Adaptation in Action
Issue #3
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Safeguarding fish, wildlife, & plants in a changing climate
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Adaptation in Action highlights the real world stories of climate adaptation and helps to track the progress, challenges, and opportunities to implementing these strategies. The stories shared are by practitioners and for practitioners to learn, connect, and innovate. In the face of the world's greatest environmental challenge, these are the stories from the people on the ground, taking action now to protect biodiversity. Read their stories here.
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Idaho: Managing habitat for
ecosystem function
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The Kootenai River Valley in the Idaho Panhandle once featured vast swaths of forested lowland habitat. Lying between and within the Selkirk, Purcell, and Cabinet mountain ranges, the valley was considered one of the largest and richest riparian and wetland complexes in the Pacific Northwest prior to European settlement. Once boasting a mosaic of forested lowlands, large emergent marshes, black cottonwood riparian forest, oxbow lakes, and numerous ponds, since the late 1800s, however, settlement has changed the landscape with a century of row-crop agriculture and hydrologic management.
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The current location of Boundary-Smith Creek WMA prior to 1916 (left), when the WMA was acquired by IDFG in 1999 (center), and after wetland restoration work in 2003 (right). Images were taken from approximately the same location. Credit: IDFG
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In 1999, the State of Idaho purchased the land and created the Boundary-Smith Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) hoping to restore the degraded ecosystem. Since then, management interventions have significantly increased waterfowl and big game production. In addition to providing world class harvest opportunity, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) are also now working toward improving the ecosystem specifically for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN).
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A changing climate, a changing valley
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While the valley represents a critical mix of habitats supporting a wide variety of fish and wildlife, it is threatened by climate change as environmental conditions trend towards hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters. These changes will and are impacting species in the region. For example, snowpack depth and duration are predicted to decrease, thereby reducing summer soil moisture and impacting species dependent on mesic conditions, such as pale jumping slugs. The WMA lies at the base of the Selkirk Mountains which provides the Idaho Panhandle with important cool water and air temperature refugia. These microclimate conditions are changing quickly and could severely impact cool air dependent organisms like the Western bumblebee.
Pale Jumping Slug (
Hemphillia camelus
) Credit: IDFG
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Collaborating for climate-smart conservation
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In response to these threats, IDFG outlined climate-smart conservation actions in their State Wildlife Action Plan to safeguard SGCN in the region. Working collaboratively with the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y), they will restore ecological function to 250 acres of forested lowland habitat in the WMA, providing opportunities for species to adapt to a changing climate. Over the next two years, partners plan to:
- Restore ephemeral flood cycles by planting native vegetation to re-engineer wetlands to benefit to native western toad (Anaxyrus boreas) and Northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) reproduction, while disallowing non-native bullfrogs,
- Create topographically altered pollinator habitat via a series of excavated trenches to encourage thermal heterogeneity, providing cool-air refugia for Western bumblees (Bombus occidentalis) and Suckly's Cuckoo bumblebees (Bombus suckleyi), and
- Reforest the area with 60,000 native trees and understory plants to provide cover for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) and to improve soil moisture content and reduce air temperatures for pale jumping slugs (Hemphillia camelus).
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Climate change is an existential threat to many SGCN in the Idaho Panhandle. The region provides important cool water and air temperature refugia that supports species from bees to bears. This project helps serve as an example of proactive conservation actions that can assist species adaptation to a changing climate and improve landscape resiliency for the region.
Western Toad (
Anaxyrus boreas
) Credit: IDFG
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Video summarizing this innovative climate adaptation project. Credit: IDFG
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Who Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y)
Where Boundary-Smith Creek Wildlife Management Area in northern Idaho
When 2018-2020
How Funded through the Wildlife Conservation Society (Climate Adaptation Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation), USFWS Section 6, USFWS Competitive State Wildlife Grant
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In addition, this project also features a citizen science component. The Bees to Bears Wildflower Seed Library engages local community members in collecting seeds from local pollinator plants which will be planted (along with some purchased seeds) as part of the habitat restoration.
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In 2018, volunteers contributed 436 hours during 9 organized work events. They collected seeds from 11 plant species and identified 10 bumblebee species during the bee surveys.
Volunteer collecting a bumblebee (above) Credit: IDFG
Volunteer collecting seeds (left) Credit: IDFG
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Contact
Michael Lucid, Regional Wildlife Diversity Biologist, Idaho Department of Fish and Game;
Jessie Grossman, Cabinet Purcell Mountain Corridor Coordinator, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
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The National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy is a unified nationwide effort, reflecting shared principles and science-based practices, for addressing the threats of a changing climate on fish, wildlife, plants, and the natural systems upon which they depend.
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Join the conversation on social media using #AdaptationinAction
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