Innovative Approaches to Climate Resiliency and Restoration Across Ownerships and Landscapes Laura McCarthy

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1 Innovative Approaches to Climate Resiliency and Restoration Across Ownerships and Landscapes Laura McCarthy

2 Restoring America s Forests The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.

3 problems

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5 US Forest Service

6 Restoring America s Forests Restore America's forests by demonstrating return on investment for federal landscape restoration and enabling the necessary federal policy and budget reforms to triple the pace of forest restoration.

7 Collaboration & Partnership Building 1. Fire Learning Network 2. Southwest Climate Change Initiative 3. Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Act 4. Scaling Up to Promote Ecosystem Resiliency 5. Media Communications and Education

8 Insert Your Image Here Insert Image Credit Fire Learning Network -- landscapes in 2012

9 What does the Fire Learning Network do? We work with community and agency partners to: 1. Convene high functioning collaborative planning efforts 2. Build trust and understanding amongst stakeholders 3. Improve community capacity to live with fire 4. Address climate change and other emerging threats or opportunities 5. Leverage learning to accelerate multi-scalar success

10 Fire Learning Network (FLN) FLN by the numbers: 163 landscapes engaged (47 directly supported in 2012) 162 million acres of influence 1,150 partner groups engaged (federal, tribal, state, local, private and NGO) 2,200 training and capacity-building opportunities provided to TNC and partners

11 10 Years of Fire Learning Network Lessons Learned: It s about culture and relationships and how you partner to do what you do: maintain clear line of sight between parts of multiscalar systems (demonstrations through policy) high-functioning networks of people and places are key to leverage and conservation outcomes at scale be nimble: take advantage of change, use as opportunity to adjust strategies, force learning and gain wisdom

12 Climate Adaptation in Action

13 Landscape Adaptation Pilot Projects Objectives Build understanding Adjust goals and objectives Identify strategies to build resilience Set priorities Document & follow up Bear River Basin, UT/WY Four Forests, AZ Scope 190 people representing 43 organizations 11 million acres Jemez Mountains, NM Gunnison Basin, CO

14 Adaptation for Conservation Targets* Identify/Modify Management Goal Build Conceptual Ecological Model Document interactions & identify management intervention points Climate Assessments Assess Impacts Identify & evaluate effects Take Action Identify Strategies to reduce adverse impacts * Cross et al. in review

15 Bear River, Utah Practical Action to Build Resilience Jemez Mountains, New Mexico Trout habitat restoration, reintroduction and relocation Protection of agricultural water supply Protection of wetlands for flood attenuation Controlled burning to increase forest resilience Protection of life & property from catastrophic fire

16 Practical Action to Build Resilience Gunnison Basin, Colorado Four Forests, northern Arizona Wetland & stream restoration for bird & fish habitat, groundwater recharge & agricultural water use Forest thinning to increase infiltration & sustain stream flow

17 Lessons Learned Embrace change: reset goals and strategies and manage systems for resilience. 2. Get practical: Use local science-management partnerships to build capacity and get results. 3. Get started: We have many of the tools we need to build resilience and reduce adverse impacts. 4. Learn and share: Experiment and network to build capacity locally and regionally

18 Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration TNC field based forest collaboratives Experience showed the need for National policy and Legislation - the CFLR Act of 2009 Coalitions to support the CFLR program Legislation and funding to continue activities Leverage the lessons learned to national scope

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20 On the ground forest restoration Scaling Up to Promote Ecosystem Resiliency (SPER) Forest Service Cooperative Agreement Arkansas: California: Colorado: Montana: Oregon: Ozark Pine-Oak Woodlands and Glade Restoration Partnership Trinity Integrated Fire Management Partnership, led by Watershed Research &Training Center, Hayfork Upper Fountain Creek Watershed Restoration Project, Pike National Forest Southwest Montana Fire Initiative, Centennial Valley of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Ashland Watershed Forest Resiliency, Wildland Urban Interface Virginia & West Virginia: Allegheny and Potomac Highlands Ecosystem Restoration Project

21 Scaling-up to Promote Ecosystem Resiliency

22 Partnership includes communication, education, and marketing Utilize capacity of TNC organization Partners and Agencies News and various new media Legislative and policy arenas Communicate with the public to highlight the value of our forests, their threats, and solutions. Distributed through media, web, and social media, and pursued by 50 state-based marketing professionals

23 Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Telling the story through a partnerdeveloped annual report

24 Media communications FORESTS: Restoration program boosted jobs, reduced wildfires in first year -- report Phil Taylor, E&E reporter Published: Thursday, November 10, 2011 This story first appeared in Greenwire. A federal program to improve forest health created or sustained more than 1,500 jobs and reduced fuel and wildfire risk on 154,000 acres in its first year, according to a new joint report from the Forest Service and stakeholder groups. The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration program, a bipartisan initiative approved as part of the 2009 public lands omnibus package, also produced 107 million board feet of timber and generated nearly $59 million of labor income, according to the report.

25 Communicating and Educating CNN filming prescribed burn in Florida

26 Challenges are ahead --

27 can it be done? YES!

28 Questions? A forest, large or small, may render its service in many ways. It may reach its highest usefulness by standing as a safeguard against floods, winds,. snow slides, moving sands, or especially against the dearth of water in the streams. Gifford Pinchot ( )