All FRCC calculations were done in ArcGIS 9.3.1 with the FRCC Mapping Tool version 2.2.0, using Landfire Biophysical Settings (BpS) and Succession Class (S-Class) layers and the default Landfire Reference Condition table (LFnat_west). All calculations were performed at a 30-meter resolution. Input BpS and S-Class layers were downloaded using the Landfire Data Access Tool version 2.2 (configuration database version 1.27, feature database version 1.02). Three landscape levels were used in all calculations, the 4th, 5th and 6th field HUCs from the "Pacific NW Sixth Field Hucs" GIS layer from Bonneville Power Administration (Subbasins, Watersheds and Subwatersheds, resp.). FRCC Calculation Procedure For each of the...
The purpose of this project is to use existing climate change datasets from the Climate Impacts Group (CIG) to summarize the the projected climate change impacts to United States Forest Service (USFS) lands in Oregon and Washington (Figure 1). Stakeholders in the Forest Service of this region were particularly interested in the variables that are likely to impact freshwater aquatic species, including projected changes in water availability, snowpack, and flood and low flow severities. Our objective is to summarize climate and hydrologic projections for USFS lands in Oregon and Washington. Since individual national forests may contain numerous distinct ecological regimes and cross hydrologic boundaries, averaging...
Climate change is projected to have substantial impacts on Pacific Northwest water resources and ecosystems. Recognizing this, resource managers have expressed growing interest in incorporating climate change information into long-range planning. The availability of hydrologic scenarios to support climate change adaptation and long-range planning, however, has been limited until very recently to a relatively small number of selected case studies. More comprehensive resources needed to support regional planning have been lacking. Furthermore, ecosystem studies at the landscape scale need consistent climate change information and databases over large geographic areas. Products using a common set of methods that would...
The flow regime is of fundamental importance in determining the physical and ecological characteristics of a river or stream, but actual flow measurements are only available for a small minority of stream segments, mostly on large rivers. Flows for all other streams must be extrapolated or modeled. Modeling is also necessary to estimate flow regimes under future climate conditions. To date there are few databases of modeled stream flows that are broad in coverage, fine in resolution, and available for both historical and future climate conditions. Here we present such a database. The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, Trout Unlimited, and the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS)...
We built habitat suitability models for 237 bird, 117 mammal, and 12 amphibian species. Species were chosen for inclusion in the study based on a simple set of criteria. For a species to be included in the study, it had to be primarily associated with terrestrial habitats, have a digital map of its current range, and have some portion of its current distribution intersect with the study area extent. In addition, we restricted the list of species used in the study to those for which a well-performing continental-scale model could be built. Digital species range maps were converted from polygons into 50 square kilometer resolution grid cells representing species presences. Although using point-based occurrence data...
Climate change data for 3 time periods, 1916-2006, 2030-2059, and 2070-2099, in the following themes: Climate change data for 3 time periods, 1916-2006, 2030-2059, and 2070-2099, in the following themes: Base Flow, Combined Flow, Evapotranspiration, Average Temperature, Maximum Temperature, Minimum Temperature, PET 1, PET 5, Precipitation, Relative Humidity, Runoff, Snow Depth, Snow Water Equivalent, Soil Moisture, Soil Moisture Deficit, Water Balance Deficit. Base Flow Combined Flow Evapotranspiration Average Temperature Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature PET 1 PET 5
Planning for the effects of climate change on natural resources often requires detailed projections of future climate at finer spatial scales consistent with the processes managers typically consider. While it is numerically possible to produce downscaled climate at very fine scales (< 5km), accurate estimation at these scales is difficult and less certain without very detailed local information. Both the absence of a sufficiently dense network of long-term climate observations and the presence of local factors such as topography and land surface feedbacks from vegetation and snowpack contribute to the uncertainties of localized projections. To meet the needs of managers for developing adaptation strategies, vulnerability...
The concept of potential natural vegetation (PNV), the plant community reflecting the environmental capability of a land area, has proven vital to land management over the past 30 years. Rigorous, consistent, validated potential vegetation mapping, however, has remained a persistent need for land management agencies. The development of this dataset represents a new way to model and map PNV to help fulfill those requirements.
