Facilitating Climate Change Adaptation in Idaho

The Wilderness Society

Federal land management agencies often must account for climate change impacts in their land planning. Yet, agencies rarely have sufficient information to design adaptation options for targets of conservation concern. The Wilderness Society's Center for Landscape Analysis is applying a risk-management approach that explicitly acknowledges uncertainty and employs an experimental design to learn from a variety of management types. Through this approach, land managers can learn what works, and what doesn't, to facilitate native species adapting to a changing climate.

One likely effect of climate change is an increase in wildfire activity, as temperatures warm and fire seasons lengthen. This map shows areas of Idaho where fire is unwelcome (near communities), where fire is not a threat (distant from communities), and where strategic fire reintroduction would result in a more fire-resilient landscape. To target fuels reduction through either mechanical thinning or prescribed fire, a sequence of GIS filters was applied to identify opportunities for more active restoration.

Courtesy of The Wilderness Society.

Map Book Page [PDF]