Connie Millar discusses the basic principles of ecosystem management (EM), specifically in national forests in California and nearby states. The principles include how to modify current forest practices using new information, how to reevaluate past practices in order to prepare for a future with climate change and how to utilize manager/scientist relationships to adapt to anthropogenic climate change.

Connie Millar gives a brief overview of the “Toolkit Approach.” She explains that no single solution can fix all situations, and that it is essential to mix and match tools; this applies directly to the challenge of addressing the impacts of climate change.

When using the toolkit approach, four strategic steps exist. First, to increase resistance to change by identifying the need to defend resources. Secondly, promoting resilience to change through improving the capacity of ecosystems to return to prior conditions. Third, enabling ecosystems to change adaptively; for example, assisting species migration to favorable locations. Lastly, it is important to completely realign some systems to future dynamics brought by climate change.

Climate Adaptation Tools: “resource-management practices, educational and reference modules, decision-support aids, and qualitative or quantitative models that address the adaptation of natural and cultural resources to climate change.”