Pacific Southwest Research Station

Climate Change

Climate change is predicted to have substantial environmental and economic consequences. New and expanding tools are needed to inform policymakers about how future climate change will affect the Lake Tahoe Basin in particular and provide information to help design proactive policy alternatives.

Research projects are analyzing data and scaling predictions of climate models to improve estimates of the effects of climate change within the Tahoe Basin and to adapt management policies to cope better with those effects. Improved understandings of climate change may improve efforts to reduce wildfire hazard, restore and revegetate habitats, control invasive species, and diminish sediment and nutrient transport to Lake Tahoe.

Research Projects

• Drought stress and bark beetle outbreaks in the future forest: extending an existing model to inform climate change adaptation
• Using provenance test data to inform ecological restoration in the Tahoe Basin
• Restoration strategies for whitebark, western white, and sugar pine in the Lake Tahoe Basin: ecological and epidemiological considerations
• Improving meteorological data and forecasts for prescribed fire burn day decisions for the Lake Tahoe Basin
• The Tahoe Climate Information Management System (TahoeClim)
• Evaluation of Montane Forest Genetic Resources: Implications for Conservation, Management, and Restoration of Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) in the Lake Tahoe Basin
• Management options for reducing wildlife risk and maximizing carbon storage under future climate changes, ignition patterns, and forest treatments
• Hydrologic response of sub-alpine wetlands to climate change, Tahoe basin
• Evaluation of montane forest genetic resources in the Lake Tahoe basin: Implications for conservation, management, and adaptive responses of Pinus monticola to environmental change
• The effects of climate change on Lake Tahoe, and implications for design of best management practices
• Modeling the influence of management actions on fire risk and spread under future climatic conditions
• Predictive modeling of cheatgrass invasion risk for the Lake Tahoe basin

External Links

For information on climate change research in the Sierra Nevada, go to the PSW Web page: Climate Change, Mitigation, and Adaptation Science.

For a case study on managing impacts of climate change on an area neighboring the Lake Tahoe basin, go to the Climate Change Resource Center Web site: Managing for a Changing Climate on the Tahoe National Forest.