Pacific Southwest Research Station

Climate Change

Climate change is predicted to have substantial environmental and economic consequences. New and expanding tools are needed to inform policymakers about how future climate change will affect the Lake Tahoe Basin in particular and provide information to help design proactive policy alternatives.

Research projects are analyzing data and scaling predictions of climate models to improve estimates of the effects of climate change within the Tahoe Basin and to adapt management policies to cope better with those effects. Improved understandings of climate change may improve efforts to reduce wildfire hazard, restore and revegetate habitats, control invasive species, and diminish sediment and nutrient transport to Lake Tahoe.

Current Research Projects

Evaluation of montane forest genetic resources in the Lake Tahoe basin: implications for conservation, management, and adaptive responses of Pinus monticola to environmental change

Hydrologic response of sub-alpine wetlands to climate change, Tahoe basin

Modeling cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) invasion risk

Modeling influence of management on wildfire under future climatic conditions

Implications of climate change for design of best management practices

External Links

For information on climate change research in the Sierra Nevada, go to the PSW Web page: Climate Change, Mitigation, and Adaptation Science.

For a case study on managing impacts of climate change on an area neighboring the Lake Tahoe basin, go to the Climate Change Resource Center Web site: Managing for a Changing Climate on the Tahoe National Forest.