Defenders of Wildlife Blog

The dark blue squares on the left side of the building are the solar panels.

Karla Dutton, Alaska Program Director

It has been a while since we moved Defenders’ Alaska office a block away to The Solar Building at 441 West 5th Avenue, Anchorage. The 1957 art deco building is aptly named for the recent installation of a full wall of 64 solar energy panels that make this one of only a few commercial buildings in Alaska powered in part by renewable energy, and the largest project for a commercial building in Anchorage. The panels are expected to supply 11,651 kilowatts per year — five to 10 percent of the five-story building’s electricity needs, said Marvin Kuentzel of Renewable Energy Systems, the Anchorage business that ordered the panels and installed them. Anchorage businessman and building owner Steve Zelener is pleased with the results and continues to remodel the building’s interior. In fact, he’s planning to install a ticker device so tenants and visitors can see how much energy the solar panels are generating.

Claire Colegrove, our Alaska Representative, and I really like our new office. It is bright, sunny and has high-efficiency lighting and heating – a huge improvement over our previous office space. Since Alaska and the Arctic are ground zero for climate change, we believe it is important to work in a building that uses energy sources with reduced emissions, which helps to fight the shifts in climate that are affecting our wildlife and environment.

Other conservation-minded tenants share space in the building, and the owner hopes that these energy-saving retrofits will encourage still other progressive companies to lease space in the Solar Building.

This past weekend, our building was featured in the Anchorage Solar Tour, sponsored by American Solar Energy Society, ACAT, REAP, ACE as the Solar Building at 441 W. 5th Avenue in 2012.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, President and CEO

This country has been bogged down for too long with the intractable debate about whether or not humans’ consumption of fossil fuels is causing global warming. As a result, we’ve dangerously delayed the debate we really should be having: what should we do about the change in climate that is clearly taking place?

Defenders’ president and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark

Unfortunately, the national leadership that we need to answer that question will not be forthcoming anytime soon from our gridlocked and paralyzed Congress. By default, this means that President Obama will need to accelerate his efforts to take control of the climate change conversation by promoting the proper conservation and management of our natural resources, maximizing energy efficiency in this country and ensuring the safety and protection of our vulnerable communities. Federal agencies are already taking steps to address climate change impacts on federal lands and have established overarching frameworks for responding to climate change, such as the development of the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy and the release of individual federal agency climate adaptation plans. The administration has also made important investments in applied science to better understand climate impacts, such as the new National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center. But much more needs to be done to reduce our vulnerability to climate change.

We need to move beyond debating whether this is happening to our planet. What we should be discussing is how to most effectively respond and take action. How best to move forward and change our policies to plan for extreme weather? How to promote energy efficiency in a way that keeps our economy strong and makes a significant difference? And while it’s important to talk about how climate change can affect weather patterns and make storms, droughts and flooding more severe, simply linking climate change to the latest weather disaster doesn’t help the conversation. Supportive media must take the next step and bring attention to the conservation and adaptation work that helps reduce the severity of these effects, like wetland restoration and managing forests to reduce the intensity of wildfires.

The time for “ifs” about climate change is over. Now, our leaders have to ask themselves what to do next, and how.

Originally published in the National Journal

Haley McKey

Last month we got some exciting news here at Defenders: our very own climate expert, Noah Matson, was selected to be a member of the Department of the Interior’s new Climate Change Advisory Committee!

This is an important step for the department.  Defenders has advocated for years that Interior agencies change their science and policy strategies to include climate change adaptation and assisted in their efforts to do so.  In a press release, recently appointed Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell emphasized that “responding to climate change and its effects on our natural and cultural resources is an important priority for the nation.”  It is indeed, and the formation of this committee is an encouraging sign that the federal government is taking climate change seriously.

Some migratory birds’ ranges are changing due to global warming.

So what will Noah be doing as a committee member?

“Members are tasked with identifying the key components of a strong, effective climate adaptation science strategy, and how to integrate those components into climate adaptation programs already in effect,” Noah says.  Specifically, the committee will advise the Secretary of the Interior on the operations of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center at the US Geological Survey’s headquarters, as well as eight new regional Department of the Interior Climate Science Centers.    “The question we’re trying to answer is: ‘how do we improve the way we manage our resources in the face of climate change’?”

There’s no doubt that our nation’s wildlife are responding to climate change: some migratory bird ranges are in flux, flowers are blooming earlier and ocean fish are retreating to deeper, cooler waters.  We simply cannot effectively conserve species without taking such changes into account.

In addition to science priorities, the committee will also advise the department on relations with key partners, such as state wildlife agencies, private landowners, tribes and others.  Working efficiently with partners is integral to Interior’s ability to coordinate with other climate adaptation initiatives, such as state-run wetland restoration or drought management programs.

