Climate Change: Various Adaptation Efforts Are Under Way at Key Natural Resource Management Agencies
Released: 2013-06-20T00:00:00


Highlights: section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: Climate change poses a variety of threats to federally managed natural resources, such as forests and wildlife, including possibly more frequent and severe droughts and wildfires. Adaptation--adjustments in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects--can be used to help manage the risks to vulnerable natural resources. GAO was asked to review federal agencies' efforts to incorporate climate change adaptation into their natural resource planning and management since GAO last reported on this issue in 2007.

This report examines (1) steps key federal natural resource management agencies--Forest Service, NOAA, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management--have taken since 2007 to address adaptation and (2) how these agencies have collaborated at the national level on adaptation since 2007. GAO analyzed the agencies' climate change adaptation guidance and planning documents and interviewed agency officials. GAO also visited one field location for each agency, selected using a nonprobability approach, so the results are not generalizable to all of the agencies' field locations.

GAO is not making any recommendations. GAO received written comments from the Department of Agriculture, which said the Forest Service agreed with the findings. GAO also received general and technical comments from the Departments of Commerce and the Interior, which were incorporated as appropriate.

section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: Since 2007, the Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service have taken steps to establish strategic directions for addressing climate change adaptation. For example, the Forest Service developed a strategic framework document that established climate change adaptation as a central agency priority and another document, known as "the roadmap," which identified actions that national forest managers were taking or could take to implement the direction outlined in the framework, including re-vegetating ecosystems that had been affected by fire with plant species that are better adapted to current and future climates. These four agencies have also developed guidance, training, and other tools for managers to use in adapting to climate change. For example, the National Park Service is developing guidance for park-based climate change adaptation plans that includes steps such as identifying conservation targets and conducting vulnerability assessments. The Bureau of Land Management has not established a strategic direction for addressing climate change impacts but is planning to develop a high-level climate change adaptation strategy by the end of the summer 2013. In addition, GAO visited one field location within each agency and found that managers at four of the five locations have taken steps to address climate change adaptation. For example:

Chugach National Forest managers have begun an assessment of the vulnerability to climate change of key resources to help set priorities and identify adaptation actions. For example, the vulnerability assessment will include information on how changes in climate are likely to affect snow cover and salmon populations, as well as an analysis of how these projected changes may affect residents in the region who rely on snow-based tourism and salmon for their livelihoods.

Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary managers are beginning to assess whether parts of their management plan should be revised to address climate change adaptation and have taken actions to protect marine resources, such as coral reefs, from climate change impacts. For example, the sanctuary is collaborating with local stakeholders to develop systems and techniques to grow coral and other reef species for replanting in depleted reef systems.

Managers at the Bureau of Land Management's Kingman Resource Area, which manages its lands for livestock grazing and other uses, have not taken steps to address climate change adaptation and are awaiting agency direction.

The federal natural resource management agencies GAO reviewed are collaborating on climate change adaptation. For example, agencies are collaborating through landscape conservation cooperatives, comprising public and private organizations working to define shared goals and provide science for conservation planning, among other things. In addition, agencies have collaborated in developing national strategies for addressing climate change adaptation in the federal government. For example, the Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, and others collaborated on a strategy, released in March 2013, for addressing climate change adaptation in managing fish, wildlife, and plants.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: According to multiple scientific studies, including those done by the U. S.  Global Change Research Program, climate-related changes will likely  adversely affect many aspects of the natural environment in the United  States. These changes include increases in air and water temperatures,  wildfires, and drought; forests stressed by drought becoming more  vulnerable to insect infestations; rising sea levels; and reduced snow  cover and retreating glaciers. In addition, various species are expected to  be at risk of becoming extinct due to the loss of habitat critical to their  survival. Many of these changes have already been observed on federally  managed lands and waters and are expected to continue. As we reported  in October 2009, policymakers are increasingly viewing adaptation— defined by the National Research Council as adjustments in natural or  human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits beneficial  opportunities or moderates negative effects—as a risk-management  strategy to protect vulnerable natural resources that might be affected by  changes in the climate.

The federal government manages nearly 30 percent of the land in the  United States. Specifically, federal agencies manage natural resources  on about 650 million acres of land, including 401 national park units and  155 national forests. In addition, federal agencies also manage marine  resources in the United States and its exclusive economic zone,  including fisheries and protected species, and marine protected areas  that include13 national marine sanctuaries. These resources are  managed primarily by the Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service; the  Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration (NOAA); and the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish  and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land  Management.

