The Northern California Coastal Forest ecoregion is dominated by coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) covering 13,300 km² from just north of the California-Oregon border to Santa Cruz County, California, extending ~60 km inland. This project will synthesize available science on redwood climate resilience strategies at a workshop and related field trip involving the National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, private landowners, scientists and non-governmental organizations.

Phase 1 (2010): This project assessed the potential effects of climate change on tidal marsh habitats and bird populations, identified priority sites for tidal marsh conservation and restoration, and developed a web-based mapping tool for managers to interactively display and query results.
 

Phase 1 & 2 (2010, 2012): This project will develop a sampling design and monitoring protocol for wintering shorebirds in the Central Valley and in the San Francisco Bay Estuary and develop an LCC-specific online shorebird monitoring portal publicly available at the California Avian Data Center. The three objectives in Phase II of this project are: 1) Complete the shorebird monitoring plan for the CA LCC by developing a sampling design and monitoring protocol for wintering shorebirds in coastal southern California and northern Mexico.

Phases 1-3 (2010-2012): This project will develop landscape change scenarios based upon water availability and precipitation and temperature patterns projected from downscaled models and investigate impacts of these changes on habitats and ecology of waterfowl, shorebirds, and other waterbirds in the Central Valley. This project will provide critical information and support to understand and incorporate likely impacts of climatic change in conservation planning.
 

Phase 1 (2011): This project will use species distribution modeling, population genetics, and geospatial analysis of historical vs. modern vertebrate populations to identify climate change refugia and population connectivity across the Sierra Nevada. It is hypothesized that climate change refugia will increase persistence and stability of populations and, as a result, maintain higher genetic diversity. This work will help managers assess the need to include connectivity and refugia in climate change adaptation strategies.

Phase 1 (2011): This project uses bottom-up modeling at a parcel scale to measure the effects of sea-level rise (SLR) on coastal ecosystems and tidal salt marshes. At selected tidal marshes, the project team will measure several parameters that will be incorporated into ArcGIS models creating comparable datasets across the Pacific coast tidal gradient with a focus on 2-4 sites in the California LCC (e.g. San Diego, San Francisco Bay Refuges).

Phase 1 (2011): Integrating Science into Decisions: Climate Change/Land Use Change Scenarios and Outreach for Habitat Threat Assessments on California Rangelands

Phases 1 &2 (2010 & 2012): The California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) developed a “risk mapping” approach that combines comprehensive distribution maps with maps of current and future suitable range to show where each (invasive) species is likely to spread. The distribution maps are based on a new dataset created through a major campaign to collect expert opinion data from local resource managers across the state. From this dataset, Cal-IPC recently completed risk maps and management recommendations for 43 invasive plant species in the Sierra Nevada.

Phase 1 (2012): This project will support a collaborative, multi-stakeholder effort led by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to develop a largescale vulnerability assessment and associated adaptation strategies for focal resources of the Sierra Nevada. The purpose of this effort is to provide information and tools for Forest Planning and management (e.g., NEPA analyses, Forest Plan revisions, Climate Scorecard) and other natural resource management (e.g., SWAP) and conservation efforts to prepare for climate change impacts in the Sierra Nevada.