Overview

The scientists from the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center capitalize on their diverse expertise to answer critically important scientific questions shaped by the equally diverse environments of the western United States. FRESC scientists collaborate with each other and with partners to provide rigorous, objective, and timely information and guidance for the management and conservation of biological systems in the West and worldwide.

FRESC scientists, individually or collabortively with partners, investigate high-priority questions about biological systems. The research and guidance is objective, relevant, and important to U.S. Department of the Interior agencies, other federal and state agencies, tribes, academic institutions, other organizations, and the public.

FRESC's mission is to provide scientific understanding and the technology needed to support sound management and conservation of our nation's natural resources, with emphasis on western ecosystems.

Adaptation Work:

Developing Tools for Climate Change Adaptation

Resource managers contend with achieving goals and mandates in an ever-changing world of exotic species invasions, emerging diseases, extinction risks, and shifting public expectations among others. These challenges must be faced in the context of a changing climate, which potentially alters ecosystem structure and function and undermines the predictability of ecosystem response to management actions. USGS can help managers address these challenges using a variety of tools, including assessment of trends in resource condition, structured decision techniques to elicit and prioritize management information needs, and decision support tools to make regional-scale climate vulnerability assessments and adaptation plans useful at project-planning scales. These efforts have involved federal, state, municipal, and tribal resource managers. By conveying research needs to scientists and using science to inform decision support tools, these efforts provide a direct link between research scientists and resource managers.

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