A seminar at the annual Land Trust Rally
Sunday, October 3, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Hartford, ConnecticutSynopsis
Climate change doesn’t mean that you have to panic or close your eyes and pretend it isn’t happening. This session is designed to provide an understanding of the basic approaches and tools for land trust practitioners to begin to incorporate climate change into their existing conservation planning and management efforts. A team of experts will explore key concepts and principles in adaptation, and present case studies of planning and management strategies that are underway. The session will also include a climate change clinic in which participants will start applying adaptation principles to their own conservation plans and issues. Participants should be prepared to briefly describe their own work. Panelists will work with participants to apply the principles and tools of adaptation in order to develop ways to address climate change in participant conservation plans. Come ready to brainstorm, leave ready to act.Jennie Hoffman, senior scientist at EcoAdapt, will lead the seminar and provide the framework for adaptation.  Kim Hall, Great Lakes Climate Change Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy, will focus on restoration.  John O’Leary, Fisheries Biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, will talk about how the cutting edge State Wildlife Action Plan implementation plan it prepared addresses climate change and how land trusts can be involved in and benefit from these planning processes. Erika Rowland, Climate Change Biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society will focus on land management; Bruce Stein, Associate Director, Wildlife Conservation & Global Warming, with the National Wildlife Foundation will talk about what’s next with federal action; and Mike Whitfield, coordinator of the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, will talk about how land trusts can work to adapt landscape-scale conservation to climate change. Agenda and presentationsAgendaHall: Adapting to Climate Change: Great Lakes restoration examplesHoffman: Adapting Your Work to Climate ChangeO’Leary: Using Vulnerability Assessment Results to Implement the State Wildlife Action PlanRowland: Management Planning in Light of Climate Change: Grassland Wildlife in the Great Plains LCCStein: Climate Adaptation at the Federal Level and BeyondWhitfield: Heart of the Rockies Initiative & Climate AdaptationUseful Reading Climate Change and Wildlife Conservation Working Group. 2010. Climate Change Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) Framework.Gentry, B. 2009. Stormy Seas: Land Trusts Navigate the Uncertainties Surrounding Climate Change. Saving Land Summer 2009, pp. 15-17.Land Trust Alliance Climate Change Fact Sheet. 2009. Available along with other excellent information at http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/emerging-issues/climate-change/introManomet Center for Conservation Sciences and Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. 2010. Climate Change and Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife. Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3.Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 2010. Policy on Building Resilience to Climate Change.Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. 2006. Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. Chapter synopses, State Programs, and the report  available at http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/habitat/management/habitat_mgt.htmU.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 2009. An Assessment of Decision-Making Processes: The Feasibility of Incorporating Climate Change Information into Land Protection Planning. Global Change Research Program, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Washington, DC; 34 EPA/600/R-09/142a.NOAA. 2010. Programmatic Framework for Considering Climate Change Impacts in Coastal Habitat Restoration, Land Acquisition, and Facility Development Investments.NOAA. 2010. Adapting to Climate Change: A Planning Guide for State Coastal Managers.The Nature Conservancy. 2010/ Climate Change and Conservation: A Primer for Assessing Impacts and Advancing Ecosystem‐based Adaptation in The Nature Conservancy. Theoharides, K., G. Barnhart, and P. Glick. 2009. Climate change adaptation across the landscape: a survey of federal and state agencies, conservation organizations, and academic institutions in the United States. Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Defenders of Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, and The National Wildlife Federation. United States Global Change Research Program. 2009. Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. United States Global Change Research Program. 2009. Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources 
Adaptation case studies involving land trustsNorth Coast Regional Land Trust: Wood Creek Tidal Marsh Enhancement ProjectScenic Hudson Land Trust: Prioritizing Lands in Light of Sea Level RisePreparing for Climate Change on State-Owned Aquatic Lands in Washington StateBald Head Island Conservancy Climate Change Adaptation: Using Outreach to Catalyze Small ChangesIntegrating Climate Change into the Massachusetts State Wildlife Action Plan Using an Expert Panel-based Vulnerability AssessmentWaihe’e Refuge Restoration ProjectPreparing for Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region Report and WorkshopAlligator River National Wildlife Refuge/Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula Climate Adaptation ProjectIntegrating Climate Change Adaptation Strategies into Maryland’s Coastal Land Conservation Targeting
Some useful web sitesLTA Climate Change Portal: http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/emerging-issues/climate-change/introNOAA Coastal Resource Center’s Coastal Climate Adaptation web site: http://collaborate.csc.noaa.gov/climateadaptation/default.aspxUnited States Global Change Research Program: http://www.globalchange.gov/NOAA Climate Services: http://www.climate.gov/US Forest Service Climate Change Resource Center: http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc/