Location: Range Management Research
Project Number: 3050-12610-001-040-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Jul 26, 2022
End Date: Jul 25, 2025
Objective:
The USDA Southwest Climate Hub, the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center and the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center propose a collaborative effort to conduct a literature and resource synthesis to support climate change adaptation decision-making in New Mexico and Arizona for forestry and related professions. Forest information and resources (analyses, data platforms, visualizations, tools, common garden studies, etc.) are often created with limited coordination. This lack of coordination, along with the sheer number of resources, leads to an inability on the part of decision-makers to assess options and choose the most appropriate resource for their specific objectives.
Approach:
Resource inventory to organize, summarize, and track existing and emerging decision-support resources for forest management in NM and AZ. To begin the project, we will ask scientists and leaders in the Southwest Fire Climate Adaptation Partnership (SWFireCAP), State Foresters and other experts to contribute basic information about decision support resources. We will evaluate other efforts, such as a similar project being led by the California Climate Hub and the California Climate Commons to inform this initial work. After developing a comprehensive list, we will select and extract key details about each resource that will support decision-makers’ ability to compare and choose from among them.
Literature and project review to document common garden studies and other information and resources in support of a deepened understanding of climate-adapted trees for New Mexico and Arizona, including a detailed description of knowledge gaps, acceptable risks and available seed stock. Note: could be used to augment SW adaptation menu for adaptation focus groups.
Toolshed development as a clearinghouse that allows managers and decision-makers to easily query based upon their needs. We will periodically update the toolshed via collaboration with partners and through the USDA Southwest Climate Hub. See this example for livestock managers: https://webapps.jornada.nmsu.edu/livestock/
