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Chugach National Forest Watershed Vulnerability Assessment, Alaska Region (R10) To really answer some of these questions, it will take a good deal of professional knowledge and modeling expertise to predict the effects with more certainty. The ability to assess risk is also difficult when the biological effects are unknown. Certainly there is the potential for major disruptions to the food chains, salmon life histories, and aquatic invertebrate life cycles due to increased water temperatures. The absolute temperature probably isn’t the biggest factor, but simply that water temperatures will change for species adapted to the former conditions. Thus, all watersheds may have similar disruptions. The question of risk then becomes whether the organisms can or cannot easily adapt to these new conditions, and that is unknown. Implementation Before conducting a vulnerability assessment, managers need to be able to commit a good deal of time and have knowledgeable personnel with the appropriate technical skills. For a team with no previous climate change experience, a large amount of time can be spent learning about the data that are available and reviewing the literature. Specialists from all fields will be needed to identify values and determine effects. A diverse, interdisciplinary group will also know more about existing plans, strategies, and what actions are really possible. Thus, a large commitment of time and personnel is required to do the assessment, and even more to turn the findings into a plan of action. It may be better for the Forest Service to establish an Enterprise Team that has expertise using climate change data and models. A large part of the learning curve can be eliminated in this fashion. Local specialists will still be needed to identify site-specific values and issues. The team could also develop a stock set of mitigation prescriptions for a variety of circumstances. REFERENCES Arendt, A.A, Echelmeyer, K.A., Harrison, W.D., Lingle, C.S., and V. B. Valentine. 2010. Rapid Wastage of Alaska Glaciers and Their Contribution to Rising Sea Level. Science 297:382-386. Bair, B. P. Powers, and A. Olegario. 2002. Resurrection Creek stream channel and riparian restoration analysis, river kilometer 8.0-9.3. Project Report for the USDA Forest Service by the Wind River Watershed Restoration Team. Bakke, P. 2008. Physical processes and climate change: A guide for biologists. Unpublished report. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Available: http://www.stream.fs.fed.us/ publications/documentsNotStream.html. – states depositional areas most sensitive to change. Instream structures need to be more robust, redundant in areas where channel change more likely, or better, passive means such as wider riparian buffers. Blanchet, D. 1983. Evaluation of recent channel changes on the Scott River near Cordova, Alaska. USDA Forest Service, Chugach National Forest, Anchorage, AK. Boggild, Carl E., Niels Reeh, and Hans Oerter. 1994. Modeling ablation and mass-balance sensitivity to climate change of Stormstrmmen, Northeast Greenland. Global and Planetary Change 9:79-90. Botz, J., G. Hollowell, J. Bell, R. Brenner, and S. Moffitt. 2010. Fishery Management Report No. 10- 55. 2009 Prince William Sound area finfish management report. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries, Cordova. 300 Assessing the Vulnerability of Watersheds to Climate Change
Chugach National Forest Watershed Vulnerability Assessment, Alaska Region (R10) Bryant, M. D. 2009. Global climate change and potential effects on Pacific salmonids in freshwater ecosystems of southeast Alaska. Climatic Change 95:169-193. Chittenden, C. M., Beamish, R. J., and R. S. McKinley. 2009. A critical review of Pacific salmon marine research relating to climate. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 2195–2204. Copper River Watershed Project. 2011. Prioritizing Fish Passage Improvement Projects in the Copper River Watershed. Cordova, AK. Copper River Watershed Project and Prince William Sound/ Copper River Marketing Association. 2011. Personal communication. Kate Alexander (CRWP) sent an e-mail to numerous agencies, organizations, Native groups, fishing groups, and others, soliciting interest in a fisheries sustainability plan for the Prince William Sound and Copper River fishing areas. Crawford, R.E. 2010. Hydroacoustic visualization of Eyak Lake’s bathymetric features: Updating the AMSA bathymetric map of Eyak Lake. Prepared for the Copper River Watershed Project. Cordova, AK. Criscitiello, A., M. A. Kelly, and B. Tremblay. 2010. The response of Taku and Lemon Creek glaciers to climate. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 42(1):34-44. Dowdeswell, J.A. et al. 1997. The Mass Balance of Circum-Arctic Glaciers and Recent Climate Change. Quaternary Research 48, 1–14. States that no uniform trend for Arctic, but high loss in mass balance in Alaska due to higher summer temperatures, increases for maritime Scandinavia and Iceland due to increased precipitation. Ecology and Environment Incorporated. 2006. Community Wildfire Protection Plan for At-Risk Communities Near Chugach National Forest, Alaska: Hope, Sunrise, Summit Lake. Prepared in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service, Chugach National Forest. http://www2.borough.kenai.ak.us/SBB/documents/CWPP/Hope-Sunrise- Summit%20CWPP%20Final%20Draft%2007-28-06.pdf Farr, W.A. and A.S. Harris. 1979. Site index of Sitka spruce along the Pacific coast related to latitude and temperatures. Forest Science 25:145-153. Furniss, M.J. and 12 others. 2010. Water, climate change, and forests: watershed stewardship for a changing climate. General Technical Report PNW-GTR-812. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Hamlet, A. F., and D. P. Lettenmaier. 2007. Effects of 20th century warming and climate variability on flood risk in the western U.S., Water Resources. Research, 43, W06427. Haufler, J.B., C.A. Mehl, and S. Yeats. 2010. Climate change: anticipated effects on ecosystem services and potential actions by the Alaska Region, U.S. Forest Service. Ecosystem Management Research Institute, Seeley Lake, Montana, USA. Hilborn, R., T.P. Quinn, D. Schindler, and D. Rogers. 2003. Biocomplexity and fisheries sustainability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 100:11:6564-6568. Hitch, Kenneth E. 1995. Letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Scott Janke, City Manager, City of Cordova. Available at the Chugach National Forest, Cordova Ranger District. 301 Assessing the Vulnerability of Watersheds to Climate Change
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AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS Authors* M
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ASSESSSING THE VULNERABILITY OF WAT
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staff; the task group included repr
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Figure 2. Conceptual model for asse
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Figure 3. Density of springs and sm
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Using Historic Data One finding con
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NF (Region 8) relied on information
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level of uncertainty. Though there
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climate (Casola et al. 2005). Only
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sensitivity. Most were derived from
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The sensitivity evaluation typicall
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in exposure. The result of combinin
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highest priority for management act
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to information affected the assessm
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with and rely on in many resource d
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Pilot National Forest Reports Conte
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Assessment of Watershed Vulnerabili
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Gallatin National Forest Watershed
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Helena National Forest Watershed Vu
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Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunniso
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White River National Forest Watersh
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Coconino National Forest Watershed
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Sawtooth National Forest Watershed
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Shasta Trinity National Forest Wate
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Umatilla National Forest Watershed
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Ouachita National Forest Watershed
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