Marcos Robles of the The Nature Conservancy presented information from the Southwest Climate Change Initiative. The Initiative is a collaborative effort started by The Nature Conservancy in 2008 to provide climate science information to natural resource managers in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah so that they can begin responding to climate change. First, Marcos presented the results of a regional climate change assessment where TNC has evaluated the effects of recent temperature change on from 1951-2006 on major habitats and species across Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Major habitats are current vegetation grouped into plant communities with a common set of dominant plants, regional climate, and disturbance regimes. TNC has also characterize habitats by the number of species of conservation concern that are found within them. Species of conservation concern are those species listed under the Endangered Species Act or those species with a global conservation status of critically imperiled, imperiled or vulnerable. Second, Marcos presented the results from two landscape sites in the Southwest, the Four Forest Restoration Initiative Area in Arizona and the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico, where managers and scientists have initiated planning activities to adjust fire management strategies given what is known about climate change impacts.
- The regional report is available for download here: http://azconservation.org
- The landscape site reports are available here: http://nmconservation.org
- Watch and listen to a powerpoint recording of the webinar.
