Dr. Brian Miller is a USGS Research Ecologist with the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, one of nine centers in the United States charged with providing the best-available climate science to resource managers.
Brian's current focus is on using scenario planning and simulation modeling (state-and-transition simulations, agent-based models) to inform natural resource management in the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains. He is also a co-organizer of the Indigenous Phenology Network and an instructor with the National Conservation Training Center. He has an interdisciplinary background in social-ecological systems, and has used a broad range of methods – including simulation modeling, institutional analysis, fluvial geomorphology, livelihood decision modeling, and remote sensing – to examine the interactions of climate, ecosystems, and resource management in East Africa, the Galápagos Islands, and the western U.S.
Brian earned a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he also worked at the Carolina Population Center. His dissertation focused on how conservation areas and land use changes have affected access to drought resource areas in East Africa, how these changes in resource access have influenced the livelihood decisions of Maasai pastoralists, and how livelihood decisions and resource management institutions have affected rangeland rivers.
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 17
Deep Dive: Climate Change Scenario Planning
Scenario planning is a powerful tool to help decision makers plan for an uncertain future. Through this process, people consider different ways the climate could change and explore how these changes would affect resources important to them. USGS scientists work with natural and cultural resource managers to use climate change scenario planning to prepare for a wide range of possible futures.
Managing Ecological Transformation to Enhance Carbon Storage and Biodiversity
In the North Central region, invasive species and climate change are intricately linked to changing fire regimes, and together, these drivers can have pronounced effects on ecosystems. When fires burn too hot or too frequently, they can prevent slow-growing native plants from regrowing. When this happens, the landscape can transform into a new type of ecosystem, such as a forest becoming a grassla
Webinar: Developing divergent, plausible, and relevant climate futures for near- and long-term resource planning
View this webinar to learn how scientists use scenario planning as a tool to prepare for a changing climate.
Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science
Tribal Partnership Science (TPS) is a rapidly growing field that brings together biophysical and social scientists, federally recognized tribes, and federal land management agencies. TPS is essential for addressing complex environmental challenges facing tribes and their homelands. In recent years, a proliferation of methods, frameworks, and guidance for TPS has emerged from diverse scientific dis
Crafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework
As climate change progresses, profound environmental changes are becoming a widespread concern. A new management paradigm is developing to address this concern with a framework that encourages strategic decisions to resist, accept, or direct ecological trajectories. Effective use of the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework requires the scientific community to describe the range of plausible ecolog
Modeling to Support Grazing Management Planning in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study from Dinosaur National Monument
The National Park Service is responsible for managing livestock grazing on 94 locations across the country and several grazing management planning efforts for this work are underway. However, there is a recognized need to update grazing management plans to address potential future effects of climate change on related resources and practices. This is the second phase of a project that is using scen
Developing A New Software Package to Enhance Species Distribution Model Functionality
Even when faced with uncertainty about future climate conditions, resource managers are tasked with making planning and adaptation decisions that impact important natural and cultural resources. Species distribution models are widely used by both researchers and managers to estimate species responses to climate change. These models combine data on environmental variables (e.g., temperature, precip
Supporting the National Park Service in Climate Adaptation Planning
Natural and cultural resource managers across the country have begun to use a tool known as "scenario planning" to help prepare for climate change effects that may unfold in the future. In this process, scientific projections are used to identify different plausible, relevant, and divergent climate conditions for a particular area, and then through a participatory process, scientists and resource
Open-Source and Open-Workflow Climate Futures Toolbox for Adaptation Planning
Global climate models are a key source of climate information and produce large amounts of spatially explicit data for various physical parameters. However, these projections have substantial uncertainties associated with them, and the datasets themselves can be difficult to work with. The project team created the first version (cst 0.1.0) of the Climate Futures Toolbox, an open source workflow in
The Missing Link: Incorporating the Role of Biological Diversity into Projections of Ecosystem Services
Modeling interactions between human and ecological systems is needed to identify pathways to meet multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Particularly important is the relationship between biodiversity, ecological processes, and ecosystem services. However, current models tend to ignore impacts of biodiversity on ecological processes. Existing models capture impacts of socio-economi
Integrating Climate Considerations into Grazing Management Programs in National Parks
The National Park Service (NPS) is responsible for managing livestock grazing in 94 units, and several park grazing management planning efforts are currently underway. However, there is a recognized need to update grazing management practices to address potential future effects of management practices and climate change. The goal of this project is to outline the steps required for developing NPS
