South Central CASC Science Agenda
The Science Agenda will advance the South Central CASC’s (CASC) mission: to work with DOI, Federal, Native Nations, and State agencies – particularly natural and cultural resource decision-makers – to create, translate, and deliver science that supports fish, wildlife, water, land, and people in adapting to a changing climate.
To achieve this mission, the South Central CASC prioritizes the climate information needs of federal, state, and Tribal natural and cultural resource managers across our four-state region. This includes partnering with organizations responsible for setting priorities, allocating resources, and decision-making regarding the restoration, protection, conservation, and management of fish, wildlife, plants, lands, waters, and cultural resources.
The Science Agenda is the product of several years of work led by the USGS arm of the center, developed through extensive dialogue, outreach, and synthesis efforts. It reflects current management challenges and near-term climate science needs of our partners, serving as a guide for future work. As a living document, the Agenda will be updated over the next five years as partner management priorities evolve, Consortium membership changes, and climate adaptation science advances.
The South Central CASC’s federal science investments will be guided by this Science Agenda, which outlines key priorities and goals for our region. The document is structured around three primary components: 1.) Key Management Challenges, 2.) Current and Prospective Research Focal Areas, and 3.) Implementation Approach.
Key management challenges highlighted in the Science Agenda include:
- Amplification and seasonality of hydrometeorological extremes
- Wildfire and forest resilience
- Altered hydrological regimes
- Changes in water quality, quantity, and sediment delivery in the coastal marine zone
- Barriers, opportunities and unintended consequences of adaptation
Key Research Focal Areas highlighted in the Science Agenda include:
- At-risk species
- Agroecosystems as natural resources
- Cultural resources
- Freshwater hydro-ecosystems
- Coastal ecosystems
- Rio Grande Basin
- Pilot research projects
Implementation Approach
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- Forward actionable science: Center user-driven science that addresses the information needs of regional partners and support approaches that enable iterative dialog to define research questions, integrate multiple knowledge systems, and support decision-making.
- Advance technical assistance and climate literacy initiatives: Build regional capacity to access, interpret, and apply climate science information and tools. In the next phase of our Science Agenda, we aspire to expand training efforts to increase the climate literacy of natural and cultural resource managers in our region and beyond. This will include nurturing the next generation of ecosystem researchers, climate stewards, managers, and decision-makers as well as building the capacity of natural and cultural resource managers to make collaborative and climate-informed decisions.
- Incorporate downscaling and application of Global Climate Models (GCMs): Prioritize the downscaling of Global Climate Models and the production of ecologically significant variables to support ecological forecasting. This will provide resource managers with more precise, localized data that enhances preparedness, adaptation, and resilience strategies, ensuring that climate adaptation efforts are grounded in the most relevant and actionable science.
- Implement monitoring and evaluation: Establish robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks for adaptation initiatives to ensure continuous improvement and effectiveness. Regularly assess and update these initiatives based on performance data, stakeholder feedback, and emerging climate trends to enhance resilience and adaptability.
- Emphasize interdisciplinarity: Effectively advancing the adaptation of fish, wildlife, habitats, and cultural resources to the impacts of climate change is an interdisciplinary endeavor. The South Central CASC will work to support interdisciplinary approaches to adaptation that draw on diverse disciplines to understand how organizations, human communities, ecosystems, etc. adapt to a changing environment.
- Prioritize science communication: Translate current research and knowledge into public awareness and community engagement. This involves communicating research findings in engaging and accessible formats tailored to the needs of diverse audiences and educating partners and other users on how to apply South Central CASC-generated information in their decision processes. The Center will prioritize sharing management priorities and science needs gleaned from the Science Advisory Committee, state visits, listening sessions, and from liaisons embedded on the landscape back with researchers to catalyze actionable science that addresses priority management needs.
- Consider attentiveness to scale in decision-making: Ensure climate-related data, models, tools, and information are developed at appropriate management scales to enhance their usability and applicability in management contexts.
- Center equity and Environmental Justice: Integrate and operationalize best practices in equity and environmental justice into research to ensure inclusive and fair outcomes. Prioritize the voices and needs of marginalized communities and ensure that research processes and outcomes address and mitigate environmental disparities.
- Expand and sustain partnerships: Bring together the expertise of scientists, managers, and partners to design, develop, and implement research to inform effective climate adaptation efforts. Strengthen partnerships with Tribal governments, Indigenous communities, and inter-Tribal organizations involved in climate adaptation to support tribal climate adaptation needs. Develop partnerships with organizations that are connected to historically marginalized and underserved populations, e.g., HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), TCUs (Tribal Colleges and Universities), and HSIs (Hispanic Serving Institutions), as well as community-serving and other non-profit organizations.
- Integrate best practices in tool development: Continue to develop effective and user-friendly tools that bridge the gap between researchers and partners. Tools produced through funded projects should emphasize the importance of usability for managers, ensure regular updates, and should engage end users at every stage to inform design and implementation.
- Forward ecosystem-based approaches to research and management: Promote holistic, ecosystem-scale approaches to research and management, as emphasized by agency personnel and in listening sessions, to ensure comprehensive and effective environmental stewardship.
- Leverage science synthesis and interpretation of existing information and data: Synthesize existing research to support climate adaptation decisions and actions. Integrate research findings into comprehensive insights to inform decision-making, identify knowledge gaps, enhance reliability to forward interdisciplinary solutions and evidence-based practices.
- Forward actionable science
- Advance technical assistance and climate literacy initiatives
- Incorporate downscaling and application of Global Climate Models (GCMs)
- Implement monitoring and evaluation
- Emphasize interdisciplinarity
- Prioritize science communication
- Consider attentiveness to scale in decision-making
- Center equity and Environmental Justice
- Expand and sustain partnerships
- Integrate best practices in tool development
- Forward ecosystem-based approaches to research and management
- Leverage science synthesis and interpretation of existing information and data