Noah will be joined on the committee by members from a diverse number of organizations and institutions, including tribal, state and local governments, non-government organizations and the private sector.

This is a vital time for climate change policy and strategy.  The climate science center and the committee add a new dimension to our ability to protect our natural resources, help wildlife adapt to climate change and safeguard vulnerable communities.

The committee’s first meeting is expected to take place this fall.  Stay tuned as we follow Noah in his new and important role helping the Department of the Interior respond to climate change.

Defenders’ president and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark

Jamie Rappaport Clark, President and CEO 

It’s no secret Congress is gridlocked on climate change. Climate change challenges the sources of energy that fueled the industrial revolution and our current standard of living. Shifting to new sources of energy is a big deal, with lots of special interests with high stakes in the outcome.

We have to change. And we can. Think of the amazing technological revolutions we have seen in just the last decade. Yes we are powering 21st century technology with 19th century energy. There simply has to be a better way.

It has become clear that we can’t wait for Congress to help transition to a low-carbon energy system. In 2012, we experienced the most expensive storm on record, record heat waves, record wildfires and record lows in Arctic sea ice. Our communities and the natural systems we value and depend on are feeling these impacts now.

Our lawmakers finally took an excellent step in the right direction over the winter. When Congress funded emergency recovery efforts following Superstorm Sandy, it put in provisions to encourage rebuilding with climate change adaptation in mind and preparing for future storms and weather events made more likely by our planet heating up. Now Congress needs to build on that foundation and get ahead of the curve, enacting laws to make our communities, wildlife and natural areas more resilient to the changes to come.

The Obama administration is trying to move forward, as exemplified by the recent release of the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy. That strategy now needs to be implemented, and Congress needs to incorporate climate risks throughout federal decision making to mitigate those risks and prepare for future impacts. This will save lives, livelihoods and dollars.

Hopefully, our political leaders have a growing awareness of extreme weather and the formidable threat it poses both to our communities and our natural resources. It’s time for them to focus on the future and put people, homes and habitat ahead of 19th century interests.

Originally published in the National Journal, in response to “What’s Holding Back Energy & Climate Policy?”

©Eyeliam/Flickr

Anderson Shepard, Conservation Planning Associate

Instead of wilderness and wildlife, could visitors to Glacier National Park soon be passing fields of wine grapes as they drive up to the gate? Not long ago, I helped author a study that suggests that by 2050, this could very well be the case. In the paper, titled “Climate Change, Wine, and Conservation” and published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), we looked at how rising temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns are affecting the delicate balance of temperature and moisture – the primary elements for growing high-quality wine grapes.

This map shows how the change in wine-producing country will overlap with wolf habitat. ©Anderson Shepard

Using climate models and an analysis of the current distribution, temperature and moisture requirements of high-quality wine grape varieties, we project that climate change will shrink the area suitable for wine production in some of the most famous wine-producing regions in the world, while opening up wine production in some unusual places. Alarmingly, we found that climate change could soon drive a massive expansion of agriculture into some of the most intact wildlife habitat in the U.S., impacting dozens of species.

Although I performed this research before coming to Defenders, its message is still wildlife-focused. Agriculture can be a huge driver of habitat loss and degradation, and Defenders has spent an enormous amount of time and energy advocating for policies and actions that would promote habitat conservation and coexistence between farmers, ranchers and wildlife, putting solutions in place to protect animals like bears and wolves. Climate change threatens to take this issue to a whole new level. Not only will it change the biophysical landscape and cause shifts in the existing natural assemblages of plants and animals, but, as this paper shows, it is expected to open a great deal of new land to agriculture, causing more natural areas to be developed and more wildlife habitat to be broken into pieces.

Canada lynx, ©Ken Curtis

The Northern Rockies is a region where we focus much of our work at Defenders. The region is flush with extensive tracts of wildlands, and it is the last remaining area in the Lower 48 that hosts a complete set of large carnivores – one of the few places you can find animals like bears, wolves, lynx and bobcats all together. Our study found that between 2000 and 2050, the land in the Northern Rockies suitable for viticulture (growing grapes for wine) will increase by more than 58 million acres. The next 50 years will likely be a trying period for species such as the Canada lynx, gray wolf and grizzly bear – these species are likely to see vineyards popping up all over their range over the next few decades. Wolves attempting to roam across long-established territory will find acres of it replaced with land that is useless to them. Bears, often captured or killed when caught taking advantage of orchards or other fruit crops, will be sorely tempted to wander into new vineyards looking for a meal, only to put themselves in danger. Combine that with the region’s continuing surge in development, and we see impacts on a scale that could dramatically alter these species’ ability to thrive in the region.