In August 2007, we reported that federal natural resource managers  lacked specific guidance for incorporating climate change into their  planning efforts and management actions. reported that their ability to address climate change and effectively  manage resources was constrained. We recommended, among other  things, that the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and the Interior  develop clear written guidance that explains how federal natural resource  managers are expected to address the effects of climate change. The  three departments generally agreed with our recommendation and have  been taking steps to address it. In addition, in October 2009, we reported  that climate change is a complex, interdisciplinary issue with the potential  to affect every sector and level of government operations and that  government-wide adaptation planning and collaboration could assist  climate change adaptation efforts.

GAO, Climate Change: Agencies Should Develop Guidance for Addressing the Effects  on Federal Lands and Water Resources, GAO-07-863 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 7, 2007). require new approaches to match new realities and that old ways of doing  business—such as making decision based on the assumed continuation  of past climate conditions—will not work in a world affected by climate  change. In 2013, we added climate change to our list of high-risk areas  because it poses significant financial risks to the federal government. One  of the areas where the federal government’s fiscal exposure is expected  to increase is in its role as the manager of large amounts of land and  other natural resources.

In an October 2010 report, the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation  Task Force, established by the President and made up of representatives  from more than 20 federal departments and agencies, concluded that the  federal government has the responsibility to manage climate-related  impacts on federal resources by, among other things, leading and  supporting actions that reduce vulnerability, increase resilience, and  enhance coordination. force or initiatives from their Secretaries, the Departments of Agriculture,  Commerce, and the Interior have developed various mechanisms to  address climate change impacts on natural resources and the people,  industries, and communities that depend on them.include, for example, climate change adaptation strategies within the  departmental strategic plans, adaptation-related policies and guidance,  and national interagency collaborative initiatives. In addition, the three  departments have all, in various ways, informed their respective agencies  to begin addressing climate change adaptation.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality, Progress Report of the Interagency  Climate Change Adaptation Task Force: Recommended Actions in Support of a National  Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, 2010.

You asked us to review what federal agencies are doing to incorporate  climate change adaptation into their natural resource planning and  management activities. This report examines (1) steps key federal natural  resource management agencies have taken since 2007 to address  climate change adaptation and (2) how these agencies have collaborated  with each other at the national level since 2007 to address climate  change adaptation. While federal agencies have taken many different  climate change adaptation actions, we focused on those actions that we  determined were most directly relevant to helping guide the management  activities of the field location we visited at each agency.

We selected the following four key federal natural resource management  agencies to review because they administer over 90 percent of the  federal lands in the United States. The four agencies are (1) the Forest  Service, (2) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (3) the National Park  Service, and (4) the Bureau of Land Management. We selected NOAA  because it manages coastal and ocean natural resources, such as the   To determine how the five natural  national marine sanctuary system.resource management agencies have addressed climate change  adaptation since 2007, we reviewed and analyzed relevant strategic  plans, actions plans, policies, resource management plans, and guidance  documents for the five agencies and interviewed senior officials at each  agency.

To learn how one natural resource site managed by each of the agencies  has addressed climate change adaptation since 2007, we visited five  sites, reviewed planning documents, and interviewed agency officials that  manage the resources at those sites. The five sites we visited were (1)  the Forest Service’s Chugach National Forest in south-central Alaska; (2)  NOAA’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in southern Florida; (3)  the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s San Pablo Bay National Wildlife  Refuge in northern California; (4) the National Park Service’s Glacier  National Park in northwestern Montana; and (5) the Bureau of Land  Management’s Kingman Field Office in northwestern Arizona. We visited  four of these sites—Chugach National Forest, Florida Keys National  Marine Sanctuary, Glacier National Park, and Kingman Field Office— because they were also included in our 2007 review. For the 2007 review, we selected the sites we visited to ensure geographic  representation across the country and to include the four principal  ecosystem types that are managed by federal agencies—forests,  grasslands and shrublands, coasts and oceans, and fresh waters. For  this review, we included the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge so  that we could review a site managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife  Service. Because we selected a nonprobability sample of five sites,results we obtained from these sites are not generalizable to all of the  natural resource areas managed by the five agencies; however, they  provide specific examples of how some federally managed natural  resource areas have addressed climate change adaptation at the site  level. We also interviewed stakeholders, including state, local, and tribal  government officials and representatives from nongovernmental  organizations, to discuss their adaptation efforts.

