NRCS Conservation Practices and Materials
Issue - Climate Impacts
The Southeastern United States and U.S. Caribbean is highly vulnerable to a variety of climatic factors and extreme weather events, including heavy downpours, floods, and droughts, all of which can influence water resources in this region. Over the last 30 years, the Southeast has been affected by more billion-dollar weather-related disasters than any other region, with coastal states experiencing more hurricanes, and inland states experiencing ice storms and tornadoes. Decision makers are faced with the challenge of developing and implementing management options to help people prepare for, respond to, and recover from the unavoidable effects of climate change (also known as adaptation). EcoAdapt is pleased to announce the release of The State of Climate Adaptation in Water Resources Management: Southeastern United States and U.S. Caribbean. This synthesis report provides: A summary of key regional climate change impacts and discussion on how the aforementioned issues combine to influence water supply, demand and use, quality, and delivery; The results of a survey sent to federal, tribal, state, and other practitioners to identify challenges, needs, and opportunities for climate-informed water resources management; Examples of adaptation initiatives from the region, focusing on activities in the natural and built environments as they relate to water resources; Eighteen full-length case studies, detailing how adaptation is taking shape; and A guide to the current suite of tools available to support adaptation action in water resources management, planning, and conservation. The synthesis report, case studies, and tools guide provide useful information on climate change adaptation in the Southeastern United States and U.S. Caribbean for both novice and experienced practitioners within or beyond the region’s borders to apply to their own work. Readers can learn about different types of adaptation strategies, find real-world examples of how others in similar disciplines or regions are incorporating climate change into their work, and locate the people and tools needed to help move their adaptation efforts forward. Funding for this project was provided by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Curtis & Edith Munson Foundation, and the Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange (CAKE). To learn more about the State of Adaptation Program and this project, visit www.EcoAdapt.org/programs or contact Rachel M. Gregg at Rachel@EcoAdapt.org. To join the CAKE community and learn more about climate adaptation, visit www.CAKEx.org.
ARC Assessment of Natural Assets in the Appalachian Region - Forest Resources
Assessment of Natural Assets in the Appalachian Region-Forest Resources. Prepared for the ARC, 2014
ARC Assessment of Natural Assets in the Appalachian Region - Forest Resources
Assessment of Natural Assets in the Appalachian Region-Forest Resources. Prepared for the ARC, 2014
Tennessee River Basin Report Card Methods Report
Dec 1st (draft)
Recovery: Farm Bill Provides Hope for the Cerulean Warbler
With funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) available from the Farm Bill’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program the Appalachian Mountains Joint Venture (a partnership of state and federal agencies and NGOs including The Nature Conservancy) is helping private land owners restore cerulean habitat. Check out the original article at the Nature Conservancy's Cool Green Science blog: https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/08/15/recovery-farm-bill-provides-hope-for-the-cerulean-warbler/
Meeting Participants
Find here a PDF of meeting participants (name & affiliation).
Workshop Participants
Find here the list of workshop participants.
Blue Ridge PRISM Update
An update on the Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management and information on a series of sessions around our 10-county area, which partners are welcome to attend.
Bringing Back Diversity in Eastern Forests for Landowners, Wildlife
What do biologists look for in a healthy forest? A diversity in the ages and composition of trees and occasional breaks in canopy to allow sunlight to reach understory plants.
Partnership Seeking Input for Projects to Strengthen National Defense and Preserve Working Lands
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) joined the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Defense (DoD) to announce the Sentinel Landscapes Federal Coordinating Committee will now accept applications for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Sentinel Landscape designation process.
Introduction and Opening Session Presentation
Given by Appalachian LCC Chair to open up the meeting.
Survey - Programmatic and Operational
Survey 2 of 6 for Appalachian LCC Steering Committee Members.
Steering Committee Member Profiles
Bios of all Steering Committee members and alternates in 2016.
Core Team Meeting Notes 04-29-2016
Notes from April 2016 meeting
Forest Service Honored for Leadership in Promoting Climate Change Adaptation
For their outstanding work in raising awareness and addressing the impacts of climate change on the nation’s natural resources, the Forest Service was honored today as the first-ever recipients of the Climate Adaption Leadership Award for Natural Resources.
A Stream Classification for the Appalachian LCC PDF
A classification system and map was developed for stream and river systems in the Appalachian LCC region, encompassing parts of 17 states. The product is intended to complement state-based stream classifications by unifying them into a single consistent system that represents the region’s natural flowing-water aquatic habitats. The results can be used to understand ecological flow relationships and inform conservation planning for aquatic biodiversity in the region.
Core Team Meeting Notes, 10-01-2015
Notes/summary from October 2015 Core Team Meeting
Sustainable Development under Population Pressure: Lessons from Developed Land Consumption in the Conterminous U.S.
