NC CASC Collaborting with NPS to Develop RSS for Yellowstone National Park's Northern Range

NC CASC Collaborting with NPS to Develop RSS for Yellowstone National Park's Northern Range

Date

NC CASC ecologist Brian Miller is collaborating with NPS Denver Service Center, Climate Change Response Program, and park staff to develop a climate-informed Resource Stewardship Strategy (RSS) for Yellowstone National Park's Northern Range. RSSs are strategic plans for NPS units, intended to help park managers achieve and maintain desired resource conditions. Drawing on experience from previous NC CASC-funded projects, the team is addressing climate change in the RSS through scenario planning – a tool for supporting management decisions in the face of uncertainty. Scenario planning enables stakeholders to identify key climate sensitivities of resources, examine a range of relevant and plausible future conditions, and explore management options that can be effective across scenarios. This was the first of three workshops and focused on identifying key issues, stressors, and threats; management goals; priority resources; and the climate sensitivities of priority resources.