Assessments

standing water over fieldThe USDA Climate Hubs published a series of regional vulnerability assessments to provide their stakeholders with a baseline “snapshot” of current climate vulnerabilities, along with specific adaptive management strategies to increase the resilience of working lands in each region. They also include regional greenhouse gas profiles, which identify opportunities to reduce emissions and increase carbon sequestration. Each document also gives an overview of how partner USDA agencies are being affected by and addressing changing climate conditions.

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Cover of Austin Urban Forest Climate Vulnerability Assessment report

The USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub and the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science have partnered with the Southern Plains Climate Hub and the City of Austin, Texas to assess the vulnerability of Austin’s urban forests and natural areas to climate change. How are urban…

Vulnerability Assessment of Austin’s Urban Forest and Natural Areas

Relative fraction of aggregated absolute indemnities from 2001 to 2016 for the top ten causes of loss by Climate Hub region and across the nation

Federal crop insurance provides a financial safety net for farmers against insured perils such as drought, heat, and freeze. In 2016 over $100 billion dollars of crops were insured through the Federal crop insurance program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk…

Spatio-temporal analysis of Federal crop insurance cause of loss data: A roadmap for research and outreach efforts

Lambs in spring

  Project Area John and Jessica Small operate Small Acres Family Farm on the edge of the Muscatatuck Plateau and the Dearborn Upland region, within Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) 114A. The topography of this region ranges from nearly level to very steep glaciated uplands,…

Small Acres Family Farm, Southeastern Indiana

Burning undergrowth in ponderosa pine forest

Decision-makers need better methods for identifying critical ecosystem vulnerabilities to changing climate and fire regimes. Climate-wildfire-vegetation interactions are complex and hinder classification and projection necessary for development of management strategies. The…

FireCLIME Vulnerability Assessment Tool

Forestry log camp

Some content excerpted from "Carbon and Land Management" on the USFS Climate Change Resource Center and the USFS report Considering Forest and Grassland Carbon in Land Management (WO-GTR-95).   Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change by capturing carbon…

Forest Carbon and Land Management

A newly constructed stream simulation culvert on the George Washington National Forest.

Extreme Precipitation and Trends There is clear evidence that precipitation in the Northeast is more intense than it was in the past. The increase in the Northeast has been greater than any other region in the U.S. (Figure 1). Between 1901 and 2014, total annual precipitation…

Storms and Stream-Crossings

bird

As climate change continues to influence ecosystems around the world, wildlife species will be under increasing pressure to adapt. Wildlife managers face the growing challenge of helping wildlife populations and ecosystems respond to climate change. Partners in the Great Lakes…

Wildlife climate change vulnerability and adaptation

Little Sand Bay, WI.

Traditional and indigenous knowledge and perspectives have not often been recognized in climate adaptation planning efforts focused on natural resources. The Northern Forests Climate Hub is collaborating with regional tribal partners to address this gap, and collaborating to…

Climate Adaptation and Indigenous Knowledge in the Great Lakes

Landscape photo of the Little Missouri National Grasslands, North Dakota.

The USDA Northern Plains Climate Hub (NPCH) contributed, as coauthors, to three articles in as special issue of the journal of Climatic Change on the "Vulnerability Assessment of US Agriculture and Forests developed by the USDA Climate Hubs" (January 2018, Volume 146, Issue…

Northern Plains Contributions: Vulnerability Assessment of US Agriculture and Forests developed by the USDA Climate Hubs

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