Approaches to Adapting to Alaska’s Rapidly Warming Climate
Many thanks to the Steering Committee, sponsors, volunteer speakers, and participants for making our February 2022 climate adaptation workshop a success!
Alaska’s climate is warming at 2-4 times the rate of elsewhere in the US, driving permafrost thaw, glacial retreat, sea ice loss, sea level rise, and extreme wildfire. Other than harvest and wildfire management, federal and state agencies in Alaska have generally not engaged in the active land management that is commonplace elsewhere in the US. We believe there is a broader pool of potential management actions that need to be considered and a need for creative thinking about alternative futures for a rapidly warming Alaska.
Hosted by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, and developed by a diverse Steering Committee, this virtual 3-day workshop was implemented with the goal of exposing participants to a wide range of both conventional and novel options and approaches that are available for on-the-ground climate adaptation in Alaska. Although not the focus of the workshop, the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) decision framework was used to structure the workshop to ensure that a broad suite of adaptation strategies was considered. Over the three days, as many as 264 participants listened to 23 speakers deliver 25 presentations on thought-provoking questions and cutting-edge solutions to climate challenge in Alaska. The presentations were grouped according to five general themes/questions:
· Setting the stage: What are we resisting?
· Accept, until when?
· Setting the stage: Preparing to stop resisting?
· Can we resist at scales other than local?
· Setting the stage: What does ecological transformation look like?
The final report from the workshop is available here and embedded below (may need to refresh the page).
Recordings of the workshop, along with presentation slides, are available at www.akwildlife.org/workshop. For more information on our Climate Program, click here.
Special thanks to our Steering Committee members: Meda DeWitt, Jeremy Littell, John Morton, Will Putmna, Joel Reynolds, and Sue Rodman. Faciliation by Amanda Sesser and Nicole Schmitt.
Thanks also to our sponsors: Alaska Wildlife Alliance members, USGS Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center, EA Engineering, Science and Technology, Inc, and the National Parks Conservation Foundation.
