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Author(s):
Gary M. Tabor, Anne Carlson, R. Travis Belote
Year Published:
Editor(s):
V. Alaric Sample, R. Patrick Bixler

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Fire Ecology
Fire & Climate
Management Approaches
Adaptive Management
Recovery after fire
Ecosystem(s):
Subalpine wet spruce-fir forest, Subalpine dry spruce-fir forest, Montane wet mixed-conifer forest, Montane dry mixed-conifer forest

NRFSN number: 12994
FRAMES RCS number: 17889
Record updated:

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) was established over 20 years ago as an experiment in large landscape conservation. Initially, Y2Y emerged as a response to large scale habitat fragmentation by advancing ecological connectivity. It also laid the foundation for large scale multi-stakeholder conservation collaboration with almost 200 non-governmental organizations working together. In recent years, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative has taken on the issue of climate adaptation as climate impacts span large landscapes. Yet, these impacts are highly variable across 25 degrees of latitude and various local topographies. This presents a challenge to climate adaptation implementation methods as the response mirrors the complexity of the impacts. As such, climate adaptation approaches at large scales may require nested landscape methods that vertically coordinate smaller to larger areas of ecological concern, in combination with considerations of multiple temporal scales for specific spatial scales. In the Southwestern region of the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem in the vicinity of the Bob Marshall Wilderness of Montana, the US Forest Service, the Wilderness Society, and their many partners are prototyping large scale resilient forestry through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. Working across 1.5 million acres (600,000 hectares), the Southwestern Crown Collaborative seeks to test various hypotheses about forest conservation and management in the age of changing climate, uncertain futures, and shrinking economies. Drawing from our experience in collaborative forest restoration and management, here we examine the challenges and opportunities relating to climate adaptation implementation and larger scale conservation by focusing on specific lessons learned from a landscape-scale, on-the-ground project within the Yellowstone to Yukon region.
 

Citation

Tabor, Gary M.; Carlson, Anne; Belote, Travis. 2014. Challenges and opportunities for large landscape-scale management in a shifting climate: the importance of nested adaptation responses across geospatial and temporal scales. Page 205-227. In: Sample, V. Alaric; Bixler, R. Patrick (editors). Forest conservation and management in the Anthropocene: conference proceedings. Proceedings RMRS-P-71. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service. Rocky Mountain Research Station.

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