Population growth will result in a significant anthropogenic environmental change worldwide through increases in developed land (DL) consumption. DL consumption is an important environmental and socioeconomic process affecting humans and ecosystems. Attention has been given to DL modeling inside highly populated cities. However, modeling DL consump- tion should expand to non-metropolitan areas where arguably the environmental consequences are more significant. Here, we study all counties within the conterminous U.S. and based on satellite-derived product (National Land Cover Dataset 2001) we calculate the associated DL for each county. By using county population data from the 2000 census we present a comparative study on DL consumption and we propose a model linking population with expected DL consumption. Results indicate distinct geographic patterns of comparatively low and high consuming counties moving from east to west. We also demonstrate that the relationship of DL consumption with population is mostly linear, altering the notion that expected population growth will have lower DL consumption if added in counties with larger population. Added DL consumption is independent of a county’s starting population and only dependent on whether the county belongs to a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). In the overlapping MSA and non-MSA population range there is also a constant DL efficiency gain of approximately 20km2 for a given population for MSA counties which suggests that transitioning from rural to urban counties has significantly higher benefits in lower populations. In addition, we analyze the socioeconomic composition of counties with extremely high or low DL consumption. High DL consumption counties have statistically lower Black/ African American population, higher poverty rate and lower income per capita than average in both NMSA and MSA counties. Our analysis offers a baseline to investigate further land consumption strategies in anticipation of growing population pressures.
Achievable future conditions as a framework for guiding forest conservation and management
We contend that traditional approaches to forest conservation and management will be inadequate given the predicted scale of social-economic and biophysical changes in the 21st century. New approaches, focused on anticipating and guiding ecological responses to change, are urgently needed to ensure the full value of forest ecosystem services for future generations. These approaches acknowledge that change is inevitable and sometimes irreversible, and that maintenance of ecosystem services depends in part on novel ecosystems, i.e., species combinations with no analog in the past. We propose that ecological responses be evaluated at landscape or regional scales using risk-based approaches to incorporate uncer- tainty into forest management efforts with subsequent goals for management based on Achievable Future Conditions (AFC). AFCs defined at a landscape or regional scale incorporate advancements in ecosystem management, including adaptive approaches, resilience, and desired future conditions into the context of the Anthropocene. Inherently forward looking, ACFs encompass mitigation and adaptation options to respond to scenarios of projected future biophysical, social-economic, and policy conditions which distribute risk and provide diversity of response to uncertainty. The engagement of science- management-public partnerships is critical to our risk-based approach for defining AFCs. Robust moni- toring programs of forest management actions are also crucial to address uncertainty regarding species distributions and ecosystem processes. Development of regional indicators of response will also be essen- tial to evaluate outcomes of management strategies. Our conceptual framework provides a starting point to move toward AFCs for forest management, illustrated with examples from fire and water management in the Southeastern United States. Our model is adaptive, incorporating evaluation and modification as new information becomes available and as social–ecological dynamics change. It expands on established principles of ecosystem management and best management practices (BMPs) and incorporates scenarios of future conditions. It also highlights the potential limits of existing institutional structures for defining AFCs and achieving them. In an uncertain future of rapid change and abrupt, unforeseen transitions, adjustments in management approaches will be necessary and some actions will fail. However, it is increasingly evident that the greatest risk is posed by continuing to implement strategies inconsistent with current understanding of our novel future.
Desert grassland responses to climate and soil moisture suggest divergent vulnerabilities across the southwestern United States
Climate change predictions include warming and drying trends, which are expected to be particularly pronounced in the southwestern United States. In this region, grassland dynamics are tightly linked to available moisture, yet it has proven difficult to resolve what aspects of climate drive vegetation change. In part, this is because it is unclear how heterogeneity in soils affects plant responses to climate. Here, we combine climate and soil properties with a mecha- nistic soil water model to explain temporal fluctuations in perennial grass cover, quantify where and the degree to which incorporating soil water dynamics enhances our ability to understand temporal patterns, and explore the potential consequences of climate change by assessing future trajectories of important climate and soil water variables. Our analyses focused on long-term (20–56 years) perennial grass dynamics across the Colorado Plateau, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Desert regions. Our results suggest that climate variability has negative effects on grass cover, and that precipitation subsidies that extend growing seasons are beneficial. Soil water metrics, including the number of dry days and availability of water from deeper (>30 cm) soil layers, explained additional grass cover variability. While individual climate variables were ranked as more important in explaining grass cover, collectively soil water accounted for 40–60% of the total explained variance. Soil water conditions were more useful for understanding the responses of C3 than C4 grass species. Projections of water balance variables under climate change indicate that conditions that currently support perennial grasses will be less common in the future, and these altered conditions will be more pronounced in the Chihuahuan Desert and Colorado Plateau. We conclude that incorporating multiple aspects of climate and accounting for soil variability can improve our ability to understand patterns, identify areas of vulnerability, and predict the future of desert grasslands.
