Federal and state agencies gather information; work with partners, stakeholders, and others; and then write planning documents that guide their natural and cultural resource management. To be useful, these planning documents must reflect current and anticipated conditions, and therefore must include information about climate change. However, there has been little research about what climate information is actually included in federal and state natural and cultural resource plans, or the challenges planners face in incorporating different types of climate information in these plans.
Sources of climate information can be grouped into two major categories: scientific information and Indigenous traditional ecological knowledges (ITEK), which is now a priority for the federal administration. This project will use content analysis methods to study the climate information included in natural and cultural resource plans. The research will also use surveys and case studies to explore how planners perceive the challenges of incorporating ITEK and scientific information about climate change into these planning documents.
This research will offer recommendations that will support the inclusion of climate information in federal and state agency and department plans. Ultimately, this information can help improve natural and cultural resource management in the face of climate change.
