Getting Ahead of Climate Change Land trusts taking the lead on climate change 2017 Rally, Denver, CO Abigail Weinberg Director of Research Open Space Institute 1
Land and Climate Initiative Goals 1. Increase the number of land trusts whose strategic conservation plans address climate impacts and promote climate resilience 2. Advance the use of land to mitigate climate change 3. Empower land trusts to encourage the buildout of renewable energy facilities while steering the facilities away from sensitive lands ALLIANCE BOARD REREAT Climatechange.lta.org 4 LAND TRUST ALLIANCE 2
NORTH QUABBIN REGIONAL CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP 3
THE MODEL THE MODEL THE MODEL 4
THE MAP LAND TRUSTS Internal tool 10 5
TOWN BOARDS 12 6
Woods Walk When out on foot, the connection between those colors and the terrain is hard to miss, because it s kind of hard on the lungs: Hills, valleys, steep inclines, and general ups and downs all contribute the topographical complexity that is key for landscapes to be resilient to climate change. -Bridget Macdonald, North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 7
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Resiliency Data Phase 1 Wildlife corridors Parcels Data representing other conservation values (ecological data, water, scenic, soils, farms etc.) Password protected BRF Partner Interactive Map Viewer hosted by NEMAC Priority resilient parcels Click any parcel for parcel assessment Query existing conservation totals Priority lists & maps 12
[The plan] is referenced every time a conservation project is evaluated and has helped us elevate the conversation about climate change in our region and we regularly reference it. - Mt A to Sea Coordinator Thanks to data like these, we expanded our view to think in a more regional context as an organization. Specifically, we really took notice of our location within a key forest corridor. - Columbia Land Conservancy Staff We found that while the end result is extremely valuable, the process is even more valuable and introduces climate resilience science to all members of the organization. Maine Nature Areas Program Staff 13
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Getting Ahead of Climate Change Land trusts taking the lead on climate change 2017 Rally, Denver, CO Abigail Weinberg Director of Research Open Space Institute 15
What Works: Communication We need to increase the pace of land conservation! Go slow. Keep it simple! Find common ground around concerns. Resilience is a concept people really get. Climate change will be far reaching. Preparation is needed to minimize negative impacts. What we learned Several habitat types and underlying geophysical settings are not well represented in the protected area network within the Adirondack Park. Wildlife habitat in our region is relatively important in the northeast as well Ground truthing of the TNC resiliency mapping predictions is critical in evaluating the resiliency of sites. The land conservation community is hungry for tools that integrate climate change The TNC resilience data into it is slightly changing our focus areas. The Partnership has been comfortable with this shift. The conservation plan was already strong in terms of climate resilience. The resilience data revealed areas of high value outside of the groups' preconceived understanding of the landscape. 16
What Works: Impact Engaging as many stakeholders as possible at the beginning of the project is more valuable and has more buy in than distributing a product at the end of the project. We distributed our NRI maps to our 11 member towns. Some towns use them to help evaluate projects. Find common ground around concerns. Resilience is a concept people really get. Climate change will be far reaching. Preparation is needed to minimize negative impacts. 17