Conservation Leadership Forum: Working Together for Wildlife--and People

Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes talks about Interior's role in addressing accelerating climate change at the Conservation Leadership Forum held in early June.

Executive-level leaders from across the conservation spectrum have taken a key first step toward building a collaborative national strategy to address the impacts of accelerating climate change on wildlife and the habitats upon which they depend.

In the inaugural Conservation Leadership Forum convened in early June by the Department of Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), more than 40 representatives of federal, state and nongovernmental agencies and organizations agreed climate change is an “unprecedented” resource challenge demanding an unprecedented response.

The national strategy (tentatively titled a national fish and wildlife adaptation strategy) would align multiple planning efforts at all levels of government; provide a blueprint for applying science-based information and tools to inform sound resource management decisions in the face of uncertainty; identify partnership opportunities; and target financial resources to highest priority needs.

Though the primary objective of the strategy is ensuring abundant, healthy, and distributed populations of fish and wildlife, leaders noted the effort would be tied to a larger goal of improving quality of life for all Americans by providing clean water, clear air and “green” infrastructure critical to sustainable and healthy human communities. While investments in the strategy would be national, the group agreed collaboration and information sharing must extend to the global community.

“The Department of Interior’s extensive water, land, and wildlife management responsibilities give it an extraordinary opportunity to deal with climate change,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes, who opened the meeting at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. “This is a major challenge requiring us to think big. Wildlife ranges are already moving and pressures on species are immense. We can’t deal with this by ourselves. We need to work with partners throughout the country—states, private conservation organizations, hunters and anglers, and everyone who has a stake in the future of our natural resources.”

Acknowledging the federal government’s delayed response to climate change during the past decade, Hayes (and later, Tom Strickland, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks) indicated the Interior Department is now fully engaged and moving forward. Hayes outlined separate Departmental initiatives to limit reliance on fossil fuels by developing renewable sources of energy and to integrate scientific data across all Interior agencies to comprehensively assess climate impacts.

“Our goal is to provide information about what’s happening on the ground in terms of water supply, land management impacts, fire, invasive species and other environmental factors and make that data available to everyone,” Hayes said. “If we do this right, we can be helpful to our resource managers and partner managers.”

Hayes added that strong public-private partnerships can also help educate Americans about successful programs—such as carbon sequestration efforts that help restore landscapes and reduce greenhouse gases—that provide opportunities for the public to get involved in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Framed by presentations illustrating the stark realities of climate change impacts on wildlife and natural systems, as well as examples of current science and resource management responses, conference attendees quickly determined the need for both long-term commitment and immediate action.

Eighty-nine percent of the leaders who attended the conference rated climate change as the most important or among the most important conservation issue faced by their organizations. Fully 97 percent either strongly agreed or agreed a national fish and wildlife climate adaptation strategy is needed to address the threat to America’s natural resources.

“There is a great need for tools to make decisions now,” said Service Southeast Regional Director Sam Hamilton. “We’ve all been taking small steps [to address accelerating climate change] but we need to start taking strides. We need to get this right.”

Noting the distinction between “taking” and “providing” leadership, members of the group emphasized the need for a national strategy based on true interdependence among partners—as opposed to a federal strategy led by a single department or agency. They agreed the pace and scale of climate change demanded collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries—not only within the conservation community but also with industry, the corporate world and other nontraditional partners.

In addition to “landscape-scale” conservation approaches (adaptive resource management principles applied to the entire range of a species, a group of species, or a natural community of plants and animals), the group called for a more networked approach to partnerships allowing a region’s private, state and federal conservation infrastructure to operate as a system rather than as independent entities.

“For 100 years conservation has been based on lines on a map, and most conservation agencies and organizations are trained to work within the fence line,” said Larry Selzer, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Conservation Fund. “Climate change is forcing us to acknowledge that everything of importance is happening outside the fence line. The migration of habitat and species is occurring at a pace and scale that doesn’t fit well within our current political instruments—whether it’s regulation or policy. We will have to be open to new instruments.”

The leaders identified dozens of significant challenges to developing a national strategy, ranging from resistance to change within the conservation community to a lack of public and workforce understanding of the threat of climate change. Most agreed a dedicated source of funding for climate adaptation and mitigation activities is perhaps the most critical short-term challenge.

But out of challenge arises opportunity. The leaders believe a national fish and wildlife adaptation strategy can help unify strategic planning efforts currently detailed in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 and inform the process outlined in bill. Several agreed this is the chance for the conservation community to lead rather than follow.

“We are at an important point in time,” said Dave Schad, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Director of Fish and Wildlife and Chair of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ Climate Change Committee. “A year ago we weren’t there. Now Congress, states, and partners are moving forward and we need to harness those efforts.”

Inspired by portraits of conservation greats lining the walls at the Training Center, the group was reminded that its work must be infused by the spirit of those such as Rachel Carson, Aldo Leopold, Teddy Roosevelt and J.N “Ding” Darling who rose to the challenges of the past. And it must build on successful partnership models such as Joint Ventures and the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement, which have demonstrated the power of shared vision and commitment.

Forum participants also agreed the strategy must be developed with an eye toward the future. By 2050, Selzer said, the U.S. population is projected to be mostly urban, minority, and increasingly beset by health issues such as asthma and diabetes. He urged the group to view its conservation work in the larger context of a changing society and articulate a vision that resonates with tomorrow’s audiences.

While falling short of agreeing on specific principles for the strategy, the leaders designated work groups to flesh out details of a collaborative process and more clearly define its vision, purpose and scope by the end of the summer. The forum closed with a mix of hope and urgency, and a strong desire to build on the momentum of the two-day session.

“The fact that we are willing to come together and talk now while climate change legislation and governance approaches are still being hammered out will speed things up considerably during the next few months,” said Service Acting Director Rowan Gould. “We have to work in partnership—otherwise we’re just talking to ourselves. Even though the playing field hasn’t been laid yet, this dialogue is critical because it will help us speak with a collective voice as opposed to a cacophony of voices expressing separate interests and advocacy.”

Forum Presentations:

Challenge for Conservation Leaders
David Schad, Minnesota Division of Fish and Wildlife and Tom Franklin, Vice-President of The Theodore Roosevelt Partnership Conservancy

Impacts at Alligator River NWR
Mike Bryant, Project Leader - Alligator River NWR

Adapting to Climate Change in the Northeast
Hector Galbraith, Director - Climate Change Initiative, Manomet Center for Conservation Studies

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for the Northwest
Dr. Josh Lawler, Assistant Professor, College of Forest Resources, University of Washington

Please check back for more video interviews with Conservation Leadership Forum participants.