To learn how the natural resource management agencies have  collaborated with each other at the national level since 2007 to address  climate change adaptation, we reviewed documents such as the October  2011 Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force progress  report and the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation  Strategy. We also interviewed officials from the five agencies, including  officials who have roles and responsibilities related to collaboration.

We conducted this performance audit from December 2011 to May 2013  in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.  Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain  sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our  findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that  the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and  conclusions based on our audit objectives.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: Climate change is having a variety of impacts on natural resources in the  United States, including more severe drought and increased wildfires.  The five key federal natural resource management agencies included in  this review—the Forest Service, NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,  National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management—have unique  roles and are facing a variety of management challenges related to  climate change. Climate change is also altering assumptions that have  been central to natural resource planning and management in the past  and recent reports have highlighted the importance of establishing climate  change planning in the federal government to help ensure it can continue  to provide important services in a changing environment.
subsections: section_title: Climate Change Impacts in the United States
paragraphs: According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, changes in the  climate have been observed in the United States and its coastal waters  and will adversely affect aspects of the nation’s natural environment. As  table 1 shows, changes in the climate—including warmer temperatures,  changes in precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, and more intense  storms—affect the natural environment in a number of ways including  more severe drought, increased frequency of large wildfires, insect  infestations, changed habitats, and possible loss of species that cannot  survive in the changed conditions.

According to a 2009 study by the U.S. Global Change Research Program,  in areas where weather events become more intense and frequent with  climate change, economic and social costs will increase. For example,  insect pests are economically important stressors on forest ecosystems in  the United States. Coupled with pathogens, they account for $1.5 billion  in damage every year, according to the study. Changes in climate have  contributed to major insect pest outbreaks in the United States over the  past several decades because rising temperatures increase insect  outbreaks in a number of ways, according to the study. For example,  longer and warmer seasons allow some insects to develop faster,  sometimes completing two life cycles instead of one in a single growing  season, and warmer conditions also help expand the ranges of some  insects. In addition, recreation and tourism are important to the economy  and the quality of life for many people. In many communities, according to  the study, recreation and tourism generate billions of dollars for regional  economies through activities such as fishing, hunting, skiing, hiking, and  diving and some of these economic benefits could be reduced or lost as a  result of the impacts from climate change.

Precisely how and to what extent changes in the climate will affect  particular federal lands and waters in the future is uncertain, but climate- related changes have already been observed on federally managed lands  and waters. Moreover, some of these changes are expected to continue  and increase in intensity, according to the U.S. Global Change Research  Program.

section_title: Roles of the Five Key Federal Natural Resource Management Agencies and Climate Change Impacts to the Natural Resources They Manage
paragraphs: The Forest Service. The Forest Service’s mission is to sustain the health,  diversity, and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet  the needs of present and future generations. The Forest Service  manages 193 million acres of national forest and national grasslands. The  nation’s 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands contain much of  the nation’s terrestrial biodiversity and provide a range of ecosystem  services. For example, national forests provide important habitat for  many rare, threatened, and endangered species as well as timber and  fresh water. The agency manages national forests for a variety of uses  including recreation, timber harvesting, livestock grazing, mining, and  wilderness protection. Wildfires, invasive species, and extreme weather  events are among the critical stressors currently affecting national forests,  and they are all expected to be exacerbated by climate change.  According to a 2011 report by the Interagency Climate Change  Adaptation Task Force, these impacts put at risk the many benefits  Americans receive from forests. See figure 1 for a map of the National  Forest System.

section_title: Four of the Five Agencies Have Developed Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Four of the Five Sites We Visited Have Taken Steps to Address Adaptation
paragraphs: The Forest Service, NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the  National Park Service have all developed a strategic direction for  addressing climate change adaptation through a variety of planning  documents. The agencies have also developed guidance, training, and  other tools for managers to use in adapting to climate change. The one  field location we visited for each agency has taken various steps to  address climate change adaptation, such as conducting vulnerability  assessments. The Bureau of Land Management has not developed a  strategic direction for addressing climate change impacts, but it has taken  some adaptation-related steps. Managers at the bureau field location we  visited, absent direction from headquarters, have not taken steps to  address climate change adaptation.
subsections: section_title: The Forest Service Has Set a Strategic Direction, Established a Performance Goal, and Provided Tools for National Forests to Address Climate Change Adaptation
paragraphs: In October 2008, the Forest Service developed a strategic framework for   According to the framework, addressing  responding to climate change.climate change adaptation must be a central priority for the agency  because many ecosystem services provided by national forests—which  include water for drinking and agriculture, as well as lumber and fiber for  paper—may be lost or significantly altered if national forest ecosystems  are left to adapt on their own. The framework also stated that  management strategies based on historical or current conditions will need  to be adjusted or replaced with approaches that support adaptation to  changing conditions brought about by climate change. According to the  framework, Forest Service natural resource managers will use current  science to better understand and predict the impacts of climate change  on natural resources, including plant and animal species. The agency will  also use an iterative approach, according to the framework, meaning that  natural resource managers are to modify their management actions, if  needed, as new scientific information emerges. They also are to  collaborate with partners—including private landowners and tribal  entities—to share technical expertise and coordinate management  actions across land ownership boundaries to more effectively address  adaptation.

