Scientists and land and wildlife managers collaborated to identify potential climate change impacts and adaptation actions for wildlife habitat connectivity in the transboundary region of Washington and British Columbia. They produced an overview report of their findings; detailed case studies of eleven species, a vegetation system and a region; and a suite of datasets and visualizations. These products are designed to increase practitioners’ capacity to access, interpret and apply existing climate and connectivity models to their decision-making.

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Case Studies

This project developed case studies of potential climate impacts and adaptation actions identified for 11 species, one vegetation system and one region.

Project Background

Plant and animal species have historically used movement to adapt to changes in the Earth’s climate, shifting their ranges across landscapes to stay within suitable habitat. Species are using this strategy to adapt to present-day climate change, but the current rate of change is so rapid that many species will have difficulty keeping pace. In addition, human land use (e.g., highways, cities, farms) presents significant barriers to wildlife movement across today’s landscapes. For this reason, enhancing habitat connectivity – the ability of species to move across the landscape – is a leading strategy for helping wildlife respond to climate change. And yet, significant challenges remain in translating this high-level strategy into specific, on-the-ground actions.

The Washington-British Columbia Transboundary Climate-Connectivity Project was initiated to help address these challenges. The region spanning the border of Washington State, USA, and British Columbia, Canada, faces increasing development pressure and limited transboundary coordination of land and wildlife management, both of which may threaten habitat connectivity and limit the movement of wildlife in response to change. In addition, the effects of climate change may further reduce habitat connectivity, and species may need novel types of habitat connectivity to track their areas of suitable climate across the landscape.

Approach

We convened three science-practice partnerships reflecting a range of management goals, activities and scales related to habitat connectivity. The project area spanned the transboundary region of Washington State, USA, and British Columbia, Canada, with partnerships established at three spatial scales: The Washington-British Columbia Transboundary Region, The Okanagan-Kettle Region, and the Okanagan Nation Territory.

Together, the science-practice partnerships engaged in a collaborative, iterative assessment of climate impacts and adaptation actions for transboundary habitat connectivity. This co-productive assessment process was designed to promote capacity and community-of-practice building among practitioner partners while ensuring that project products were directly relevant and immediately applicable to practitioners’ decision-making.

The assessment approach entailed: 1) focusing the assessment on a suite of case studies, including numerous species, a vegetation system and a region; 2) identifying potential climate impacts on habitat connectivity for each case study; and 3) developing partner-specific actions for addressing these impacts.

Acknowledgements

The work described in this report was completed by science-practice partnerships involving participants from:

• BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations
• BC Parks
• Colville Confederated Tribes
• Okanagan Nation Alliance
• Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium
• Transboundary Connectivity Group
• University of Washington Climate Impacts Group
• US Forest Service
• US National Park Service