watervulnerability

Helena National Forest Watershed Vulnerability Assessment, Northern Region (R1)
Figure 10. Watershed vulnerability with regards to forest infrastructure is based on watershed
sensitivity and exposure results for the 2070-2099 time periods
CONNECTIONS TO OTHER ASSESSMENTS AND POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
• The WVA will provide a basis for incorporating climate change considerations into project
planning and implementation. Identified climate change considerations may also be designed into
forest plan desired conditions, objectives, and standards and guidelines.
• Information from the WVA, while not specifically part of the watershed condition framework,
can be used to help identify priority watersheds for future restoration activities.
• Completing the WVA will aide in the completion of the climate change scorecard. The WVA
analysis helps fulfill element 6 (vulnerability assessment), element 7 (adaptation activities), and
element 8 (monitoring).
• The WVA utilized work done by the Fisheries Watershed Baseline for the bull trout and
Cutthroat trout sensitivity analysis.
CRITIQUE
What important questions were not considered?
1. The watershed vulnerability assessment focused only on water resources and did not consider
predicted changes to terrestrial resources. While this analysis was designed to focus on water
resources, composite effects on terrestrial ecosystems can have significant influence on watershed
hydrology.
2. Did not account for all resilience factors and did not use all climate exposure factors, including
flow metrics.
61 Assessing the Vulnerability of Watersheds to Climate Change