Climate Change in Wildlands Press Release

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Jaime Jennings, 202-232-7933x44 jjennings@islandpress.org Katharine Sucher, 202-232-7933x43 ksucher@islandpress.org www.islandpress.org

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Climate Change in Wildlands Pioneering Approaches to Science and Management

By Andrew J. Hansen, William B. Monahan, David M. Theobald, and S. Thomas Olliff

Washington, DC (May 31, 2016) — Wildland ecosystems are facing twin threats of unprecedented climate-induced change and increased impacts from a growing human population. While the federal government crafts strategies to protect wildlands from the worst effects of these pressures, the challenge remains to get the latest science into the hands of resource managers entrusted with protecting the water, plants, fish and wildlife, tribal lands, and cultural heritage sites of these places. A unique collaboration between scientists and managers, Climate Change in Wildlands (Publication Date: June 7, 2016) offers the framework necessary for keeping wildlands healthy on a rapidly changing planet.

Edited by Andrew J. Hansen, William B. Monahan, David M. Theobald, and S. Thomas Olliff, the book is the capstone of NASA’s five-year Landscape Climate Change Vulnerability Project. It sets out to understand how climate and land use changes affect mountain landscapes of the Rockies and the Appalachians, and how these findings can be applied to wildlands everywhere.

Climate Change in Wildlands assembles cutting-edge research and twenty-first-century technologies, including remote-sensing products and advanced ecological forecasting, to offer stewards and users of wildlands a detailed way forward for those interested in conserving natural systems on a changing planet. The book examines changes over the past century as well as expected future changes, assesses the vulnerability of species and ecosystems to these changes, and provides new, collaborative management approaches to mitigate expected impacts.

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A series of case studies showcases how managers might tackle wide-ranging problems such as the effects of warming streams on cold-water fish in Great Smoky Mountain National Park and dying white-bark pine stands in the Greater Yellowstone area. Key findings include that climate is projected to rise 4-9 degrees Fahrenheit in the Rockies and the Appalachians by the year 2100 and that climate warming has reduced snowpack in the Northern Rockies to the lowest levels in 800 years.

Climate Change in Wildlands is a critically important resource for scientists, managers, policymakers, and anyone interested in making informed decisions about ecosystems stressed by climate change and human pressures.

Andrew J. Hansen is a professor in the Ecology Department at Montana State University.

William B. Monahan oversees the Quantitative Analysis Program for the Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team of the USDA Forest Service. David M. Theobald is a senior scientist at Conservation Science Partners in Fort Collins, Colorado, and adjunct professor at Colorado State University. S. Thomas Olliff is the co-coordinator of the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative and Division Chief of Landscape Conservation and Climate Change for the National Park Service Intermountain Region.

Climate Change in Wildlands Island Press Paperback Original Publication Date: June 7, 2016 408 pages | Price: $35.00 ISBN: 978-1-61091-712-4 http://islandpress.org/book/climate-change-in-wildlands Founded in 1984, Island Press works to stimulate, shape, and communicate the information that is essential for solving environmental problems. Today, with more than 1,000 titles and some 40 new releases each year, it is the nation’s leading publisher of books on environmental issues. Island Press is driving change by moving ideas from the printed page to public discourse and practice. Island Press’s emphasis is, and will continue to be, on transforming objective information into understanding and action. ###

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