A message from John Cooper, past president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and Steve Williams, executive director of the Wildlife Management Institute and past director of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Welcome to Beyond Seasons’ End, a site designed exclusively for wildlife and fisheries professionals confronting the threat of global climate change. The site is a response to comments from many of you calling for an electronic work space that (more…)

Kentucky’s State Nature Preserves and State Natural Areas

While models tend to look at global patterns and make long-term predictions, the effects of climate change are experienced specifically and locally. In the absence of an overarching agreement to address the root cause of global warming and reduce its impact on natural systems worldwide, states are developing their own action plans and joining with organizations and individuals in efforts to increase the resiliency of local habitats and wildlife populations.

Kentucky exemplifies such efforts. Recognizing that climate change will exacerbate threats from urban sprawl, habitat fragmentation, changes in land use, invasive species and other such phenomena that flora and fauna already face, government agencies are joining with private groups protect green spaces and migratory corridors between large blocks of protected land. The goal is to connect enough natural areas to give plants and wildlife room to move and find new habitat under the increasing pressures of climate change and development.

An article in the Louisville Courier-Journal highlighted efforts to purchase property and secure conservation easements to connect large blocks of forestland and protect land adjacent to an unusually biologically diverse river. (more…)

Remember 2012?

Snow cover in the Rocky Mountains has declined by 20 percent over the past three decades, a recent study shows. Coupled with earlier and faster snowmelt, the dwindling snowpack poses problems for ecosystem health and watershed management in the western states.

Scientists used monthly data recorded from 1895 to 2011 to quantify the influences of winter and spring temperatures and precipitation on snowpack trends and variations in the region. Since 1980, snowpacks have decline throughout the Rocky Mountains, and most severely in the northern Rockies. Modeling demonstrates how temperature has been the major driver of this trend, which increases the risk of floods and wildfires.

The study was conducted by U.S. Geological Survey scientists and published in Geophysical Research Letters (subscription required), a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

While shrubby species such as birch and willow are expected to proliferate in the Arctic under rising temperatures, grazing animals could restrain their growth, to the benefit of other species in the vegetative community.  Greater diversity among plant species increases ecosystem stability.

In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (subscription required), Pennsylvania State University professor of biology Eric Post reported findings from a 10-year experiment conducted in Greenland that simulated global warming conditions in selected areas. Plant diversity was better maintained in those areas left open to caribou, musk ox and other herbivores than in those that excluded the animals. Post concludes that herbivorous grazing supports plant diversity by reducing the deleterious effects of shrubs’ shading and accumulation of leaf litter on competing species.

Earlier research has focused on the response of plant communties to changes in temperature, precipitation and nutrient availability. Post suggests that the interaction of species will influence the effects of a warming climate. He says, “Species interactions, such as exploitation, may thus buffer communities against destabilizing influences of climate change, and intact populations of large herbivores, in particular, may prove important in maintaining and promoting plant community diversity and stability in a changing climate.”

A similar study in Canada confirmed the importance of even small herds of caribou in controlling tundra plant growth.  In a paper published in the Journal of Ecology (subscription required), the authors describe changes in shrub dominance resulting from caribou exclusion and call for consideration of browsing impacts in projecting changes in Arctic vegetation.

Over the past 20 years, the number of elk migrating between winter ranges in central Wyoming and summer ranges in Yellowstone National Park has declined. Falling pregnancy rates and increased predatory risks along the migration route are cited as key causes in a paper recently published in the journal Ecology.
Scientists pin lower rates of reproduction in part to climate change. Early emergence of spring grasses decreases the nutrients available when females calve, and increasingly hot and dry conditions, coupled with long-term drought, has reduced the length of time nursing cows can feed on nutritious and tender grass. The result of this dietary stress is a decline in the percentage of females that become pregnant in successive years.
A boom in predators increases the risk especially to young elk as they return to summer feeding grounds in Yellowstone. Over the past two decades, management practices in the park have increased the populations of bears, wolves and mountain lions.

In contrast to migrating elk, resident elk in the region are buffered from the effects of climate change on food sources by grazing on irrigated farm land. Because outside of protected areas big predators are often killed by wildlife managers and rangers, more calves reach maturity among the resident herds than among the migratory herds.
The study of migratory elk was conducted by the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit through a joint program involving U.S. Geological Survey,  the University of Wyoming and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Outdoorsman, writer and Climate Hawks founder Todd Tanner

In an article published in Outside Online, writer, hunting and fishing guide and founder of the nonprofit organization Conservation Hawks  Todd Tanner urges sportsmen to speak out on the issue of climate change. Noting that hunters and anglers witness the results of a warming climate in the field moreso than other demographics, Tanner emphasizes the importance of their sharing their observations and promoting policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Peer-to-peer communication is thought to be the most persuasive; conservatives have credibililty among other conservatives, fishermen are more likely to believe other fishermen. If you are a sportsman concerned about climate change, simply inserting observations, without argument, into conversations can help break the silence enveloping the issue, says climate communicator George Marshall.  “I think any time you have a conversation with anyone about the weather you should bring climate change into the conversation, not in a hectoring, judgmental, on-your-soapbox way but just drop it in there every single time,” Marshall is quoted as saying in the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media. “‘Weird weather we’re having …. yeah well, personally, I believe it’s climate change and that something weird has been going on. And it’s been getting weirder.’ Just put it out there.”

If you are interested in increasing your effectiveness or making more formal presentations, an online guide gives helpful tips for framing discussion points, choosing language and using images to convey your message.

Sage-grouse lek. Photo: NPS

Citing sage-grouse as an umbrella species, the preservation of which implies the preservation of many other species that share its habitat, a group has formulated an alternative to Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service plans to conserve and recover Greater Sage-grouse. Their numbers declining because of loss of habitat, sage-grouse are presently under consideration for designation as an endangered species.

The goal proposed by the recovery alternative is to maintain and increase current sage-grouse abundance and distribution by conserving, enhancing and restoring the sagebrush ecosystem. The alternative outlines ways in which the effects of climate change, as well as other threats to habitat such as roads and energy development, should be considered in management plans.