In February 2011, the Forest Service published a document, known as  “the roadmap,” which identified actions that natural resource managers in  national forests were already taking or could take to implement the  strategic direction outlined in the agency’s strategic framework.  According to the roadmap, ongoing actions that agency natural resource  managers were already taking include collaborating with scientists to  assess the vulnerability of key species to climate change and re- vegetating ecosystems that had been affected by fire or other major  disturbances with plant species that are better adapted to current and  future climates. Actions that natural resource managers could begin  taking in the short term, according to the roadmap, include collaborating  with partners to develop strategies for creating and protecting connected  habitat by, for example, establishing corridors across private lands to  allow species affected by climate change to migrate to landscapes to  which they are better adapted. Longer-term actions include developing  comprehensive strategies for maintaining and restoring the connectivity of  habitats.

The Forest Service has also established a performance goal for national  forests. In 2011, the Forest Service informed national forest managers  that by 2015 they are expected to address at least one of the following  three areas related to climate change adaptation: (1) assessing the  vulnerability of key resources—such as the availability of clean and  abundant drinking water from national forest watersheds—to the impacts  of climate change, (2) reducing the vulnerability of key resources to  climate change, and (3) monitoring and evaluating climate change  impacts and the effectiveness of adaptation activities. To help track  progress in achieving the goal, the Forest Service also directed each  national forest to report annually on its status, plans, and actions for  assessing vulnerabilities, reducing vulnerabilities, and monitoring and  evaluating effectiveness. The agency also published guidance in 2011 to  assist the national forests in preparing their annual reports, which are  referred to as climate change performance scorecard reports. For  example, regarding monitoring, the guidance provided examples of  current national monitoring programs that could be used to track climate  change impacts, as well as instructions on where to find additional  information about such programs.

In addition, the agency has taken other steps to help national forests  address adaptation. Specifically, in April 2012, the Forest Service  finalized a new planning rule that includes climate change adaptation  requirements. Also, in February 2013, the agency issued draft guidance  outlining specific steps that forests can take to implement these  requirements. Each national forest is governed by a land management  plan—referred to as a forest plan—which must be revised at least every  15 years to guide its long-term natural resource management actions.  The planning rule is intended to ensure, among other things, that forest  plans will be responsive and can adapt to issues such as the challenges  of climate change. The rule also requires that each national forest have a  monitoring program that addresses climate change impacts. To help the  forests translate the monitoring requirement into action, the draft agency  guidance we reviewed stated, for example, that in developing their  monitoring programs, the forests could consider monitoring types of  vegetation that are likely to be among the first affected by climate change.  According to the draft guidance, doing so could help natural resource  managers in the forests to identify opportunities to assist those natural  resources in adapting to climate change. Agency officials told us they  plan to finalize the guidance by the end of 2013.

The Forest Service has also begun developing decision support tools to  help its natural resource managers address climate change adaptation.  For example, in 2012, the Forest Service issued the Climate Project  Screening Tool, which was developed by agency scientists to help natural  resource managers determine how, if at all, climate change  considerations could impact decisions to proceed with, modify, or cancel  proposed projects. The tool includes, for a variety of project types,  examples of key questions natural resource managers might consider to  address climate change adaptation. For example, on a proposed project  to restore an aquatic species, managers might consider whether the  species is likely to survive in the landscape if the waters continue to grow  warmer as a result of climate change. The tool provides a template that  natural resource managers can use to record climate change  considerations in their decision-making process. Specifically, the template  allows managers to document information about the proposed project,  climate change trends and local impacts, their responses to key  questions, and their decisions about whether or how to proceed with the  project.

