The climate in Hawai‘i is changing, and alterations in rainfall amount and distribution have implications for future vegetation cover, non-native species invasions, watershed function, and fire behavior. As novel ecosystems and climates emerge in Hawai‘i, particularly hotter and drier climates, it is critical that scientists produce locally relevant, timely and actionable science products and that managers are able to access the best-available science. Managers and researchers have identified that a knowledge exchange process is needed for drought in Hawai‘i to allow for formal collaboration between the two groups to co-produce drought data and products. To address this need, this project will pilot a focused knowledge exchange and [...]
Summary
The climate in Hawai‘i is changing, and alterations in rainfall amount and distribution have implications for future vegetation cover, non-native species invasions, watershed function, and fire behavior. As novel ecosystems and climates emerge in Hawai‘i, particularly hotter and drier climates, it is critical that scientists produce locally relevant, timely and actionable science products and that managers are able to access the best-available science.
Managers and researchers have identified that a knowledge exchange process is needed for drought in Hawai‘i to allow for formal collaboration between the two groups to co-produce drought data and products. To address this need, this project will pilot a focused knowledge exchange and technical assistance process with three partners: Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a State Forest Reserve, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Working with individual land managers, the project researchers will co-produce customized site-specific drought statistics and data based on the needs of each manager.
The specific science objectives for this project are to: (1) construct detailed site-specific syntheses of historic climate variability, drought, and long term drying using all available data; (2) synthesize future climate projections for each land management area; (3) assess manager responses to recent severe drought and wildfire events; and (4) develop geospatial data products, including maps of risk and potential management responses that best achieve multiple objectives. Having this readily available and relevant drought-related information will improve the drought resilience and response of land managers, reducing wildfire risk and protecting threatened and endangered species and important natural resources into the future.
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DeadTrees_Drought_Pu'u_Wa'awa'a_StateForestReserve_ElliottParsons.png “2010 Severe Drought at Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a Forest Reserve; Credit: Elliot Parsons”
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Project Extension
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Technical Summary
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The Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI-CASC) has funded and collaboratively leads with the USDA Forest Service a major Hawai‘i synthesis of climate change, variability and drought (CCVD). CCVD will exert a growing impact on Hawai‘i’s landscapes, watersheds, and near shore areas. Recent severe El Niño-related drought events, and long-term drying trends (Frazier and Giambelluca 2017) have severely impacted multiple sectors statewide, including agriculture, municipal water supply, and ecosystems (CWRM 2017; Barbosa and Asner 2017). Dynamically and statistically downscaled efforts predict strong future drying trends, especially in leeward areas of the Hawaiian Islands (Elison Timm et al. 2015; Zhang et al. 2016). Managers of Department of the Interior resources identify drought and climate variability as stressors that need immediate attention. Over the past 18 months, the state of the science on CCVD has been synthesized and a new geospatial drought dataset from 1920 to 2012 has been analyzed. This project has led to peer- reviewed publications on historical drought in Hawai‘i on a statewide scale, manager responses to past drought, and extension products relating to drought, as well as numerous presentations to Department of the Interior and other agency managers who deal with drought in various capacities. To date, the development of the scientific products has been predominantly from scientists with limited input from resource managers, while the exchange of synthesized drought information has been ad hoc, and mainly accomplished through formal PowerPoint presentations and informal, small group meetings with resource managers. And so statewide drought syntheses have been published in peer-reviewed journals, the lack of formal, iterative communication has limited knowledge exchange and so the utility of drought related products to resource managers.
projectStatus
Completed
Budget Extension
annualBudgets
year
2019
totalFunds
285292.8
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type
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Interagency Agreement
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Award Number
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G19PG00021
totalFunds
285292.8
Preview Image
2010 Severe Drought at Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a Forest Reserve; Credit: Elliot Parsons