Brook Trout Catchment Scale and Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment
JMU in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the Service have initiated efforts to determine resiliency rankings for brook trout populations in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. This project will allow the partnerhsip to expand this analysis to cover all brook trout habitat from Georgia to Maine.
Climate change is currently a high risk threat to the current range of the brook trout due to changing thermal regimes. The effects of climate change may be exacerbated by greater fragmentation from land use changes. In order to effectively rank projects and work strategically, the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture is working on refining the status map to the catchment scale and establishing climate change resiliency rankings for brook trout populations throughout the partnership boundary from Georgia to Maine.
