be conserved to achieve population,
habitat and carbon sequestration
objectives.
Assisting in shaping
energy policy
Solutions to global
warming are likely to
focus on clean energy
development. The
Service has begun
working through the
Department of the
Interior to exercise its
responsibility as a
stakeholder in America’s
energy future and
help shape energy
policy that considers
wildlife conservation
and renewable energy
development issues.
Reducing the Service’s
carbon footprint
Across the agency,
Service employees have
begun documenting the
Service’s carbon footprint
and instituting practices
to avoid greenhouse
gas emissions, minimize
unavoidable emissions
and offset remaining
emissions.
Educating and
communicating
Working closely
with partners and
stakeholders, the Service
is working on a strategy
to engage the American
public regarding the
significance of climate
change for fish and
wildlife. The Service will
also pursue an aggressive
internal and external
communications effort designed to
support its climate change and landscape
conservation work with employees,
partners and others.
For more information on how the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service is working with
others to conserve the nature of America
in a changing climate, visit http://www.
fws.gov/home/climatechange
