Abstract

In a project extending from Maine to Virginia and West Virginia, the Northeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA), the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NALCC), Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences (Manomet), and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) collaborated with other major northeastern stakeholders in safeguarding fish and wildlife and their habitats from climate change. Specifically, NEAFWA, NALCC, Manomet, and NWF completed a three-year effort to evaluate the climate change vulnerabilities of the Northeast’s key habitats, and to help increase the capabilities of state fish and wildlife agencies to respond to these challenges.

The primary objectives of this project were:

• To quantify the regional vulnerabilities to climate change of fish and wildlife habitats, and how these vulnerabilities vary spatially across the region.
• To project how the status and distributions of these habitats and species may be affected by climate change.
• To work with states to increase their institutional knowledge and capabilities to respond to climate change through educational and planning workshops and other events.

The project began by developing a consistent and uniform approach to evaluating the vulnerabilities of fish and wildlife habitats within and across all 13 states in the Northeast Region and the District of Columbia. This methodological approach is known as the NEAFWA Habitat Vulnerability Model.