The Forest Service is also providing information and training to help  natural resource managers address climate change adaptation. For  example, the agency continues to update its Climate Change Resource  Center—a publicly accessible web portal it developed as a reference for  natural resource managers and decision makers who need information  and decision support tools to address climate change adaptation in the  national forests, among other purposes. The website includes peer- reviewed resources such as lectures on addressing climate change  adaptation in natural resource management. In one of these lectures, for  example, a Forest Service scientist discusses how agency scientists  partnered with natural resource managers at the Olympic National Forest  and Tahoe National Forest to address climate change adaptation at those  forests, and what managers in other forests might learn from this effort.

section_title: The Chugach National Forest Has Begun to Conduct a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment
paragraphs: In 2011, Forest Service officials at the Chugach National Forest began  conducting a vulnerability assessment to determine how key natural  resources, communities, and economies in and around the national forest  may be affected by climate change. The officials we spoke with at the  forest said that the vulnerability assessment will help them determine  which resources may have a natural capacity to adapt successfully to  climate change and which resources may not. This is a change from  August 2007, when we reported that, while officials at the Chugach  National Forest recognized that climate change was harming some  natural resources in the forest, they had not taken steps to incorporate  climate change adaptation into planning and management in part  because it was not an agency priority.Forest attributed the change to a number of factors, including the  strategic direction provided by the Forest Service to address climate  change adaptation. Figure 6 shows a map of the Chugach National  Forest.

section_title: The Agencies Have Begun Using Several Mechanisms to Collaborate and Have Prepared National Adaptation Strategies and Climate Assessments
paragraphs: The federal natural resource management agencies we reviewed  recognize that there are limits to what they can accomplish on their own  and therefore are also collaborating on climate change adaptation with,  among others, each other, state and local government agencies, tribes,  nongovernmental organizations, and other federal agencies. In addition,  agencies have collaborated in developing reports that provide cross- cutting, national strategies for addressing climate change adaptation in  the federal government and national climate assessments.
subsections: section_title: Federal Natural Resource Management Agencies Have Identified a Need to Collaborate on Climate Change Adaptation and Are Using Several Mechanisms to Do So
paragraphs: Since 2007, key federal natural resource management agencies have  identified a need to collaborate on climate change adaptation to leverage  funding, staff, and resources; develop common goals; develop tools and  strategies to inform landscape-scale planning and management  decisions; facilitate information exchange among stakeholders; and avoid  duplication. For example, the Forest Service included a collaboration goal  in its October 2008 strategic framework for responding to climate change  because the agency believes that collaborating with partners will be  essential to address climate change across land ownership boundaries.  According to the framework, the Forest Service manages 8 percent of all  lands in the United States, but climate change impacts will extend across  land ownership boundaries, and the Forest Service has a responsibility to  work with others to address those impacts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife  Service also included a collaboration goal in its September 2010 climate  change strategic plan because the agency believes collaboration is  necessary to build shared scientific and technical capabilities, among  other reasons.

Landscape conservation cooperatives are one mechanism established  since 2007 that enable federal agencies to collaborate in addressing  climate change adaptation. At the direction of the Department of the  Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began establishing the network  of 22 cooperatives in fiscal year 2009. They provide a forum for federal  agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park  Service, Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service and NOAA, to work  collaboratively with state and local government agencies, tribes, and  nongovernmental organizations to address at a landscape level climate  change impacts on wildlife, water, land, and cultural resources. As of  February 2013, all 22 cooperatives have been established, but because  some were established more recently, they are at different stages of  development. The cooperatives are located throughout the United States  and extend into Canada and Mexico. Figure 13 shows the locations of the  cooperatives.

Some landscape conservation cooperatives have begun taking actions to  address climate change adaptation at the landscape level. For example,  in August 2012, one cooperative, working with the nonprofit organization  Nature Serve, hosted a 2-day workshop to develop climate change  adaptation strategies for managed lands including the Sonoran and  Mojave Deserts in the southwestern United States. Workshop  participants included representatives from nonprofit organizations,  universities, state agencies, and federal agencies including the U.S. Fish  and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park  Service. For major ecosystem types within the region, the participants  identified “no-regrets” climate change adaptation management strategies  they could take within 5 years, longer-term management strategies they  could take further in the future, and priorities for research and monitoring  to lower uncertainty around identified strategies. In addition, a cooperative  has funded several projects to identify climate change impacts on a  variety of species and their habitat. For example, in 2010, the cooperative  funded a nonprofit organization to collaborate with partners, including  federal agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S.  Geological Survey, to develop a plan and establish programs for long- term monitoring of wintering shorebirds in coastal California and northern  Baja California, Mexico. This project was expected to, among other  things, provide baseline information about these shorebirds to allow  federal natural resource management agencies and others to identify  changes as a result of climate change, according to the project proposal.

