Capacity Building in the North-Central U.S.: Tribal Engagement, Climate Training, and PhenoCam Deployment
Capacity Building in the NC CSC Domain: A Focus on Climate Education, Partnership Building, and PhenoCam Deployment: A North Central CSC NC CSC directed funding, FY 2013 Project
Climate change is poised to alter natural systems, the frequency of extreme weather, and human health and livelihoods. In order to effectively prepare for and respond to these challenges in the north-central region of the U.S., people must have the knowledge and tools to develop plans and adaptation strategies. The objective of this project was to build stakeholders’ capacity to respond to climate change in the north-central U.S., filling in gaps not covered by other projects in the region. During the course of this project, researchers focused on three major activities: Tribal Capacity Building: Researchers provided tribal colleges and universities with mini-grants to develop student projects to document climate-related changes [...]
Summary
Climate change is poised to alter natural systems, the frequency of extreme weather, and human health and livelihoods. In order to effectively prepare for and respond to these challenges in the north-central region of the U.S., people must have the knowledge and tools to develop plans and adaptation strategies. The objective of this project was to build stakeholders’ capacity to respond to climate change in the north-central U.S., filling in gaps not covered by other projects in the region. During the course of this project, researchers focused on three major activities:
Tribal Capacity Building: Researchers provided tribal colleges and universities with mini-grants to develop student projects to document climate-related changes in weather and culturally or traditionally significant plants. These efforts, carried out in collaboration with other organizations, contributed to building the Indigenous Geography Phenology Network, a locally grounded, national network for documenting the impacts of climate change on plants and animals. Researchers also helped the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy determine how climate science could be integrated into management decisions in the resource-rich Missouri River Basin.
Climate Training for Resource Managers: Researchers offered two climate change vulnerability assessment courses – one in Jackson, Wyoming and another in La Crosse, Wisconsin – designed to build the knowledge and skills of resource managers. Additional trainings on climate-smart conservation are being planned.
PhenoCam Deployment: Researchers co-supported the deployment of PhenoCams (streaming cameras) in locations throughout Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Observations collected by the PhenoCams will help scientists track seasonal changes across the region and better understand how climate impacts living things.
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MissouriRiver_MT_DanHarrell_FWS.jpg “The Missouri River, MT - Credit: Dan Harrell, USFWS”
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Purpose
In addition to the major projects funded by the North Central Climate Science Center (NC CSC), selected through its solicitation process or the directed funds going to the foundational Science Areas, there remains a need within the north central domain to support work that builds capacity among stakeholders that have been otherwise left out of the major projects funded by the NC CSC. During the course of this project, we focused on stakeholder capacity building by providing regional offerings of climate-related courses for resource managers, supporting tribal college students and deploying technology to better understand how climate impacts living things, and supporting strategic scientific study of the climate/energy/environment nexus in the Missouri River Basin. First, the NC CSC provided climate education opportunities in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Conservation Training Center (NCTC). We offered the NCTC Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment class to managers and students from April 22 - 24, 2014 in Jackson, WY, and from September 30 - October 2, 2014 in La Crosse, WI. Future courses will include Climate Smart Conservation. The NC CSC has also worked with the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change working group to establish an Indigenous Geography Phenology Network by providing support to tribal college students to collect observations of plant and animal life-cycle stages (known as phenology) for culturally significant plants and animals, and uploading these observations to a citizen-science database ( USANPN). In addition, the NC CSC has collaborated with the USGS AmericaView program to deploy cameras that will record phenology throughout the region. Finally, we supported the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy (ICOUP) to formulate a strategic scientific study to understand and demonstrate how climate science can be integrated into resource management decisions, particularly with regard to the climate/energy/environment nexus in the Missouri River Basin.
Project Extension
parts
type
General Public Summary
value
In addition to the major projects funded by the North Central Climate Science Center (NC CSC), selected through its solicitation process, or the directed funds going to the foundational Science Areas; there remains a need within the north central domain to support work that builds capacity among stakeholders that have been otherwise left out of the major projects funded by the NC CSC.
Capacity Building in the NC CSC with the 2013 funds will focus on two activities related to enhancing tribal capacity in understanding and adapting to climate variability and a third activity to provide technical support for phenology camera located at 7 locations within the North Central Climate Science Center domain.
The two tribal project include:
1. Seed grant to develop a climate/energy/environment proposal and
2. The Tribal College Phenological Observations and Indigenous Geography Pilot Program
projectStatus
Completed
Budget Extension
annualBudgets
year
2013
totalFunds
60665.0
totalFunds
60665.0
Preview Image
The Missouri River, MT - Credit: Dan Harrell, USFWS