Molly Cross, Ph.D.

Molly works as a climate adaptation "boundary spanner" by convening researchers and managers to produce, synthesize, and apply information about climate change and its impacts in natural resource management decisions. Molly has helped lead climate adaptation planning efforts involving a diversity of decision makers at landscapes across North and South America, focused on a range of targets from individual species to more complex ecosystems. She co-edited the book Climate and Conservation: Landscape and Seascape Science, Planning and Action, and co-wrote a guidebook and training course on Scenario Planning as a tool for climate change adaptation. Molly has contributed to several national climate change efforts including the U.S. National Climate Assessment, a guide to Climate-Smart Conservation, and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' voluntary guidance on incorporating climate change into state wildlife action plans. She has trained 100+ conservation practitioners in climate adaptation planning in North and South America. Prior to joining USGS, Molly was the Climate Change Adaptation & Resilience Lead for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Director of Science for the WCS Climate Adaptation Fund, which has awarded more than $24 million to over 120 conservation projects designed to help wildlife and ecosystems adapt to a changing climate in the United States. Molly received her Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy and Management from the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied ecosystem responses to climate warming and plant diversity loss in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.