Fish and Wildlife Service,  National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management—have unique  roles and are facing a variety of management challenges related to  climate change. Four of the Five Agencies Have Developed Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and Four of the Five Sites We Visited Have Taken Steps to Address Adaptation

The Forest Service, NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the  National Park Service have all developed a strategic direction for  addressing climate change adaptation through a variety of planning  documents. The agencies have also developed guidance, training, and  other tools for managers to use in adapting to climate change. The one  field location we visited for each agency has taken various steps to  address climate change adaptation, such as conducting vulnerability  assessments. The Bureau of Land Management has not developed a  strategic direction for addressing climate change impacts, but it has taken  some adaptation-related steps. Managers at the bureau field location we  visited, absent direction from headquarters, have not taken steps to  address climate change adaptation. The Forest Service Has Set a Strategic Direction, Established a Performance Goal, and Provided Tools for National Forests to Address Climate Change Adaptation

In October 2008, the Forest Service developed a strategic framework for   According to the framework, addressing  responding to climate change.climate change adaptation must be a central priority for the agency  because many ecosystem services provided by national forests—which  include water for drinking and agriculture, as well as lumber and fiber for  paper—may be lost or significantly altered if national forest ecosystems  are left to adapt on their own. In February 2011, the Forest Service published a document, known as  “the roadmap,” which identified actions that natural resource managers in  national forests were already taking or could take to implement the  strategic direction outlined in the agency’s strategic framework. According to the roadmap, ongoing actions that agency natural resource  managers were already taking include collaborating with scientists to  assess the vulnerability of key species to climate change and re- vegetating ecosystems that had been affected by fire or other major  disturbances with plant species that are better adapted to current and  future climates. In 2011, the Forest Service informed national forest managers  that by 2015 they are expected to address at least one of the following  three areas related to climate change adaptation: (1) assessing the  vulnerability of key resources—such as the availability of clean and  abundant drinking water from national forest watersheds—to the impacts  of climate change, (2) reducing the vulnerability of key resources to  climate change, and (3) monitoring and evaluating climate change  impacts and the effectiveness of adaptation activities. This is a change from  August 2007, when we reported that, while officials at the Chugach  National Forest recognized that climate change was harming some  natural resources in the forest, they had not taken steps to incorporate  climate change adaptation into planning and management in part  because it was not an agency priority.Forest attributed the change to a number of factors, including the  strategic direction provided by the Forest Service to address climate  change adaptation. The Agencies Have Begun Using Several Mechanisms to Collaborate and Have Prepared National Adaptation Strategies and Climate Assessments

The federal natural resource management agencies we reviewed  recognize that there are limits to what they can accomplish on their own  and therefore are also collaborating on climate change adaptation with,  among others, each other, state and local government agencies, tribes,  nongovernmental organizations, and other federal agencies. In addition,  agencies have collaborated in developing reports that provide cross- cutting, national strategies for addressing climate change adaptation in  the federal government and national climate assessments. Federal Natural Resource Management Agencies Have Identified a Need to Collaborate on Climate Change Adaptation and Are Using Several Mechanisms to Do So

Since 2007, key federal natural resource management agencies have  identified a need to collaborate on climate change adaptation to leverage  funding, staff, and resources; develop common goals; develop tools and  strategies to inform landscape-scale planning and management  decisions; facilitate information exchange among stakeholders; and avoid  duplication. Fish  and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park  Service. committee, was released in March 2013. The strategy also outlined goals for addressing climate change  adaptation for fish, wildlife, and plants as well as strategies for  addressing these goals. National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan. We received general comments from the Departments of Commerce and  the Interior. We also received  technical comments from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and  the Interior, which we incorporated as appropriate.
Why GAO Did This Study

Climate change poses a variety of threats to federally managed natural resources, such as forests and wildlife, including possibly more frequent and severe droughts and wildfires. Adaptation--adjustments in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects--can be used to help manage the risks to vulnerable natural resources. GAO was asked to review federal agencies' efforts to incorporate climate change adaptation into their natural resource planning and management since GAO last reported on this issue in 2007.
This report examines (1) steps key federal natural resource management agencies--Forest Service, NOAA, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management--have taken since 2007 to address adaptation and (2) how these agencies have collaborated at the national level on adaptation since 2007. GAO analyzed the agencies' climate change adaptation guidance and planning documents and interviewed agency officials. GAO also visited one field location for each agency, selected using a nonprobability approach, so the results are not generalizable to all of the agencies' field locations.
GAO is not making any recommendations. GAO received written comments from the Department of Agriculture, which said the Forest Service agreed with the findings. GAO also received general and technical comments from the Departments of Commerce and the Interior, which were incorporated as appropriate.

What GAO Found

Since 2007, the Forest Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service have taken steps to establish strategic directions for addressing climate change adaptation. For example, the Forest Service developed a strategic framework document that established climate change adaptation as a central agency priority and another document, known as "the roadmap," which identified actions that national forest managers were taking or could take to implement the direction outlined in the framework, including re-vegetating ecosystems that had been affected by fire with plant species that are better adapted to current and future climates. These four agencies have also developed guidance, training, and other tools for managers to use in adapting to climate change. For example, the National Park Service is developing guidance for park-based climate change adaptation plans that includes steps such as identifying conservation targets and conducting vulnerability assessments. The Bureau of Land Management has not established a strategic direction for addressing climate change impacts but is planning to develop a high-level climate change adaptation strategy by the end of the summer 2013. In addition, GAO visited one field location within each agency and found that managers at four of the five locations have taken steps to address climate change adaptation. For example:
Chugach National Forest managers have begun an assessment of the vulnerability to climate change of key resources to help set priorities and identify adaptation actions. For example, the vulnerability assessment will include information on how changes in climate are likely to affect snow cover and salmon populations, as well as an analysis of how these projected changes may affect residents in the region who rely on snow-based tourism and salmon for their livelihoods.
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary managers are beginning to assess whether parts of their management plan should be revised to address climate change adaptation and have taken actions to protect marine resources, such as coral reefs, from climate change impacts. For example, the sanctuary is collaborating with local stakeholders to develop systems and techniques to grow coral and other reef species for replanting in depleted reef systems.
Managers at the Bureau of Land Management's Kingman Resource Area, which manages its lands for livestock grazing and other uses, have not taken steps to address climate change adaptation and are awaiting agency direction.
The federal natural resource management agencies GAO reviewed are collaborating on climate change adaptation. For example, agencies are collaborating through landscape conservation cooperatives, comprising public and private organizations working to define shared goals and provide science for conservation planning, among other things. In addition, agencies have collaborated in developing national strategies for addressing climate change adaptation in the federal government. For example, the Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, and others collaborated on a strategy, released in March 2013, for addressing climate change adaptation in managing fish, wildlife, and plants.