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Climate Choices for a Sustainable Southwest 415Case Studies of Climate Choices for a Sustainable SouthwestFederal Lands and Agency Planning in the SouthwestBox 18.1Federal land and resource management agenciesare beginning to incorporate climate changeconsiderations into planning, although effortsare not consistent across agencies (Jantarasami,Lawler, and Thomas 2010). A 2009 SecretarialOrder issued at the Department of the Interiorspurred individual agencies to begin to incorporateadaptation into individual decisions. TheNational Park Service’s Climate Change ResponseProgram aims to protect park resourcesfrom climate change impacts while also usingparks to develop knowledge about ecosystemimpacts from climate change. A survey of federalland managers in three states in 2011 (Colorado,Wyoming, and Utah) showed that only 6% oftheir offices were carrying out adaptation plans,but another 25% percent were in the process ofdeveloping plans (Archie et al. 2012). A majoritywere either not currently planning for climatechange adaptation (47%) or did not know the statusof adaptation planning in their office (24%).Preliminary data indicate that there is some differencein the level of planning among agencies,with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service planningat a significantly higher rate than its sister agencies,but it is too early to say why this may be thecase. The National Park Service has adopted arange of actions to meet the challenges of climatechange in the Southwest region including effortsto reduce energy consumption with a goal of carbonneutrality and through the Climate FriendlyParks program which provides parks with toolsto address climate change, including emissionsinventories, action plans, and outreach support.This section focuses on adaptation and basic approaches to it and provides examplesof activities already being undertaken. America’s Climate Choices (NRC 2010a) providesa starting point to lay out a fundamental way of thinking about adaptation to climatechange. In it, adaptation is essentially viewed as a challenge in risk management. TheSouthwest is no stranger to climate-related risks, such as drought, heat extremes, floods,high-wind storms, wildfires, heavy snowfall in the mountains, and cold snaps (Chapters4, 7, and 8). To reduce the risks from these events in the past, the region’s residents,businesses, and planners devised a number of mechanisms, including early warningsystems, emergency planning, irrigation systems, building codes, and insurance policies.As the historical patterns of extreme weather events change with a warmer, drierregional climate, the Southwest will need these and additional risk-management toolsto prepare for the future so that disruptive events do not become disasters.Risk management in the face of an uncertain future climate―as defined and discussedin detail in America’s Climate Choices (NRC 2010a, 2010c)―entails a number ofcharacteristics and iterative, inclusive processes to implement over time. These characteristicsand processes are summarized here as generic components that will apply tomany if not most adaptation strategies as they are implemented in different sectors: