Climate Adaptation
Climate change is affecting rain and snowfall, stream flow and temperature, and other key factors that in turn may impact habitat for fish and wildlife in the Sandy River.
Climate Adaptation Workshop Series
Conservation practitioners, researchers, students and community members attended our workshop series on climate adaptation at Mt. Hood Community College. Presenters discussed the Sandy's importance as habitat and cultural significance, history of impacts at the Sandy Delta, projected climate changes including higher temperatures, changing snowpack, and stream flows.
Projected climate changes could increase vulnerability of forests, and the fish and wildlife that depend on them, but presenters also summarized studies that point to effective adaptation strategies. Anticipating future conditions can guide plant selection for forest restoration, so that plantings are more resilient to the changing Pacific NW climate. Restoring the forest along stream banks, modeling shows, can help cool streams in the long run to preserve cold water refugia, even as general climatic changes would tend to push stream temperatures warmer.
View individual presentations below:
Lowering the Temperature: A Workshop on Climate Resiliency in the Sandy River Basin
Video: Watch the full workshop
Workshop Presentations:
Steve Wise, SRWC: Climate Adaptation in the Sandy Introduction
Bill Weiler, SRWC: Sandy River Delta 2017-2018 Climate Activities
Thea Kindschuh & Hilary Sueoka, CRUX: Campus and Community Resilience: MHCC's canopy study and resilience related data resources
Jeremy FiveCrows: Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Martin Merz, EPA: Columbia River Cold Water Refuges Project: Where does the Sandy fit in?
Tom Kaye, PhD, Institute for Applied Ecology: Pathways and Pollinators: Planting the Seeds of Regional Resiliency
Climate Adaptation in the Sandy: Resiliency Strategies for the New Normal
Video: Watch the full workshop / Watch the workshop summary
Workshop Presentations:
Steve Wise, SRBWC: Climate Adaptation in the Sandy Introduction
Robin Dobson, USFS: Restoration at the Sandy River Delta
Karl Dickman, ICF: Taking the Next Step: Translating Downscaled Climate Projections into Useful Information for Watershed Management
Constance Harrington, USDA Forest Service: How do Trees Know When to Start and Stop Growing? And How Will That Change in the Future?
Kathie Dello, ICCRI: Is this the New Normal? Putting Climate into Context in Oregon
Tim Abbe: Geomorphology and Climate Adaptive Floodplain Responses in the Upper Sandy River
Casey Justice, CRITFC: Can Stream and Riparian Restoration Offset Climate Change Impacts to Salmon Populations?
Ben Walczak, ODFW: Salmonid Recovery in the Face of Constant Change
Next Steps
Next steps in our climate adaptation work include replicating and refining the adaptive planting palette used at the Sandy River Delta, to add resiliency to future forest canopy, riparian and understory habitats throughout the Sandy and Lower Columbia River region. We are also working with Sandy River Basin Partners to integrate climate adaptation measures into basin-wide restoration strategies, and develop additional approaches to conserve the Sandy's status as a cold water refuge.
---
Funding for SRWC's climate adaptation work is provided from a grant by the Wildlife Conservation Society through the Climate Adaptation Fund. Support to establish the Climate Adaptation Fund was provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF).
