The Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework: a tool for incorporating climate change into natural resource management

Abstract

As natural resource management agencies and conservation organizations seek guidance on responding to climate change, myriad potential actions and strategies have been proposed for increasing the long-term viability of some attributes of natural systems. Managers need practical tools for selecting among these actions and strategies to develop a tailored management approach for specific targets at a given location. We developed and present one such tool, the participatory Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework, which considers the effects of climate change in the development of management actions for particular species, ecosystems and ecological functions. Our framework is based on the premise that effective adaptation of management to climate change can rely on local knowledge of an ecosystem and does not necessarily require detailed projections of climate change or its effects. We illustrate the ACT framework by applying it to an ecological function in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA)--water flows in the upper Yellowstone River. We suggest that the ACT framework is a practical tool for initiating adaptation planning, and for generating and communicating specific management interventions given an increasingly altered, yet uncertain, climate.

Fig. 1

Map showing the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the Yellowstone River in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA. (Map created by A. Toivola, Wildlife Conservation Society)

Fig. 2

The Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework for natural resource management planning in light of climate change. Steps 1–4 represent the ACT planning phase (the focus of this paper); Steps 5–6 represent the implementation and evaluation phase

Fig. 3

Conceptual model illustrating how climate and other drivers may influence water flows in the upper Yellowstone River

Fig. 4

Example results chains for management options and intermediate effects to maintain Yellowstone River flows suitable for Yellowstone cutthroat trout as the climate becomes warmer and drier. Management options are then examined to determine tradeoffs and set priorities (Step 4, Fig. 2)