Grizzly bear, ©Michael S. Quinton, National Geographic stock

We could see these impacts on an even broader scale if the shift in lands suitable for vineyards also holds true for other agricultural crops. This could put even more species in danger, caught between a changing climate and the ever- expanding human footprint on the land. For the conservation community, the key is to spot these issues early on and help the relevant industries to plan carefully so that we can minimize the damage to wildlife. In fact, this is already happening in some regions where wine growers are working closely with conservationists to confront the environmental, cultural and economic challenges posed by a changing climate. It is up to individuals and organizations like us to ensure a future for wildlife despite the challenges of a changing climate.

You can read more on this study in The New York Times, CBS News and The Guardian.
You can also read the full report at PNAS.

Claire Colegrove, Alaska Representative

©Flickr/Tdawg

When picturing our national forests, it is most common to think of endless expanses of trees and other vegetation dotted by lakes, rivers and staggering mountain peaks. We picture iconic North American wildlife like bears and deer inhabiting these expanses. The Chugach National Forest is a stark contrast to this more familiar image. The Chugach is the northernmost coastal forest – over a third of its nearly 7 million acres is made up of rock and ice. Visitors coming to this area expect to see salmon, orca and a wide variety of sea and shorebirds. A majority of the Chugach’s 500,000 annual visitors are heading to the Kenai Peninsula, the Copper River Delta or Prince William Sound, all places known for their coastal and marine recreation opportunities. This is a forest with strong ties to ice and the ocean, both for its dominant ecosystems and for human use.

In the spring of 2012, the United States Forest Service released their new planning regulations in accordance with the National Forest Management Act. This new planning rule represented a significant shift in federal forest policy. Most important to Defenders is the Service’s new approach to managing for biodiversity: they plan to look at the entire ecosystem as a whole. The Service’s new planning rule uses what is called a “coarse filter” method, which examines the overall ecosystem integrity. Ecosystem integrity is essential if you want to maintain a healthy and diverse population of plants and animals in a forest like the Chugach, especially in light of the continuing impacts of a changing climate.

Sea lions in Prince William Sound, © Flickr/J. Stephen Conn

The Forest Service selected eight “early adopter” forests throughout the country to lead the way, and the Chugach National Forest is one of them. Though the Chugach is equal in size to the state of New Hampshire, it has only 90 miles of Forest Service roads. The Chugach National Forest is commonly referred to as a “custodial forest” meaning the Forest Service’s management of it is largely for recreation and conservation purposes rather than timber harvest.

The management plan is executed in three phases: assessment, revision and monitoring. The Chugach Forest Service staff is currently in their assessment phase, collecting and examining the best available information on the current forest condition and how the forest is used. Next, they will revise their management plan over the next two years, and then set up a monitoring process to study how effective the new management practices are.

In the first phase, Defenders is working with the Service to determine how vulnerable the forest is to climate change, which will help determine the Service’s long-term plans for addressing it. We are trying to identify what areas of the forest will be most impacted by climate change, and what those impacts will look like both for the forest’s plant and animals species, and for the people who rely on them. This is called a climate vulnerability assessment. I will be leading the climate vulnerability assessment chapter examining the effects of climate change on the coasts and seascapes.

Short-billed dowhitcher, one of many species that rely on the tidal flats in Chugach NF © Flickr/Melissa Gabrielson, USFWS

In a coastal forest like the Chugach, there are a lot of ways climate change can affect the ecosystem, including sea level rise, glaciers and snow and ice melt, habitat composition changes and ocean acidification. All these factors have the potential to greatly impact habitat and wildlife survival, as well as human use of the forest. Sea level rise can increase habitat for some species and diminish it for others. Low-lying tidal flats along the Chugach comprise important nesting habitat for a large number of shore and seabirds, which means that even slight sea level shifts could have vast impacts on these species. As glaciers melt, they alter the composition of and access to the land. For example when a glacier melts, it not only exposes habitat previously covered by snow and ice, but it also causes the terrain that was compressed to rebound or rise up, which diminishes the effects of subsequent sea level rise. Ocean acidification can inhibit the ability of creatures like mollusks to form shells, which diminishes food for larger species (click here for more on this climate change impact). These are just a few examples of the many changes occurring in the Chugach that require us to put in place the best possible forward-thinking management practices and monitoring procedures so that we can know how wildlife in the Chugach is being affected, and what might be done to help them adapt.

The Forest Service is slated to complete their assessment phase late this summer. Once that is complete, they will begin a two-year plan revision process to update their 2002 management plan. We are looking forward to working with the Forest Service throughout this process to ensure the Chugach remains a thriving habitat for wildlife.