Download Climate Change Adaptation Natural Resources Working Group

Climate Change Adaptation Natural Resources Working Group
Vulnerable Species & Habitats Team Charter
PURPOSE
To determine the steps necessary to preserve ecosystem function, reduce the influence of
other stressors, and facilitate species and community composition shifts that will result from
changing climatic conditions.
AUDIENCES
The strategies developed by this committee will be useful to state and federal agencies,
researchers, and the conservation community.
DESIRED OUTCOMES
The list of desired outcomes will include, but not be limited to:
 Determining the highest priority species and habitats to focus conservation efforts on
 Conducting predictive modeling of species movement – both native and invasive
 Identifying the highest priority corridors and refuges for species movement and
developing conservation plans
 Connecting conservation efforts with those of contiguous states
 Clarifying how climate change will interact with other stressors and build resilience to
those environmental stressors
PROPOSED PROCESS
The Wild Resource Conservation Program will convene the team and facilitate the process,
which will begin during the first quarter of 2011. Early work will focus on evaluating the
outcome of the monitoring team’s work in order to determine which species and habitats are
the highest priority. The team will be broken into smaller working groups, each of which will
focus on one particular area (i.e. corridors, predictive modeling, etc.). The full team will meet
quarterly to review and act on recommendations from the working groups. The ultimate
implementers of these recommendations will be the organizations represented on the team.
Consequently, the team members will be responsible for delivering and advocating for these
recommendations within their organization.
POTENTIAL PARTICIPANTS
This task group will include the state natural resource agencies (Game Commission, Fish & Boat
Commission, DCNR, Dept. of Agriculture), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, PA Natural Heritage
Program, PA Biological Survey, The Nature Conservancy, Western PA Conservancy, Audubon
Pennsylvania, and other interested environmental organizations and universities.
February 14, 2011