Climate Science and Adaptation Planning Support for State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) in the North Central Region

State Wildlife Action Plans are intended to provide proactive planning and guidance for the management of rare or imperiled species, including Species of Greatest Conservation Need. States must update their State Wildlife Action Plans every 10 years, but planners often lack the capacity or resources to integrate climate change into their planning. Revised State Wildlife Action Plans for most states in the North Central region are due by 2025. Providing support and building capacity for climate-informed State Wildlife Action Plans will be most useful now, before revisions are underway in most states.



To increase the capacity for state wildlife agencies, this project identified areas expected to be resilient against climate change (e.g., climate refugia) is important for assisting land manger in the North Central Region with climate adaptation planning. As structurally diverse transitional zones between terrestrial and aquatic environments, riparian areas are often biological hotspots and provide critical corridors for species movement, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions where riparian areas can be rare. The research team first engaged with State Wildlife Action Plan staff to learn their priorities and needs for climate planning support. Then, based on these discussions, team focused efforts on riparian refugia as this was a main theme among states. The research team identified areas with connected riparian habitats that, based on landscape diversity and projected changes in summer temperatures and landscape runoff, are expected to be most resilient to change. Outcomes of this research will provide land managers with the tools and information to make decisions regard future wildlife planning, while considering climate change variables.