Supporting the National Park Service Midwest Region Bison Management Plan
The bison, which has long served as the symbol of the Department of the Interior, became the official national mammal of the United States in 2016. Bison played a key role in shaping the grasslands of the Great Plains for millennia, but today they are confined to unnaturally small ranges. National parks, including four in the Great Plains, provide a major last bastion for wild bison. Herds in Badl
Science and Products
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Filter Total Items: 17
Deep Dive: Climate Change Scenario Planning
Scenario planning is a powerful tool to help decision makers plan for an uncertain future. Through this process, people consider different ways the climate could change and explore how these changes would affect resources important to them. USGS scientists work with natural and cultural resource managers to use climate change scenario planning to prepare for a wide range of possible futures.Managing Ecological Transformation to Enhance Carbon Storage and Biodiversity
In the North Central region, invasive species and climate change are intricately linked to changing fire regimes, and together, these drivers can have pronounced effects on ecosystems. When fires burn too hot or too frequently, they can prevent slow-growing native plants from regrowing. When this happens, the landscape can transform into a new type of ecosystem, such as a forest becoming a grasslaWebinar: Developing divergent, plausible, and relevant climate futures for near- and long-term resource planning
View this webinar to learn how scientists use scenario planning as a tool to prepare for a changing climate.Developing Resources for Tribal Partnership Science
Tribal Partnership Science (TPS) is a rapidly growing field that brings together biophysical and social scientists, federally recognized tribes, and federal land management agencies. TPS is essential for addressing complex environmental challenges facing tribes and their homelands. In recent years, a proliferation of methods, frameworks, and guidance for TPS has emerged from diverse scientific disCrafting Ecological Scenarios to Implement the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework
As climate change progresses, profound environmental changes are becoming a widespread concern. A new management paradigm is developing to address this concern with a framework that encourages strategic decisions to resist, accept, or direct ecological trajectories. Effective use of the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework requires the scientific community to describe the range of plausible ecologModeling to Support Grazing Management Planning in U.S. National Parks: A Case Study from Dinosaur National Monument
The National Park Service is responsible for managing livestock grazing on 94 locations across the country and several grazing management planning efforts for this work are underway. However, there is a recognized need to update grazing management plans to address potential future effects of climate change on related resources and practices. This is the second phase of a project that is using scenDeveloping A New Software Package to Enhance Species Distribution Model Functionality
Even when faced with uncertainty about future climate conditions, resource managers are tasked with making planning and adaptation decisions that impact important natural and cultural resources. Species distribution models are widely used by both researchers and managers to estimate species responses to climate change. These models combine data on environmental variables (e.g., temperature, precipSupporting the National Park Service in Climate Adaptation Planning
Natural and cultural resource managers across the country have begun to use a tool known as "scenario planning" to help prepare for climate change effects that may unfold in the future. In this process, scientific projections are used to identify different plausible, relevant, and divergent climate conditions for a particular area, and then through a participatory process, scientists and resourceOpen-Source and Open-Workflow Climate Futures Toolbox for Adaptation Planning
Global climate models are a key source of climate information and produce large amounts of spatially explicit data for various physical parameters. However, these projections have substantial uncertainties associated with them, and the datasets themselves can be difficult to work with. The project team created the first version (cst 0.1.0) of the Climate Futures Toolbox, an open source workflow inThe Missing Link: Incorporating the Role of Biological Diversity into Projections of Ecosystem Services
Modeling interactions between human and ecological systems is needed to identify pathways to meet multiple United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Particularly important is the relationship between biodiversity, ecological processes, and ecosystem services. However, current models tend to ignore impacts of biodiversity on ecological processes. Existing models capture impacts of socio-economiIntegrating Climate Considerations into Grazing Management Programs in National Parks
The National Park Service (NPS) is responsible for managing livestock grazing in 94 units, and several park grazing management planning efforts are currently underway. However, there is a recognized need to update grazing management practices to address potential future effects of management practices and climate change. The goal of this project is to outline the steps required for developing NPSSupporting the National Park Service Midwest Region Bison Management Plan
The bison, which has long served as the symbol of the Department of the Interior, became the official national mammal of the United States in 2016. Bison played a key role in shaping the grasslands of the Great Plains for millennia, but today they are confined to unnaturally small ranges. National parks, including four in the Great Plains, provide a major last bastion for wild bison. Herds in Badl - Multimedia
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