Regional Climate Change Natural Resource Management Challenges: Managing for changing social-ecological changes in space and time

Natural resource managers are facing regional climate change patterns in seasonal dynamics of precipitation and temperatures which are affecting physical and biological dynamics in significant ways across the Central US. In the North Central region of the US, recent droughts in the region have been contrasted by flooding in other portions of the region. In addition, recent land use changes have resulted in exacerbating the climate changes across the region. Understanding these changes and anticipating how climate change may affect the environment and ecosystem processes in the future are important aspects adaptive management strategies across the North Central region. The ability to manage for resilience and to strengthen conservation efforts under changing climate conditions in complex terrain is difficult without climate information at the appropriate scales. Recent assessment and research studies are providing more refined climate information and system approaches to management decisions. These efforts are providing enhanced climate downscaling products, impact analysis of natural resources and ecosystem changes, and greater engagement with decision makers dealing with natural resource management in the North Central region.