title: The Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework: a tool for incorporating climate change into natural resource management.
abstract: As natural resource management agencies and conservation organizations seek guidance on responding to climate change, myriad potential actions and strategies have been proposed for increasing the long-term viability of some attributes of natural systems. Managers need practical tools for selecting among these actions and strategies to develop a tailored management approach for specific targets at a given location. We developed and present one such tool, the participatory Adaptation for Conservation Targets (ACT) framework, which considers the effects of climate change in the development of management actions for particular species, ecosystems and ecological functions. Our framework is based on the premise that effective adaptation of management to climate change can rely on local knowledge of an ecosystem and does not necessarily require detailed projections of climate change or its effects. We illustrate the ACT framework by applying it to an ecological function in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, USA)--water flows in the upper Yellowstone River. We suggest that the ACT framework is a practical tool for initiating adaptation planning, and for generating and communicating specific management interventions given an increasingly altered, yet uncertain, climate.
authors: Wildlife Conservation Society, 301 N. Willson Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59715, USA. mcross@wcs.org
authors: Molly S
authors: MS
authors: Cross
authors: Erika S
authors: ES
authors: Zavaleta
authors: Dominique
authors: D
authors: Bachelet
authors: Marjorie L
authors: ML
authors: Brooks
authors: Carolyn A F
authors: CA
authors: Enquist
authors: Erica
authors: E
authors: Fleishman
authors: Lisa J
authors: LJ
authors: Graumlich
authors: Craig R
authors: CR
authors: Groves
authors: Lee
authors: L
authors: Hannah
authors: Lara
authors: L
authors: Hansen
authors: Greg
authors: G
authors: Hayward
authors: Marni
authors: M
authors: Koopman
authors: Joshua J
authors: JJ
authors: Lawler
authors: Jay
authors: J
authors: Malcolm
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Nordgren
authors: Brian
authors: B
authors: Petersen
authors: Erika L
authors: EL
authors: Rowland
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Scott
authors: Sarah L
authors: SL
authors: Shafer
authors: M Rebecca
authors: MR
authors: Shaw
authors: Gary M
authors: GM
authors: Tabor
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D005544:Forecasting; D006040:Goals; D045483:Rivers; D014481:United States; D014881:Water Supply