According to Interior, the eight regional Climate Science Centers deliver basic climate  change impact science to Landscape Conservation Cooperatives within their respective  regions, including physical and biological research, ecological forecasting, and multi-scale  modeling. Science centers will prioritize their delivery of fundamental science, data, and  decision support activities to meet the needs of the cooperatives. This includes working  with the cooperatives to provide climate change impact information on natural and cultural  resources and to develop decision support tools for managers. adaptation at the department.providing scientific information, tools, and techniques that land, water,  wildlife and cultural resource managers and other interested parties can  apply to anticipate, monitor, and adapt to climate change and other  stressors at regional and local scales. In June 2012, the science center  for the Southwest collaborated with four cooperatives and other partners  to host a climate summit to identify the climate-related science needs of  tribes and other stakeholders. For example, participating tribal members  identified a need to develop climate change vulnerability assessments for  species and locations that are culturally significant to tribes, among other  needs.

The science centers are responsible for  The Interagency Land Management Adaptation Group is another  collaborative mechanism established since 2007 by natural resource  management agencies to address climate change adaptation in federal  land management activities. The group was established in January 2012  and meets monthly as an informal network of high-level officials from  federal land management and science agencies including the Bureau of  Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Forest Service,  and the National Park Service. Key non-land management members  include the Council on Environmental Quality, NOAA, and the U.S.  Geological Survey. According to group documents, members have  shared information on federal climate change adaptation-related  programs and activities; identified gaps that need to be addressed in  federal agency climate change adaptation planning and management;  identified challenges that federal land management agencies encounter  when attempting to address climate change adaptation; discussed  potential policy changes; and explored opportunities for further  collaboration. One of the challenges they identified was the difficulty in  identifying past or ongoing climate change vulnerability assessments,  which creates a potential for duplication of effort, according to documents  developed by group members. To address this challenge, in January  2013, the group agreed to develop a web-based searchable database,  which will contain climate change vulnerability assessments prepared by  federal agencies. The U.S. Geological Survey has agreed to compile the  assessments and make the information available to all resource  managers working to develop climate change adaptation plans. The  interagency adaptation group has also formed work groups to develop  and guide national-level collaborative actions in key areas of interest,  including options and best practices for conducting vulnerability  assessments, as well as adaptation planning, monitoring, and training.

Federal natural resource management agencies have also collaborated to  support NOAA’s long-standing Regional Integrated Sciences and  Assessments program, according to a program official. The program  consists of 11 research teams that emphasize regional and local climate  research and work with regional partners, such as NOAA’s Regional  Climate Centers, to help inform climate change adaptation planning and  management. For example, research team scientists provide  information that decision makers can use to help understand the impacts  of drought, understand climatic influences on wildfires, and assess  climate impacts on air quality. Another function of the research teams is  to develop tools that enable decision makers to take into consideration  the potential impacts of climate change. For example, the Carolinas’  research team developed a climate change planning tool referred to as  the Vulnerability and Consequence Adaptation Planning Scenarios that  can be used by decision makers in coastal regions to determine potential  climate change impacts and identify climate change adaptation actions.

Participating federal agencies include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S.  Geological Survey, and the Forest Service. Participating offices within NOAA include,  among others, the National Marine Fisheries Service; the National Ocean Service; the  Earth Systems Research Laboratory; the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction  Center; and the Climate Program Office’s Modeling, Analysis Predictions and Projections  program and Climate and Societal Interactions program. The U.S. Geological Survey and  the Forest Service were among the agencies that contributed funds to projects in the  grants competition. interactions between climate and nonclimate stressors in marine  environments; (2) evaluating the use of climate information by coastal  managers and the effectiveness of adaptation actions; (3) advancing the  development and application of approaches for assessing the  vulnerability of public lands; and (4) improving ways of communicating  climate information to water managers across multiple regions of the  United States. NOAA developed the funding priorities collaboratively with  the Department of the Interior’s Climate Science Centers and federal  agencies, including the Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Army Corps  of Engineers, Forest Service, and National Park Service. According to a  Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program official, by  setting priorities collaboratively, federal agencies can direct and leverage  their resources and avoid potential duplicative or overlapping research  projects.

