Planning for Climate Change on the National Wildlife Refuge System

Abstract

4 5 6 7       8  9   10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Figure III-1. Refuge System lands by ecoregion (Ecoregion map credits: Commission for Environmental Cooperation.) 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 ⁰ 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Regularly-flooded Marsh Irregularly-flooded Marsh Tidal Swamp Estuarine Open Water Estuarine Beach Transitional Salt Marsh Swamp Tidal Fresh Marsh Inland Fresh Marsh Undeveloped Dry Land Inland Open Water Open Ocean Tidal Flat Regular ly- f looded M ar sh I r r egular ly- f looded M ar sh T idalSwamp Est uar in e Open Wat er Est uar in e Beach Swamp T idalFr esh M ar sh I n lan d Fr esh M ar sh Un developed Dr y Lan d I n lan d Open Wat er Open Ocean T idalFlat 35 36 37 38 39 40      41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56      57         58                 59 60 61 62 Ultimately, atmospheric and ecological stability requires widespread public knowledge of the causes and consequences of climate change. 63 64 65     66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74  75    76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87              88     89 Name of Refuge: _______________________________________________________________ ✓ ✓ ✓ Ecological Effects ✓ Social, Economic, and Cultural Effects 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge System www.fws.gov/refuges March 2014 Recommendation 2: Develop a climate change implementation plan for the National Wildlife Refuge System that dovetails with other conservation partners’ climate change action plans and specifically provides guidance for conducting vulnerability assessments of climate change impacts to refuge habitats and species as well as direction for innovation in the reduction of emissions and improved energy efficiency on federal lands.