Members of the NC CASC team attended the annual CIRES Rendezvous yesterday. It was a great chance to meet up in person and showcase some of our work during the afternoon poster session!

We presented three posters:

Title: The NC CASC: Generating the Science to Help Resource Managers Adapt to a Changing World

Category: Administration

The North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center is one of nine regional centers in a national CASC network created to help resource managers prepare for changes due to a warming climate. The center is a unique partnership between the USGS, CU Boulder, and five consortium partners that serve the resource management community in the region that encompasses Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska. In the last five years, the CU Boulder-hosted NC CASC has developed partnerships with regional stakeholders, Tribal nations, and other climate-focused organizations; substantially grown our communication and outreach program to create a community of researchers and managers; and conducted interdisciplinary climate adaptation research and tool development to help resource managers conduct climate-informed activities. We provide climate adaptation science services to our partners such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service which includes tool development through our Climate Science Support Platform and synthesis activities such as Rapid Climate Adaptation assessments. NC CASC has provided climate science support for the Rosebud Lakota Tribe's climate adaptation plan, more than 15 FWS Species Status Assessments; and Scenario Planning activities for 5 National Parks.

Poster Authors: Ulyana Horodyskyj Peña, NC CASC Communications Lead; Hailey Robe, NC CASC Program Assistant; Jane Wolken, NC CASC University Deputy Director; William Travis, NC CASC University Director; Imtiaz Rangwala, NC CASC Lead Climate Scientist; Christine D. Miller Hesed, NC CASC Regional Climate Adaptation Scientist; Heather Yocum, NC CASC Lead Social Scientist

Title: North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center’s Rapid Climate Assessment Program (RCAP)

Category: Ecosystem Science

In 2023, the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC) launched a Rapid Climate Assessment Program (RCAP) to quickly respond to emerging and evolving science needs of key partners, stakeholders, and rights holders. The RCAP undertakes exploratory and synthetic research to support the NC CASC mission to deliver science to help fish, wildlife, water, land, and people adapt to a changing climate across the North Central region, which serves land and natural resource managers in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska. The Rapid Climate Assessments (RCAs) aim to create syntheses of science information, perform succinct analyses, or develop tools and datasets that can inform specific science and data needs and can be used as a foundation for further research and stakeholder engagement. The RCAs are designed to be three-month, summer efforts led by NC CASC scientists and graduate or undergraduate students in close collaboration with research teams, including members of consortium partner institutes and/or USGS partners. The portfolio of 2023 and 2024 summer projects spans ecosystems (mountains, grasslands, sagebrush) and sciences (climate, ecological and social), and to date has resulted in several tangible outcomes including factsheets, manuscripts, and webtools. The RCAP has since become an integral part of the NC CASC’s portfolio of climate adaptation science activities.

Poster Authors:
Heather Yocum, NC CASC Lead Social Scientist; Imtiaz Rangwala, NC CASC Lead Climate Scientist; Kyra Clark-Wolf, NC CASC Postdoctoral Associate; Christine D. Miller Hesed, NC CASC Regional Climate Adaptation Scientist; Ulyana Horodyskyj Peña, NC CASC Communications Lead; Hailey Robe, NC CASC Program Assistant; William Travis, NC CASC University Director; Jane Wolken, NC CASC University Deputy Director

Title: NC CASC and the Art of Science Storytelling

Category: Communications, Outreach, Policy and Education

The North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC) is one of nine regional centers in a national network created to help natural and cultural resource managers prepare for changes due to a warming climate. The center is a unique partnership between CU Boulder, the US Geological Survey, and consortium partners that serve the states of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Nebraska. Through a combination of web (Science Bytes, Spotlight Stories, newsletters) and social media presence (Facebook, X, YouTube), we strive to share our science in multiple capacities to generate maximum reach and impact. This poster highlights some of our science storytelling tools, including a new StoryMap called “Engaging With Traditional Ecological Knowledge” (TEK), videos highlighting our scientists and researchers on our YouTube channel, our new MailChimp newsletter, and a new landing page on our website. We quantify the metrics (clicks, likes, shares) and explore new possibilities for future communications products.

Poster Authors:
Ulyana Horodyskyj Peña, NC CASC Communications Lead; Hailey Robe, NC CASC Program Assistant; Jane Wolken, NC CASC University Deputy Director; William Travis, NC CASC University Director