Federal natural resource management departments and agencies have  also collaborated through the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation  Task Force, which the President established in 2009. The task force is  co-chaired by the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Science  and Technology Policy, and NOAA, and includes representatives from  more than 20 federal departments and agencies. In a 2010 report, the  task force recommended a set of climate change adaptation policy goals  and actions. For example, the task force recommended that federal  agencies establish and implement adaptation action plans that address  the challenges that climate change poses to their missions, operations,  and programs. The task force also recommended that agencies address  cross-cutting issues by developing, among other things, (1) a national  action plan to strengthen climate change adaptation for freshwater  resources; (2) a strategy for reducing the impacts of climate change on  the nation’s fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats; and (3) a  strategic action plan for strengthening the resilience of coastal, ocean,  and Great Lakes communities and ecosystems to climate change. In  October 2011, the task force reported that federal agencies had made  significant progress in addressing the goals outlined by the task force in  2010.

section_title: Federal Natural Resource Agencies Have Collaborated on National Strategies to Address Climate Change Adaptation and Climate Assessments
paragraphs: National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Partnership. National Fish, Wildlife  and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy: Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies,  Council on Environmental Quality, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Great Lakes Indian Fish  and Wildlife Commission, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,  (Washington, D.C.: 2012). committee, was released in March 2013. It was developed with input  from a steering committee led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,  NOAA, and the New York Division of Fish, Wildlife, and Marine  Resources with officials from 11 additional federal agencies, 4  additional state fish and wildlife agencies, 2 intertribal commissions,  and the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The strategy  stated that fish, wildlife, and plant resources are already being  affected by climate change and described projected future impacts.  The strategy also outlined goals for addressing climate change  adaptation for fish, wildlife, and plants as well as strategies for  addressing these goals. For example, one goal is to conserve habitat  to support healthy fish, wildlife, and plant populations and ecosystem  functions in a changing climate. Strategies for addressing the goal  include identifying areas that are likely to be resilient to climate  change and taking steps to ensure that those areas are protected.

National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan. Federal natural resource  management departments contributed to preparing this plan, which  identifies actions federal agencies will take to bolster the ocean  economy, improve ocean health, and provide better science, among  other things. In July 2010, the President issued an Executive Order  regarding stewardship of our oceans, coasts, and the Great Lakes.”   The national ocean policy calls for management practices that will  enhance the understanding of and capacity to respond to climate  change and ocean acidification, among other things. The National  Ocean Council, which includes the Secretaries of Agriculture,  Commerce, the Interior, and the NOAA Administrator, published the  implementation plan for the national ocean policy in April 2013.  Among other things, the plan stated that federal agencies will enable  and support efforts to understand, minimize, and adapt to the impacts  of climate change, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, and extreme  weather events, strengthening the resilience of coastal communities.  For example, according to the implementation plan, federal agencies  will offer tools and training courses on how to design and implement  vulnerability assessments and develop assessments of coastal and  ocean climate impacts in support of the National Climate Assessment.

Federal agencies have also collaborated on national climate  assessments, which analyze current trends in global change, both  human-induced and natural, and project major trends for the subsequent  25 to 100 years. The Global Change Research Act of 1990 requires  publication of a national climate assessment not less frequently than  every 4 years—the first and second assessments were first published by  the U.S. Global Change Research Program in 2000 and 2009,  respectively. Thirteen federal agencies, including the Forest Service,  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and NOAA,  contributed to the third assessment that was released as a draft for public  comment in January 2013. The draft assessment provides information  on climate change impacts and the status of climate change science, and  it highlights ongoing climate change adaptation efforts, among other  things. For example, the draft assessment states that, although  substantial climate change adaptation planning is occurring at all levels of  government, adaptation actions have been limited. According to the draft  assessment, challenges to implementing adaptation actions include lack  of resources and leadership, and difficulties in using climate change  projections, which can be complex and difficult to apply to management  decisions. To help ensure that natural resource managers and other  decision makers have timely and relevant information, the draft  assessment includes information on creating a sustained climate  assessment process to more efficiently collect and synthesize climate  change science. The draft assessment also states that climate change  adaptation actions have rarely been evaluated for effectiveness because  such actions have only recently begun to be initiated and comprehensive  metrics for evaluating these actions have not been developed. The  assessment is expected to be finalized by the end of 2013.

section_title: Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
paragraphs: We provided a draft of this report for review and comment to the  Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and the Interior. In its written  comments, which are included in appendix I, the Department of  Agriculture stated that the Forest Service agreed with our findings and will  continue to engage in the collaborative efforts we identified to more  efficiently and effectively address climate change adaptation.

