Abstract (from ScienceDirect): Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) plant communities are found in western North America and comprise a mix of shrubs, forbs, and grasses. Climate, topography, and soil water availability are important factors that shape big sagebrush stand structure and plant community composition; however, most studies have focused on understanding these relationships at sites in a small portion of the big sagebrush region. Our goal was to characterize detailed stand structure and plant composition patterns and identify environmental variables related to those patterns by sampling 15 sites distributed across the western United States. In each site, we characterized stand structure at the individual shrub level and at the site level. We quantified size distributions and assessed relationships among canopyvolume, age, and height. We also characterized functional type cover and species composition and related those to climatic, topographic, and edaphic variables. Mean big sagebrush age ranged from 21 (± 8) to 57 (± 22) yr at individual sites, mean height ranged from 0.23 (± 0.12) to 0.67 (± 0.23) m, and mean canopy volume ranged from 0.03 (± 0.04) to 0.62 (± 0.51) m3. Bare ground and litter contributed the most cover (mean = 64%), followed by big sagebrush (mean = 39% of vascular plant cover). There was a negative relationship between big sagebrush cover and grass and forb cover. Species composition was related to both climate and elevation, likely because these variables influence water availability. Although our study was limited to 15 field sites, our detailed descriptions of widely distributed sites provide insight into the magnitude of variability in big sagebrush plant community structure.

This project facilitated the engagement of the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center’s (NC CASC) Climate Foundational Science Area (FSA) to identify and address the physical climate science challenges that are important for ecologists and natural resource managers in the NC CASC region, as well as meet their needs for climate information to assess impacts to their desired system and develop strategies for effective climate adaptation. A drought index called the Landscape Evaporative Response Index (LERI) was developed to provide a near real-time assessment of soil moisture conditions across the Contiguous United States (CONUS) based on satellite observations. This projects also supported development of climate scenarios for different stakeholder-driven projects. New utilities were added to another drought index, the Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI), that our team has previously developed. The project team also put together a book chapter that examinesthe relevance of the concept of evaporative demand and extremes in evaporative demand during the 21st century for drought assessment and monitoring.

The 2019 Tribal Climate Camp, hosted by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, took place June 16-21, 2019 at the Flathead Lake Biological Station in Polson, Montana. The Tribal Climate Camp was designed to support teams of tribal leaders, climate change coordinators, planners and program managers to build skills, gather information and develop tribal policy needed to address climate change impacts. This week-long program helped build individual and team capacity to lead and manage for climate change and adaptation across departments within a tribe, and between tribes and partner agencies and organizations. Participants included tribal climate change staff, policy leaders, Tribal Council, natural resource and environmental managers and staff, administrators, department staff from health, public works, education, housing, and other relevant positions interested in engaging in climate change planning. The 2019 Tribal Camp was organized through a collaboration of Tribal and non-tribal partners including the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI), Institute for Tribal Government (]TG), United South and Eastern Tribes (USET), Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (NW CASC), North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (NC CASC), and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).