SWAPÂ is a Forest Service science-management collaboration with the goals of:
- Increasing climate change awareness;
- Assessing vulnerability of cultural and natural resources; and
- Developing science-based adaptation strategies and incorporating them into management of federal lands in southwest Washington.
SWAP News
10/2019: Our General Technical Report has been published.
Hudec, Jessica L.; Halofsky, Jessica E.; Peterson, David L.; Ho, Joanne J., eds. 2019. Climate change vulnerability and adaptation in southwest Washington. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-977. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 249 p. doi:10.2737/PNW-GTR-977.
Project Overview
Objectives
- Synthesize the best available scientific information to assess climate change vulnerability and develop adaption options for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in order to help resource specialists and other interested parties understand, mitigate, and adapt to effects of climate change on natural resources.
- Provide a scientific foundation to support climate change adaptation in land management planning, ecological restoration, and project design that will have applications across a broad range of resources.
Target Outcomes
- Apply scientific information from the vulnerability assessment to land management planning, ecological restoration, and project design.
- Provide education and training to resource specialists and stakeholders through webinars and a workshop, in conjunction with place-based information.
- Fulfill components of the USFS Climate Change Scorecard for achieving resiliency to climate change by completing a vulnerability assessment and adaptation options.
Approach
- Develop a science-management partnership comprised of key personnel from the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, USFS Pacific Northwest Region, Pacific Northwest Research Station, and other interest groups.
- Develop a climate change vulnerability assessment that addresses the following priority resource areas: aquatic systems, vegetation and disturbance, special habitats, and ecosystem services and recreation.
- Convene a workshop for the science- management partnership, resource specialists, and other interested parties, identify and discuss the most significant vulnerabilities to climate change in southwest Washington, and develop specific adaptation strategies and tactics, focusing on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
- Compile all information into a living document; conduct peer review and publish a USFS General Technical Report.
