North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center Consortium - Hosted by The University of Colorado Boulder (2018-2025)

The North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC) is one of nine regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers built to help meet the changing needs of natural and cultural resource managers across the United States. The CASC-network fosters innovative and applied research in support of Tribal, federal, state, and local natural resource management and decision-making.
 
During the period 2018-2025, the NC CASC was hosted by the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) via the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). In this first host cooperative agreement with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), hereafter referenced as Cycle 1, CU Boulder served as the regional hub for the NC CASC Consortium that represented a balanced collaboration among universities, conservation nonprofits and Tribal boundary organizations. Cycle 1 Consortium Partners included: Conservation Science Partners (CSP); Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance (GPTWA); South Dakota State University (SDSU); University of Montana (UM); and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In partnership with the USGS, the NC CASC Consortium co-developed and delivered actionable climate adaptation science relevant to the center’s mission to deliver science to help fish, wildlife, water, land, and people adapt to a changing climate across the North Central region, which serves Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska.
 
NC CASC Consortium activities for the performance period (October 1, 2018 to January 30, 2025) aligned with the NC CASC Regional Science Plan and core goals of the CASC-network: Partnerships; Science; Capacity Building; and Communications and Outreach.

• Partnerships with regional stakeholders, Tribal Nations, and other organizations enabled the center to respond to high priority natural and cultural resource management challenges and foster substantive, sustained engagement between scientists and managers. Tribal Nations are unique and distinct partners – to better support and facilitate climate resilience in Tribal communities, the NC CASC partnered with the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance to host two-regional Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Liaisons.
• Science activities of the Consortium included interdisciplinary research, synthesis, and dataset and tool development, informed by collaboration with stakeholders and partners and were integral to providing usable science and applications for climate-informed resource management. Ongoing engagement between researchers and natural resource managers helped foster a culture of collaboration and engagement. NC CASC Projects and Tools & Data are accessible online.
• Capacity Building activities helped the center build a community of researchers and managers and fostered their leadership in science-based resource management. These activities included leveraging the training capacity of CU Boulder’s Earth Lab, supporting a cohort of CASC-network Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral Fellows, and piloting the NC CASC Tribal Climate Leaders Program that provided five fully funded 2-year fellowships to pursue a graduate degree at CU Boulder and Rapid Climate Assessment Program.
• Communication and Outreach were embedded in all aspects of the NC CASC’s work and were integral to fostering the center’s core values of equity, trust, communication and accessibility, and achieving the center’s mission. These activities included developing content for the NC CASC website, social media, a bi-monthly newsletter, and a monthly webinar series.

 
Each CASC is a formal collaboration between the USGS, a regional host university, and a multi-institution partner Consortium. Through this agreement, the CU Boulder-hosted NC CASC Consortium undertook a number of activities, including conducting research science projects, supporting fellows, and engaging with resource management partners. To learn more about the work of the North Central CASC, visit: https://nccasc.colorado.edu/.