We create a diverse array of decision-support frameworks, tools, and resources to support natural resource professionals in addressing climate change, recognizing the need to allow individuals and organizations to reflect their unique values and management context.
Adaptation Workbook
The Adaptation Workbook process has been a core NIACS offering since it was first described in Forest Adaptation Resources: Climate Change Tools and Approaches for Land Managers, 2nd Edition. The Workbook is a structured process to consider the potential effects of climate change and design land management and conservation actions that can help prepare for changing conditions. The process is completely flexible to accommodate a wide variety of geographic locations, ownership types, ecosystems and land uses, management goals, and project sizes. It has been used by a diverse range of people working in forestry, natural resources, and agriculture, including biologists, foresters, planners, soil conservationists, and consultants, and resulted in more than 600 real-world examples of climate change adaptation.
Adaptation Menus
Our team and collaborators led, or co-led, the development of thirteen menus of adaptation strategies and approaches for a variety of natural resource topics, which can be used with the Adaptation Workbook. These “menus” provide topical lists of adaptation actions that not only help practitioners move from broad ideas to specific actions but also help to express the adaptation intent of selected actions. Although menu items can be applied in various combinations to achieve desired outcomes, not all items on the menu will work together or work in every ecosystem. Land managers can use these resources to select appropriate actions based on their unique project location and goals, and are most often used with the Adaptation Workbook.
Adaptation Quick Guides
Various "quick guide" formats of the Adaptation Workbook were developed by NIACS for use by natural resources professionals and land trusts. The Quick Guides are a condensed version of Forest Adaptation Resources: Climate Change Tools and Approaches for Land Managers and were developed as an entry point for adaptation planning, featuring a "short version" of the Adaptation Workbook. There are three versions: one for natural resource professionals, a second one developed specifically to support land trusts, and a third Spanish translation version that includes links and language updates with an International Spanish-speaking audience in mind.