We received general comments from the Departments of Commerce and  the Interior. The Department of Commerce stated that it appreciated our  efforts to identify the progress made by key natural resource  management agencies to address climate change. It also said that  climate change adaptation efforts will improve over time through review  and evaluation processes, and our report contributes to that effort. The  Departments of Commerce and the Interior also said they have other  programs, field locations, and climate change adaptation-related activities  that were not discussed in the report. By design, our report focused on  specific programs, and we visited only one field location in each of the  five agencies we examined. We acknowledge in the report that, while  federal agencies have taken many different climate change adaptation  actions, we focused on those actions that we determined were most  relevant to the field location we visited at each agency. We also received  technical comments from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and  the Interior, which we incorporated as appropriate.

As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the contents of  this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the  report date. At that time, we will send copies of the report to the  Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and the Interior; the appropriate  congressional committees; and other interested parties. In addition, this  report will be available at no charge on the GAO website at  http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff members have questions about this report, please  contact me at (202) 512-3841 or fennella@gao.gov. Contact points for  our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found  on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to  this report are listed in appendix II.

section_title: Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Agriculture

section_title: Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: GAO Contact

section_title: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the individual named above, Stephen Secrist, Assistant  Director; Leo G. Acosta; Mark Braza; Frederick K. Childers; Elizabeth  Curda; Keesha Egebrecht; Emily Hanawalt; Richard Johnson; Alison  O’Neill; Jeanette Soares; and Kiki Theodoropoulos made key  contributions to this report. Candace Carpenter; Brad Dobbins; Armetha  Liles; and Janice Poling provided additional technical assistance.


Question-summary annotations: questions: question: How have organizations come together to address climate change?
answer: Since 2007, the Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service have taken steps to establish strategic directions for addressing climate change adaptation.
child_questions: question: What is the Forest Service's plan for addressing climate change?
answer: For example, the Forest Service developed a strategic framework document that established climate change adaptation as a central agency priority and another document, known as "the roadmap," which identified actions that national forest managers were taking or could take to implement the direction outlined in the framework, including re-vegetating ecosystems that had been affected by fire with plant species that are better adapted to current and future climates.

question: What is the National Park Service's plan for addressing climate change?
answer: For example, the National Park Service is developing guidance for park-based climate change adaptation plans that includes steps such as identifying conservation targets and conducting vulnerability assessments.

question: What is the Bureau of Land Management's future plan for addressing climate change?
answer: The Bureau of Land Management has not established a strategic direction for addressing climate change impacts but is planning to develop a high-level climate change adaptation strategy by the end of the summer 2013.

question: What have all four agencies developed in their efforts to adapt to climate change?
answer: These four agencies have also developed guidance, training, and other tools for managers to use in adapting to climate change.

questions: question: How is the GAO indirectly encouraging climate change adaptation?
answer: The federal natural resource management agencies GAO reviewed are collaborating on climate change adaptation.

question: What actions at the regional level are agencies taking to encourage climate change adaptation?
answer: For example, agencies are collaborating through landscape conservation cooperatives, comprising public and private organizations working to define shared goals and provide science for conservation planning, among other things.
child_questions: question: What actions at the national level are agencies taking to encourage climate change adaptation?
answer: In addition, agencies have collaborated in developing national strategies for addressing climate change adaptation in the federal government.

question: How did the Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA address climate change adaptation in March 2013?
answer: For example, the Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, and others collaborated on a strategy, released in March 2013, for addressing climate change adaptation in managing fish, wildlife, and plants.

questions: question: What risks does climate change present?
answer: Climate change poses a variety of threats to federally managed natural resources, such as forests and wildlife, including possibly more frequent and severe droughts and wildfires.
child_questions: question: How can climate change's risks be mitigated?
answer: Adaptation--adjustments in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects--can be used to help manage the risks to vulnerable natural resources.

question: How has the GAO addressed climate change adaptation?
answer: GAO was asked to review federal agencies' efforts to incorporate climate change adaptation into their natural resource planning and management since GAO last reported on this issue in 2007.

questions: question: What information on the federal natural resource management agencies does this report provide?
answer: This report examines (1) steps key federal natural resource management agencies--Forest Service, NOAA, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management--have taken since 2007 to address adaptation and (2) how these agencies have collaborated at the national level on adaptation since 2007.

question: How did the GAO generally evaluate the agencies’ climate change adaptation policies?
answer: GAO analyzed the agencies' climate change adaptation guidance and planning documents and interviewed agency officials.
child_questions: question: How did the GAO directly evaluate the agencies’ climate change adaptation policies?
answer: GAO also visited one field location for each agency, selected using a nonprobability approach, so the results are not generalizable to all of the agencies' field locations.