US Fish & Wildlife Service Draft Climate Change Strategic Plan is Available for Public Comment

US Fish & Wildlife Service Draft Climate Change Strategic Plan is Available for Public Comment

The US Fish and Wildlife Service released the draft versions of their Climate Change Strategic Plan and 5-Year Action Plan for public comment today. Please consider taking the time to look over both documents and submitting comments to USFWS for your state fish and wildlife agency. It is essential that the Service receive your individual input on their Plan. Comments are due by the 23^rd of November, 2009. To view the plan electronically, upload your comments, and find out more about Service efforts to address climate change, visit: http://www.fws.gov/home/climatechange/
Please see USFWS Director Sam Hamilton’s note below for more details.

“I’m pleased to notify you that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Draft Climate Change Strategic Plan is available for your review and comment. The plan, which has been in development for more than a year, is intended to guide our agency’s actions over the next several years as we work to respond to the unprecedented challenge of accelerating climate change. The Service’s Strategic Plan complements the Department of the Interior’s Secretarial Order issued last week, calling for unprecedented collaboration, coordination, and information sharing among Department agencies in response to the threat of accelerated climate change. The plan outlines more specifically what the Service proposes to do to fulfill our responsibilities under the Secretarial Order.

To adequately respond to long-term climate changes, the Service is moving to establish regional climate science partnerships with the U.S. Geological Survey, other federal agencies, state fish and wildlife agencies and the conservation community, to expand our ability to turn continental climate science into knowledge that managers can use to make better decisions on the ground. We will establish landscape-level partnerships taking advantage of expertise across the conservation community to set population and habitat goals, plan and execute conservation across landscapes, and enhance our research, monitoring and evaluation tools through the establishment of a National Biological Inventory and Monitoring Partnership.

We truly value your perspective, and would appreciate your ideas and suggestions for how we can improve the plan and work together to make a difference for fish and wildlife in North America and across the globe.”

Sincerely,
Sam

Sam Hamilton
Director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

For more information please contact Gary Taylor at gtaylor@fishwildlife.org or Dr. Arpita Choudhury at achoudhury@fishwildlife.org