WAFWA Climate Change Committee

The first meeting of WAFWA’s Climate Change Committee was held on July 12, 2009 in Newport Beach, CA. Under the leadership of Director Donald Koch (CA) and Director Ken Mayer (NV) this committee serves as WAFWA’s principal forum for discussion, gathering information and/or identifying actions relative to all aspects of climate change as it relates to fish and wildlife. The meeting was well attended with 35 + participants and more than 20 state representatives. In addition, Dave Schad Director of MN DNR and vice chair of the AFWA climate change committee came out to help kick off the first meeting and extend the support and connection to the AFWA committee.

Members are committed to making this an action oriented committee and recognize that because climate change is such a big issue the committee will find a niche that best serves WAFWA members. A significant amount of work went into pre-meeting planning to make sure that this was a productive use of members’ time. The group recognizes the need for information sharing but also wants to use limited time together to discuss key issues and actions. To that end a list of WAFWA climate change contacts was created as well as an update document of climate change activities for all WAFWA members. The document covered several topics including but not limited to, climate change related activities in each state/province, highlights, challenges, and opportunities for cross border collaboration and discussion items for the committee. 20 of the 26 WAFWA member states/provinces and conservation partners responded to this inquiry and others are expected to contribute before the final document is released in the fall of 2009.

WAFWA is the first regional association with a climate committee and other regional associations are following suite. Regional climate change committees offer important opportunities for pursuing collaborative adaptation planning efforts on a regional scale as well as important information sharing and monitoring initiatives.

For more information on WAFWA’s climate change committee please contact Amber Pairis, Climate Change Advisor for the California Department of Fish and Game at apairis@dfg.ca.gov.