May 2010 Common Ground

We know our climate is changing. While regional forecasts vary, scientists agree that sea levels, rainfall patterns and temperatures are going to shift – and we’ll need to adapt.

Here at The Conservation Fund, we’re working to protect America’s great outdoors through climate transitions by protecting bigger blocks of wildlife habitat, migratory corridors that animals travel, wetlands that absorb rising waters and other resources that will become increasingly important.

By saving Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, for instance, we and our partners are giving grizzly bears and other wildlife room to roam, even if their habitat ranges shift. In Maryland, our work to protect and expand Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge will help sustain critical coastal wetlands for migratory birds and other species, as rising sea levels and surging stormwater threaten existing habitat. And within Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, we’re protecting river corridors and adjacent forest that buffer communities from floodwaters within this major Gulf Coast watershed.

Because climate change adaptation is not one-size-fits-all, we’re also helping leaders responsible for land-use decisions develop conservation strategies that work for their communities. We recently held a new workshop, “Planning for Climate Change Using a Green Infrastructure Approach,” in which regional planners, government representatives and land trust leaders created and compared conservation plans for different climate scenarios.

As climate changes, conservation must, too – and that’s one adaptation we intend to help lead.

CONSERVATION SUCCESS

The Answer is Blowing in the Wind

As demand for wind energy grows, so does its impact on birds, bats and wildlife whose habitat could be affected by turbines and other energy infrastructure. To mitigate that impact in the Midwest, we and our partners are crafting a unique multi-species habitat conservation plan.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently announced a $3 million grant to the states of Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio to develop a landscape-level plan that will provide conservation benefits to threatened and endangered species while accommodating wind energy development. The Conservation Fund has been tapped to lead the project for the five states, as well as the states of Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin and the wind energy industry.

“The Conservation Fund is pleased to partner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, eight Midwestern states and the wind energy industry to create a first-of-its-kind habitat conservation plan,” says Kris Hoellen, director of our of Conservation Leadership Network. “This provides a better way forward for wind energy development that integrates economic and environmental goals.”

ACROSS AMERICA

By The Book: How To Restore The Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay watershed is unlike any other. The lands and waters that feed the Bay stretch from New York to Maryland, spanning 64,000 square miles of land, 100,000 miles of streams and rivers–and foundational moments of our country’s history.

Like the Bay itself, the task of restoring its precious waters is larger than life–but it just got a bit easier. The Conservation Fund has released A Sustainable Chesapeake: Better Models for Conservation, a new book for government agencies, community groups, businesses and others involved in saving and restoring the Bay.

A Sustainable Chesapeake profiles promising conservation practices and technologies and the protection of critical land and water resources in 31 case studies across the Bay watershed. The book’s six chapters—Climate Change Solutions, Stream Restoration, Green Infrastructure, Incentive Driven Conservation, Watershed Protection and Stewardship—offer restoration principles gleaned from the projects.

The book was developed by conservation planner David Burke, president of Burke Environmental Associates, and Joel Dunn, program coordinator of the Fund’s Sustainable Chesapeake initiative. The project reflects our ongoing commitment to the Bay’s watershed, where we’ve conserved over 300,000 acres.

A Sustainable Chesapeake is available on our website (www.conservationfund.org/sustainable-chesapeake), where you can download individual profiles, chapters or the entire publication.  Check it out!