Introduction
The conservation of freshwater biodiversity has emerged as a global challenge. The loss of habitat and the changing climate are reducing the viability of native freshwater species worldwide—and California is no exception to this. For decades the state has struggled to protect its native species. Today, roughly half of California’s native freshwater plants and animals are vulnerable to extinction by the end of this century (Howard et al. 2015; Moyle et al 2022). Rapid changes in climate are making it harder to conserve these species.
Californians have shown an enduring commitment to protecting native species. Numerous efforts are underway to meet that challenge. All Californians benefit when their freshwater ecosystems—meadows, streams, lakes, rivers, floodplains, wetlands, marshlands, estuaries—are healthy enough to support multiple human uses as well as biodiversity. But rapid changes in climate, along with historic land and water uses, are making it increasingly likely that many native species will disappear, and new, less-desirable ecosystems will appear. Urgent action is needed.
In this California WaterBlog post, we summarize a recent PPIC report that describes innovations that will help the state protect native biodiversity under climate change. We propose the adoption of climate-smart conservation frameworks and tools in all efforts to protect and restore native species. This includes utilizing a portfolio of actions—some controversial and experimental—along with a willingness to take risks. We hope that this report inspires scientists, engineers, resource managers, decision makers, watershed groups, and many others to take urgent action before we lose our legacy of freshwater biodiversity.
The traditional approach to species conservation often focuses on protecting or restoring critical habitat for listed species. This is where existing laws, enacted more than 50 years ago, have the greatest leverage. But with limited exceptions, efforts are concentrated on a few regulatory levers—especially flows—and they do not explicitly address the rapid changes currently underway, much less actions necessary to adapt to these changes. And less than 6% of the species identified as vulnerable to extinction this century are currently protected by Endangered Species Acts (based on data in Howard et al. 2015).
We propose a shift in strategy. Climate change adaptation should be explicit in all facets of freshwater ecosystem and biodiversity management. And where possible, the focus should shift away from listed species and toward native biodiversity and ecosystem health as the primary objective.
In our review of the literature on this subject, we found that the National Wildlife Federation’s Climate-Smart Conservation Framework (Stein et al. 2014) offers a helpful way to organize climate adaptation plans and guide actions during their implementation. This kind of framework can and should be incorporated at all levels, including statewide efforts like the California Salmon Strategy; regulatory efforts such as Species Recovery Plans, Biological Opinions, and Water Quality Control Plans; and ongoing watershed-scale conservation planning throughout the state.
In many freshwater conservation efforts, the choice of actions tends to be narrow, often reflecting regulatory agencies’ perceived authority (e.g., addressing only flow and water quality through regulation). Given the pace and geographic complexity of climate change, and uncertainties over ecosystem response, it is essential that a full range of tools be considered in climate-smart conservation. And given the urgency of the need for response, all options should be on the table, including emerging tools that are experimental or controversial.
Through a series of workshops with experts, we developed a suite of strategies and tools that can populate a portfolio of climate-smart conservation actions. We identified 17 different tools that […]
Full article: californiawaterblog.com
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