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CHANGE IN EASTERN WASHINGTON
Long-term Monitoring of Potential Climate Change Driven Vegetation
Shifts in the Eastern Cascades, Washington
Project vision
Our vision is to contribute to growing a regional network
of monitoring sites with the goal of understanding the direction,
magnitude and rate of change of impacts of climate change on components
of biodiversity in the interior Northwest. The project is being designed and
implemented in cooperation with the Conservancy's Global Climate Change Initiative. Analysis of data collected
at these sites will:
- Inform on the magnitude of the threat posed by climate change
to species and systems, and on which components of biodiversity
are likely most vulnerable.
- Help in the development of strategies to conserve biodiversity
under changing climate.
- Inform the restoration and management of natural systems by
agencies, NGOs and private landowners.
- Help validate and downscale climate and vegetation model projections.
The currently funded project is a pilot project focused on working
out how to select sites and what to monitor over the long-term to
provide early warning of shifts in the lower tree line ecotone of
the eastern Cascades, and using dendrochronology to quantify trends
up to this date. The two sites that will be set up as part of this
project are a small nucleus for the broader network of long term monitoring
sites. This broader network and the funding to monitor it will require
partnerships with organizations currently involved in similar efforts,
and/or new partners facing similar issues, as well as new sources
of funding. This project will help start the discussions, work out
the details of what is needed to add to what is already being done,
and how, and to identify and engage with potential partners from agencies,
research institutions and other organizations.
For more information, please contact:
Lead Principal Investigator:
, Ph. D., Arid Lands Ecologist, The Nature Conservancy.
Co-Principal Investigators:
Elizabeth Gray, Ph. D., Director of Conservation
Science, The Nature Conservancy, Washington Field Office
Partick Gonzales, Ph. D., Climate Change Scientist,
Global
Climate Change Initiative, The Nature Conservancy
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