New Framework Outlines Path Toward Climate Change Refugia Conservation

Recently published research funded by the Southwest, Northeast, and National CASCs, describes an early roadmap toward climate change refugia conservation at an ecoregion scale in the Sierra Nevada. Climate change refugia are areas that remain relatively buffered from climate change and enable persistence of valued resources, despite climate changes in surrounding areas. The authors focused on six stakeholder-identified conservation priorities—snow, fire, meadows, giant sequoia, old growth forests, and alpine communities—structured within the Climate change Refugia Conservation Cycle. This pilot approach may provide new insights for ecosystem management that can be applied at an ecoregion scale.

*This research is a part of a larger SW CASC project focused on climate-resilience habitat for at-risk species in the Sierra Nevada.