2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan

Appendix 5

Reference Document 5-2

1. Recognizing adaptation limitations to adaptation, such as the degree of natural resource management, availability of funding, or staffing capacity; and 2. Deciding which type(s) of adaptation approach(es) meet specific conservation goals. Two well-known examples of frameworks include the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) Framework developed by the U.S. National Park Service and the Climate Adaptation in Practice: Resistance, Resilience and Transition (RRT) Framework developed by Colorado State University. There are also multiple sources for adaptation and mitigation strategies. The Adaptation Workbook, a compilation of resources developed by the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science and its partners provides an excellent overview of strategies. The Adaptation Workbook is broken down into sections, one of which being Adaptation Strategies and Approaches. In this section, climate adaptation strategies are listed in what are known as “menus”— categorized by focus areas—with the goal of the menus being to provide conservationists with specific, actionable adaptation options to select from. The menus are not all encompassing, nor are they intended to serve as guidance for management decisions. They simply serve as a starting point for those interested in climate adaptation so that they do not have to start from scratch. Climate adaptation menus and the recommended strategies and approaches that apply to the U.S. Southeast include:

Agriculture

Non-Forested Wetlands

Fire-Adapted Ecosystems

Recreation

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• •

Forests

Saltwater Coastal Ecosystems

Forest Carbon Management

Tribal Perspectives

Forested Watersheds

Urban Forests

• •

• •

Grasslands

Wildlife Management

Working in resilient landscapes

Regardless of the projected impacts of climate hazards, some portions of the State are predicted to be more resilient than others. Focusing conservation action within resilient places is a climate-smart investment.

Terrestrial resilience

Roughly 30% of North Carolina’s inland landscape is considered to score above average for terrestrial resilience. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) developed a data set called the Resilient Land Data and identifies areas with different landscape characteristics such as the number of depicts an area’s capacity to maintain species diversity and ecosystem function in the face of climate change. It measures two factors that influence resilience. • The first, landscape diversity, reflects the number of microhabitats and climatic gradients created by topography, elevation, and hydrology. • The second, local connectedness, reflects the degree of habitat fragmentation and strength of barriers to species movement.

2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan

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