A version of this story was originally published in the Fall 2014 UW SRP eBulletin.
In June 2013, President Obama announced his Climate Action Plan. A critical element of the Plan is to assist states, Tribes, and local governments to prepare for negative climate-related consequences that may lie ahead. In May of this year, the Third National Climate Assessment was released, including a chapter on the Pacific Northwest. One of the key messages from the Assessment was the need for federal, state, Tribal, and local communities to develop adaptive responses to observed and projected impacts associated with climate change, which will differ across the nation including the Pacific Northwest.
In order to provide assistance to governments in responding to those impacts, the UW SRP Research Translation and Community Engagement Core is sponsoring a webinar by Dr. Amy Snover of the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group to discuss approaches and tools for how to use climate change projections for prioritizing climate change efforts. The webinar will draw on the recent publication by Dr. Snover and her colleagues "Choosing and Using Climate-Change Scenarios for Ecological-Impact Assessments and Conservation Decisions" in journal ‘Conservation Biology’. The webinar will provide a preview of an online tool being developed by the Climate Impacts Group to explore when and where climate change will have an impact in the Northwest. The goal of the webinar is to provide a discussion forum for regulatory, environmental and resource management organizations in the Pacific Northwest. Goals include building regional capacity regarding climate change and exploring resources that can be integrated to meet agency needs. Dr. Snover, Director of the Climate Impacts Group, in the College of the Environment works with decision makers to help them develop science-based strategies for addressing climate risks, and to develop priorities for research, tool development and outreach. Dr. Snover’s webinar will be held on December 10th, from noon to 1pm PST.
The UW SRP sponsors regular seminars held in Seattle at the regional EPA headquarters (a webinar connection is available.) The seminars are directed toward an audience of agency staff involved with risk assessment and communication at Superfund sites, such as EPA Region 10 and the Washington State Departments of Health and Ecology. Topic requests come from our agency partners - the series provides a forum for intra-agency discussions with scientists about current research and applications of the science.