Pacific Northwest Research Station

Forest Service launches online clearinghouse for climate change in the West

USDA Forest Service, Western Research Stations
Pacific Northwest - Pacific Southwest - Rocky Mountain

Portland, OR: August 8, 2008

Contacts:

Source:

Michael Furniss, (707) 825-2925, mfurniss@fs.fed.us

Media assistance:

Yasmeen Sands, (206) 732-7823, ysands@fs.fed.us (PNW Research Station)
Roland Giller, (510) 559-6327, rgiller@fs.fed.us (PSW Research Station)
Dave Tippets, (970) 295-5930, dtippets@fs.fed.us (Rocky Mountain Research Station)

PORTLAND, Ore. August 8, 2008. The U.S. Forest Service's three western research stations have officially launched a new online reference site for resource managers and decisionmakers who need information and tools to address climate change in planning and project implementation in the West. The Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC) is a site that connects climate change information generated by the Forest Service with those who need it. The site is online at http://www.fs.fed.us/ccrc.

The Web site addresses the oft-cited manager's question, "What can I do about climate change?", by providing information on basic climate sciences and by offering materials and support needed to develop adaptation and mitigation strategies. The site offers educational information—including basic science modules that explain climate and climate impacts—as well as decision-support models, maps and simulations, and toolkits that address common Forest Service management and planning situations. Regular additions will be made to the site so that it reflects the state-of-the-science in climate change research.

" Land managers understand that the climate is changing and now want to know how best to respond," said Michael Furniss, a hydrologist and the Web site's designer and lead editor. "Resource managers and decisionmakers have always faced a wide range of issues they must consider. A changing climate affects nearly all of these, often in complex ways."

In addition to a more technical subset of educational resources, the Web site also features materials—like a primer on climate change and a growing suite of video lectures—that might be of interest to nonspecialist audiences, like members of the media and other interested publics.

The CCRC is a collaborative project of the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, and Rocky Mountain Research Stations and the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center (WWETAC). The Stations are three of seven research facilities of the U.S. Forest Service. The Pacific Northwest Research Station is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and has 11 laboratories and centers located in the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Southwest Research Station is headquartered in Albany, Calif., and has laboratories and centers in California and Hawaii. The Rocky Mountain Research Station is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colo., and has 14 laboratories and centers in the interior West. The WWETAC is a new unit of the Pacific Northwest Research Station that predicts, detects, and assesses existing and potential environmental threats to western wildlands.