Taking Action to Address Climate Change Effects on Wildlife and Watersheds in Southwest Montana

Recognition of the need to consider climate change in management decisions is growing, but capacity for taking action continues to lag. I will illustrate how collaborative planning involving scientists and managers is helping to build that capacity and leading to the implementation of strategies for conserving wildlife, watershed function and ranching livelihoods as climate changes in southwest Montana. By combining expert-based discussions of climate change impacts and adaptation options with data-driven models, we are identifying critical areas for taking climate-informed conservation actions in the region. Climate-informed actions include efforts to increase water storage in riparian ecosystems, wetlands and upland areas through beaver mimic dams, beaver reintroductions and conflict mitigation, innovative irrigation management and upland micro-catchments. I will describe efforts to pilot these actions that involve diverse public agency, private landowner and conservation organization partners. I will discuss several opportunities we have capitalized on to move from climate change planning to action, including taking advantage of trusted relationships to counter skepticism about climate change, focusing initially on actions that are widely accepted as beneficial and endorsed by diverse experts and decision-makers, and introducing practitioners to relatively low-cost and low-tech strategies that are more palatable and can be implemented at larger scales.