In 2010 and 2011, WWA researchers Barsugli and Rangwala provided climate science support and guidance to a landscape-scale climate change vulnerability assessment effort led by The Nature Conservancy. This assessment was developed explicitly for the Gunnison Climate Working Group, a collaboration among public and private stakeholders interested in building ecosystem resilience in the basin. Barsugli’s efforts focused in particular on guiding the selection and use of climate models and relevant climate and hydrologic data used to determine the relative future vulnerability of 24 ecosystems in the Gunnison Basin. These efforts were detailed in a report (Neely et al. 2011) that will serve as the basis for future collaborative resilience management efforts and as a pilot for other landscape-scale assessments initiated by The Nature Conservancy.

Gunnison Basin Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for the Gunnison Climate Working Group