watervulnerability
watervulnerability
watervulnerability
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Sawtooth National Forest Watershed Vulnerability Assessment, Intermountain Region (R4)<br />
impact populations or destabilize watershed conditions? Without assistance from researchers it would<br />
have been even a more subjective process in determining risk levels from certain climate changes.<br />
What could have been done differently in this process? – Each pilot Forest jumped into this very<br />
complex topic without a clear understanding of what basic climate change data was available in their area,<br />
what the best models are for future climate change predictions, and how to synthesize all this information<br />
to answer their key questions. There is a fine line between getting too much or too little direction. Too<br />
much direction can stifle creative approaches, and at times it was good to struggle through what was out<br />
there and how best to use it. However, it would have been helpful if the steering committee had made<br />
contacts with key climate change researchers before Forests proceeded too far in their analysis. For<br />
example, where is VIC data available nationally, what scale is the data, and how should it best be used to<br />
answer our key questions? If I had not had assistance from Trout Unlimited and Rocky Mountain<br />
Research Station, it would have been very difficult to complete and interpret the VIC and stream<br />
temperature models.<br />
PROJECT TEAM<br />
Core Team Assistance<br />
John Chatel (Sawtooth NF) Charlie Luce (RMRS)<br />
Kerry Overton (RMRS) Bruce Rieman (Emeritus Fisheries Scientist)<br />
Dan Isaak (RMRS) Emily Leavitt (RMRS)<br />
Seth Wenger (Trout Unlimited) Dona Horan (RMRS)<br />
Scott Vuono (Sawtooth NF)<br />
Jill Kuenzi (Sawtooth NF)<br />
PROJECT CONTACT<br />
John Chatel, Aquatics Program Managers, Sawtooth National Forest<br />
REFERENCES<br />
Aguado, E., D. R. Cayan, L. G. Riddle, and M. Roos, 1992. Climatic fluctuations and the timing of<br />
West Coast streamflow. J. Climate, 5, 1468–1483.<br />
Caissie, D. 2006. The thermal regime of rivers: a review. Freshwater Biology 51:1389–1406.<br />
Cayan DR, Kammerdiener S, Dettinger MD, Caprio JM, Peterson DH.2001. Changes in the onset of<br />
spring in the western United States. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 82(3):399–415.<br />
Crozier, L. G., and R. W. Zabel. 2006. Climate impacts at multiple scales: evidence for differential<br />
population responses in juvenile Chinook salmon. Journal of Animal Ecology 75:1100–1109.<br />
Dunham, J. B., and B. E. Rieman. 1999. Metapopulation structure of bull trout: influences of physical,<br />
biotic, and geometrical landscape characteristics. Ecological Applications 9:642–655.<br />
Dettinger, M. D. and D. R. Cayan, 1995. Large-scale atmospheric forcing of recent trends toward early<br />
snowmelt runoff in California. J. of Climate, 8, 606-623.<br />
Dunham, J. B., G. L. Vinyard, and B. E. Rieman. 1997. Habitat fragmentation and extinction risk of<br />
Lahontan cutthroat trout. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 17:1126–1133.<br />
181 Assessing the Vulnerability of Watersheds to Climate Change