Pacific Southwest Region Appoints Rick Kearny as New Assistant Regional Director for Climate Change and Science Application
SACRAMENTO--The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Southwest Region today announced the appointment of Rick Kearney as the Region’s Assistant Regional Director for Climate Change and Science Application.
“Appointing Rick to this new science position reinforces the Service’s commitment to excellence in applying science to all aspects of our conservation programs,” said Regional Director Ren Lohoefener. “Rick will lead our implementation of climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
Learn more about climate change initiatives which involves innovative partnerships with federal, state and local governments, universities, tribes, conservation groups and private partners in California, Nevada and the Klamath Basin.”
The new science position reinforces the role of science in the Service’s conservation programs and is part of Service’s commitment to develop conservation strategies for wildlife resources in response to climate change.
In September 2009, the Secretary of the Interior announced a new policy that calls for a greater role for science in Department activities related to climate change and closer coordination among Department bureaus and other federal, state, tribal, and non-governmental partners to address climate change impacts on natural and cultural resources. That same month, the Service unveiled its draft Climate Change Strategic Plan that outlines measures intended to help fish and wildlife populations adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions.
Among the first steps is the formation of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) that will engage partners to develop adaptation efforts on a landscape scale. Kearney will oversee the development and management of four LCCs in the Pacific Southwest Region: the California LCC, the Great Basin LCC, and the North Pacific LCC and Desert LCC, which will be managed cooperatively with the Service’s Southwest and Pacific Regions. The LCCs will inform resource management decisions to address stressors—including habitat fragmentation, genetic isolation, spread of invasive species invasive species
An invasive species is any plant or animal that has spread or been introduced into a new area where they are, or could, cause harm to the environment, economy, or human, animal, or plant health. Their unwelcome presence can destroy ecosystems and cost millions of dollars.
Learn more about invasive species , and water scarcity—all of which are accelerated by climate change.
Prior to joining the Fish and Wildlife Service, Rick served as the national coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Wildlife Resources program where he provided leadership for wildlife research and technical assistance activities involving more than 250 scientists at USGS science centers and cooperative research units nationwide. He personally led the USGS-USFWS Science Support Partnership (SSP), Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative, and USGS-USFWS Radar Ornithology working group. Rick was instrumental in forming and leading the joint federal-state wild bird avian influenza surveillance program and establishing the USGS National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center.
