Effective climate change adaptation for northeast fish and wildlife can be guided and focused by State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs), last updated in 2015. Plans include conservation targets (species and habitats), threats, and actions, including climate change vulnerability analyses and conservation measures to respond to climate change related stressors. Across the northeast states’ SWAPs, priority threat themes emerge - pollution, disease, invasive species, development, and climate change.
Across the Northeast, 14 States’ Wildlife Action Plans have identified climate change as one of the top five threats to fish and wildlife and their habitats. They further indicate that climate change exacerbates the other four priority threat impacts of pollution, disease, invasive species, and development in the region. This project aims to provide the information and tools to state fish and wildlife agencies to help them address this formidable challenge by working with the NE CASC to fill important data gaps and inform development and implementation of effective fish and wildlife adaptation strategies. Recent surveys show that state fish and wildlife agencies across the nation lack the resources (funding and...
