Pacific Northwest Research Station

New climate change short course is convenient, cost-effective, and carbon-emissions free

Self-paced learning course—available as DVD and online—provides land managers with support for decisions about climate change adaptation

USDA Forest Service
Pacific Northwest Research Station

Portland, OR December 10, 2009

Media assistance:

Yasmeen Sands, (360) 753-7716, ysands@fs.fed.us
Dave Tippets, (970) 498-1370, dtippets@fs.fed.us

PORTLAND, Ore. December 10, 2009. USDA Forest Service Research and Development has released an interactive short course that presents current scientific knowledge on adapting to climate variability in wildland management. Titled “Adapting to Climate Change: A Short Course for Land Managers,” the course is available as a DVD or online at the Climate Change Resource Center.

The self-paced course provides an up-to-date synthesis of scientific and technical information and can help resource managers and decisionmakers plan for future climate-driven uncertainties. It is organized around three central themes: climate variability and projections, ecological responses to climate variability, and management responses to climate variability.

“ It’s especially appropriate that a course on climate change is offered as a Web-based, distance-learning package, which minimizes the carbon costs of connecting scientists and experts with land managers,” said Michael Furniss, a Pacific Northwest Research Station hydrologist who directed and produced the course in collaboration with colleagues from the Pacific Southwest and Rocky Mountain Research Stations.

The course features 15 video lectures along with slide presentations, interactive quizzes, literature citations, and links to additional information—content that was produced during a July 2008 workshop that brought together key Forest Service and U.S. Geological Survey scientists, university collaborators, and a group of pioneering resource managers who reviewed and discussed the course content.

“ The process of having scientists and land managers co-create the content produced a course that is highly relevant to the challenges facing land and resource managers,” Furniss said.

“ Adapting to Climate Change” is the latest in a series of Web-based presentations known as “portable electronic presentations,” or PEPs, which serve as interactive learning resources representing key scientific talks in an on-demand rich-media format.

DVD copies of the course can be requested by emailing pnw_pnwpubs@fs.fed.us or calling (503) 261-1211 and referencing “PNW-GTR-789.”

The Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and has 11 laboratories and centers in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington and about 425 employees. The Pacific Southwest Research Station is headquartered in Albany, California, and has 8 laboratories and centers located in California, Hawaii, and the US-affiliated Pacific Islands. The Rocky Mountain Research Station is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado, and has 14 research locations throughout a 12-state territory and over 400 employees.