The Climate Science Support Platform (CSSP) is a network of NC CASC scientists and partners that provides climate science support to the NC CASC community of scientists and stakeholders through collaborative research and integration of diverse science expertise.

How does the CSSP work?

CSSP facilitates iterative engagement with the NC CASC community of scientists and stakeholders to increase understanding of climate science and to identify stakeholders’ climate science needs. This process includes:

• Direct interactions with stakeholders
• Specific project-based interactions
• Science calls of the CSSP network
• Science webinars that bring together researchers and managers

CSSP produces information and tools based on identified needs across a wide range of stakeholders and projects. This includes:

• Developing and providing downscaled climate data
• Synthesizing project specific climate information (e.g. the climate summaries produced for US FWS species assessments)
• Developing workflows to access climate data (e.g., the Climate Futures Toolbox) or derive a specific climate metric at the appropriate scale
• Assessing usability of developed information and tools through direct stakeholder  engagement
• Developing resource briefs and regional summaries 

CSSP is also doing foundational and applied research in understanding ecological drought processes and risk under a changing climate. These include:

• Collaborations with NOAA’s Physical Climate Laboratory for developing and maintaining drought indices such as the Evaporative Demand Drought Index and the Landscape Evaporative Response Index
• Development of the Drought Index Portal (DrIP) to provide easy access and ability to generate and compare different drought indices for a selected location in the contiguous United States
• Ecological drought research on changing drought risk during the 21st century and how transformational drought processes could manifest within the NC CASC region 

Select stakeholders with whom CSSP has had significant interactions include:

• US Fish and Wildlife - Region 6
• National Park Service Climate Change Response Program
• Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks
• The Nature Conservancy - Colorado
• US Forest Service - Colorado Front Range Forests
• Wyoming Game and Fish
• Colorado Natural Heritage Program
• Mountain Studies Institute, Colorado
• USGS scientists - Prairie Pothole Region, Wyoming mule deer migration 

Select projects and efforts supported by CSSP include:

• US FWS species status assessments in FWS Region 6. These include:(i) Wolverine (Rocky Mountains), (ii) White-tailed ptarmigan (northern and southern CO population), (iii) Skiff milkvetch (southwest CO), (iv) Monkey flower (CO Front Range), (v) North Park Phacelia (northern CO), (vi) Desert tortoise and several other species (Mojave Desert, UT), (vii) Silverspot butterfly (southern CO), (viii) DeBeque Phacelia and CO Hookless Cactus (western CO)
• Science support for climate change scenario planning for Wind Cave NP and Dinosaur NM
• Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks - Future mountain goat management
• Wyoming Game and Fish Dept - 2020 Statewide Habitat Plan (SHP)
• Regional Conservation Assessment around the metro Denver region with The Nature Conservancy, Biohabitats, and Metro Denver Nature Alliance
• Prairie Dog Population Dynamics in the Great Plains under a changing climate - Colorado Natural Heritage Program
• Mancos River Resiliency - Mountain Studies Institute, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe