| | | CAF14-213 | | The Role of California Rangelands I Adapting to Climate Change Speakers: Pelayo Alvarez, Conservation Program Director, Defenders of Wildlife/California Rangeland Conservation Coalition; Wendell Gilgert, Rangeland Watershed Program Director, Point Blue Conservation Science; Wendy Millet, Education Foundation Director, TomKat Ranch; Leslie Roche, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis; MODERATOR: Geoff Geupel, Emerging Programs and Partnerships Group Director, Point Blue Conservation Science California rangelands cover approximately 40% of the state and provide multiple ecosystem services including food, forage, clean water, climate regulation and healthy wildlife populations. Rangeland science, policy and management have historically focused on optimizing livestock and forage production; however, society is placing growing importance on conservation goals. Balancing both agricultural production and conservation goals on these lands will be a central challenge in the face of climate change and uncertain economic and social conditions. Climate-change models project warming temperatures, more drought, more extreme rainfall with less snow accumulation, extreme changes in hydrographs and drier soils, all of which will impact the provision of ecosystem services from rangelands. In this session, we present recent efforts to increase the ecosystem services provided by California’s rangelands with an emphasis on climate change adaptation and some of the most urgent obstacles and win-win solutions for collaborative adaptive management. | | MP3 | | $10.00 | | $10.00 | |
