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Climate Change Adaptation for the US National Wildlife Refuge System

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Abstract

Since its establishment in 1903, the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) has grown to 635 units and 37 Wetland Management Districts in the United States and its territories. These units provide the seasonal habitats necessary for migratory waterfowl and other species to complete their annual life cycles. Habitat conversion and fragmentation, invasive species, pollution, and competition for water have stressed refuges for decades, but the interaction of climate change with these stressors presents the most recent, pervasive, and complex conservation challenge to the NWRS. Geographic isolation and small unit size compound the challenges of climate change, but a combined emphasis on species that refuges were established to conserve and on maintaining biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health provides the NWRS with substantial latitude to respond. Individual symptoms of climate change can be addressed at the refuge level, but the strategic response requires system-wide planning. A dynamic vision of the NWRS in a changing climate, an explicit national strategic plan to implement that vision, and an assessment of representation, redundancy, size, and total number of units in relation to conservation targets are the first steps toward adaptation. This adaptation must begin immediately and be built on more closely integrated research and management. Rigorous projections of possible futures are required to facilitate adaptation to change. Furthermore, the effective conservation footprint of the NWRS must be increased through land acquisition, creative partnerships, and educational programs in order for the NWRS to meet its legal mandate to maintain the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the system and the species and ecosystems that it supports.

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Acknowledgments

We extend our sincere thanks to Jane Austin, Mark Bertram, Emmi Blades, Larry Bright, Vernon Byrd, Michael Higgins, Danielle Jerry, Rex Johnson, Jenn Miller, Kathleen Pearse, Ron Reynolds, Jennifer Roach, David Rupp, David Sharp, Doug Vandegraft, Gina Wilson, and the students in Indiana University’s fall 2008 biodiversity conservation policy class for their invaluable contributions throughout the development of this article. John P. McCarty provided valuable editorial comments on an early draft of the manuscript. This work was funded by the US Climate Change Science Program, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and US Geological Survey but the findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of their employing agencies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USGS - Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 209 Irving I Building, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Brad Griffith & A. David McGuire

  2. USGS - Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA

    J. Michael Scott

  3. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Arlington, VA, USA

    Robert Adamcik & Brian Czech

  4. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, DC, USA

    Daniel Ashe

  5. Maurer School of Law, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Robert Fischman

  6. Center for Forestry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Patrick Gonzalez

  7. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Joshua Lawler

  8. College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA

    Anna Pidgorna

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  1. Brad Griffith
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Correspondence to Brad Griffith.

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Griffith, B., Scott, J.M., Adamcik, R. et al. Climate Change Adaptation for the US National Wildlife Refuge System. Environmental Management 44, 1043–1052 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9323-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-009-9323-7

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