Biodiversity and Ecosystems Assessments and Tools
This tab presents federal, state, and local climate science, tools, and assessments examining the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems.
Resources are automatically presented by rating, but can also be sorted by date and title. Apply additional filters to narrow the list by resource type, impact, region, state, or jurisdictional focus.
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Resource
February 6, 2024
The Community Change Grant Equitable Resilience technical assistance program, an initiative spearheaded by the U.S. the Environmental Protection Agency, will provide free assistance to entities applying for Community Change Grants. EPA plans to offer this technical assistance to up to 50 Community Change Grants applicants. The program will provide free project development assistance, community engagement, and partnership development workshops.
Related Organizations: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Resource Category: Data and tools
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2017
The TerrAdapt:Cascadia tool, founded by a team of practitioners and scientists, is a visualization tool for monitoring habitats and habitat connectivity across the Cascadia region, which covers Washington and portions of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and British Columbia. The tool projects habitat and ecosystem scenarios utilizing climate and land-use data, and can help users prioritize conservation practices in at-risk areas. In partnership with Cascadia Partners Forum and other regional users, the non-profit TerrAdapt.
Related Organizations: TerrAdapt, Cascadia Partners Forum
Resource Category: Data and tools
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January 21, 2022
On January 21, 2022, the Maryland Commission on Climate Change’s Adaptation and Resiliency Work Group in collaboration with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Integration and Application Network (UMCES-IAN) released the 2021 Maryland Coastal Adaptation Report Card. Informed by stakeholder engagement, the Coastal Adaptation Report Card “gives a snapshot of the current adaptation status in Maryland’s coastal zone, and establishes a framework for measuring future progress.
Related Organizations: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Resource Category: Assessments
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May 2021
The Environment law Institute (ELI) report “Nature-Based Goals and Actions in Local Mitigation Plans” examines the extent to which nature-based strategies (NBS) are included in the hazard mitigation plans (HMPs) written by county and regional authorities. About three-fifths of the HMPs reviewed by ELI include some type of nature-based mitigation, with the plurality of actions being in restoration and “conservation/preservation/management.”
Related Organizations: Environmental Law Institute (ELI)
Authors or Affiliated Users: Rebecca Kihslinger, Avi Li, Heather Luedke
Resource Category: Assessments
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2017
In 2017, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) released a report and interactive web map that identify priority sites in the northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions that have the ability to maximize both biodiversity and natural services in response to increasing threats of sea level rise. TNC, in partnership with a variety of stakeholders and scientists from other nonprofit organizations, universities, and state and federal agencies, conducted a two-year study to evaluate more than 10,000 individual sites throughout the region.
Related Organizations: The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
Resource Category: Data and tools
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Through GreenPrint and Program Open Space, the State of Maryland has established a set of land conservation and acquisition data tools and programs to protect open space, environmental resources, and rural lands to meet statewide ecological objectives. The tools and programs are used to help the state adapt to climate change by removing barriers to the inland migration of coastal ecosystems in response to impacts like sea-level rise and land loss. Specifically, a statewide mapping tool called Maryland GreenPrint, which displays lands and watersheds of high ecological value, supports prioritized and transparent decision making, and increased resilience for vulnerable coastal habitats.
Related Organizations: State of Maryland
Resource Category: Solutions
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2018
Massachusetts Audubon Society (Mass Audubon), the largest non-profit in the state protecting over 38,000 acres of land and habitats, partnered with The Nature Conservancy and LandVest in 2016 to create the Mapping and Prioritizing Parcels for Resilience (MAPPR) Tool. MAPPR includes mapping layers that can help policymakers and conservationists select specific geographic areas (e. g. , town, county, watershed) within the state and identify parcels of land that, if protected, would maximize environmental and community benefits.
Related Organizations: Massachusetts Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
Resource Category: Data and tools
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July 15, 2020
In San Diego, California, the city and various stakeholders are evaluating different land-use and planning alternatives to conserve and restore migrating wetlands in Mission Bay as a part of local decisionmaking processes. To conserve and restore Mission Bay, San Diego Audubon and other partners started an initiative called “ReWild Mission Bay” that evaluated different alternatives for protecting wetlands through a feasibility study. One of the feasibility study’s alternatives aims to relocate Campland on the Bay, an existing RV campground on land owned by the city, inland. By moving Campland on the Bay inland, the city could address wetland migration while providing community resilience and environmental benefits. The alternative to relocate the location for Campland on the Bay, if implemented, would be aligned with and build on other local planning efforts to convert a part of the surrounding Mission Bay Park into a regional amenity that accommodates both public and private uses. In July 2019, the San Diego City Council approved a lease extension and expansion for Campland on the Bay that has delayed any potential implementation of the ReWild Mission Bay wetland alternatives until after the term of the lease expires. The ongoing work in Mission Bay can serve as an example for other coastal jurisdictions addressing the tradeoffs raised in land-use and planning efforts for coastal retreat and the challenges that can arise in balancing competing stakeholder interests to achieve both human and environmental priorities. ReWild Mission Bay also shows how nongovernmental stakeholders can conduct planning processes to help government agencies make decisions about long-term land uses and restoration activities. This case study is one of 17 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas: Lessons and Tools from 17 Case Studies.
Resource Category: Solutions
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2013
In 2013, The Conservation Fund, National Audubon Society, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service partnered to produce a “salt marsh persistence” report for Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) titled Blackwater 2100 to address marsh migration in response to sea-level rise and tidal erosion. The objectives of the report are to identify areas of current tidal marsh most resilient to sea-level rise and of the highest value to salt marsh bird species as well as future locations that may support marsh migration corridors. The report’s authors utilized several tools, including the Sea-Level Rise Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM), to select one of three different adaptation strategies for wetland areas within Blackwater NWR to create a comprehensive management plan. The three adaptation strategies include: (1) in-place restoration actions targeted at improving existing tidal marsh health and productivity; (2) strategic conservation in priority marsh migration corridors; and (3) actions supporting the transition of uplands into marsh. Blackwater 2100 can provide a useful example for natural resources, open space, and coastal managers to plan for minimizing coastal habitat loss due to sea-level rise by evaluating the tradeoffs of different adaptation strategies; and building partnerships with stakeholder groups and the community to examine marsh migration on an ecosystem scale that necessitates public and private land acquisitions and involvement. This case study is one of 17 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Managing the Retreat from Rising Seas: Lessons and Tools from 17 Case Studies.
Related Organizations: National Audubon Society , U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Resource Category: Solutions
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The Conservation Lands Network Explorer Tool is an online decision support tool to explore the conservation and biodiversity values of areas within the nine counties that make up California’s San Francisco Bay Area. The Explorer is an interactive map that allows users to visualize various conservation- and climate-related spatial data. The tool was designed to be accessible to all users, no matter GIS skill level. The information provided can help inform land conservation and adaptation strategies.
Related Organizations: Bay Area Open Space Council
Resource Category: Data and tools
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